Bedding?

For the cypress mulch I picked some up, should I freeze it for a day just incase anything is in it to kill it off or just put it in tank?

If it came from a pet store, I definitely would, but if it was somewhere else, it's up to you. I get mine from Walmart, and have never had issues with it.

I have used that type of paper pellet substrate for snakes as well as skinks. I used it for 6 years with no problems, and so did a lot of people. Then one day it happened. One of my skinks got impacted from it. It wasn't like they weren't eating any before, and suddenly the skink ate some and got impacted. When I used it before, I regularly saw them ingest a little by accident. Then one day one of them just got impacted. A big vet bill and a lot of heartache later, she is fine. But since then I have switched everything to newspaper. And yes, the vet confirmed that it was the pellet that caused the impaction. He removed it with an endoscope with a clamp on the end and everything returned to normal.

I am not saying don't use them. Like I said I used them for 6 years and no issues until that point. Also a lot of people use it and never had problems. But you should know that impaction is a possibility with these pellets. I certainly do not recommend them nor do I use them anymore, but some people do with success.

By the way, the pellet that was removed did not expand. It was just an odd shape and it was stuck there. When I used those pellets, I would regularly find bits of stuff in them other than newspaper. There sometimes were bits of plastic and stuff like that in there compressed into the pellets. So keep that in mind.

The only substrate I know of that has killed a snake from ingestion is paper towel it is not digestible easily. I would likely avoid paper types just based on this. I would also be concerned if it has added chemicals often sodium carbonate but there have also been things like sodium borate I have no inkling how a snake would handle such things.

I have the cypress mulch in the freezer, how long should it stay in?

Also the recycled paper I have is NOT pellets. It is shredded up so it looks like the care fresh stuff just in smaller pieces.

If there is mites or anything else it is not likely a home freezer gets cold enough to do much. But the general idea is at -7ºC for two weeks that will kill many parasites and ovum some bacteria and that is about it.

I got it from the pet store I work at and I know they been sitting there so ill freeze it for 2 weeks or more?

It is pointless unless your freezer is wicked cold(19°F) I'd not worry about freezing it at all. Just use it unless the bag is open and the store infested with mites it should be fine. There is little else to be done realistically. Baking maybe . But again it is questionable.

I would not buy a bag that had a bad seal if the seal is intact it is likely not exposed to anything in the store.


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Bag was perfectly sealed, no holes or anything.

I just spray new cypress with PAM and let it dry out before adding the snake and water back in. I've never had any issues with parasites coming from the bedding, but there is definitely more risk if yours is from a petstore where there could have been transferrance from infested reptiles to the bedding storage areas.