Wet Aspen Substrate?

I've been using aspen shavings as a substrate for my newly acquired adult red tail boa, have had her almost two months now. She likes to go into her water bowl a lot and then the substrate ends up getting kind of soaked. That in conjunction with the humidity seems to keep the substrate pretty moist in certain areas of the enclosure. I have not noticed any mold in the substrate at all, but is it ok for the substrate to be consistently moist like this?

I use Orchid bark for all mine - great for controlling humidity.

Aspen goes mouldy very quickly , looks horrid and gets all over the house and carpets ..


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never tried orchid bark, I use cypress mulch for my snakes and it holds humidity really good and also dosnt really get everywhere. I also havnt seen any mold from it either.

This is Orchid bark ... makes all brightly coloured / white snakes look great due to the colour contrast .



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I use aspen and have for years on all my snakes. Works fine. I mist it usually once or twice a week in the winter and its fine. The stuff doesnt mold unless it has waste material in it like if you forgot to spot clean a whole area and some poop or pee soaked aspen got wet.

With that said, i wouldnt want it to be soaking wet 24/7 but then again, i wouldnt want any substrate soaking wet 24/7. i have had Eco Earth mold, i've had Reptichips mold. Anything will mold if soaked in waste material.