One more substrate question.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Where in heck did you find triple milled cypress and how is it cost wise compared to other bedding material?

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pm being sent!

i like aspen in display cages for ball pythons because it decently holds humidity, looks clean, doesnt smell and is very light which makes replacing substrate and cleaning the enclosure pretty easy.

i use cypress mulch for some of my green trees and i find its kinda messy but great for holding humidity.

I've said it in a million threads but I just love saying it - Fir and Sphagnum Moss is my substrate of choice! :P

It looks nice and it's nice and soft so there's no worries about your snake's belly getting cut up. In terms of feeding, I prefer to feed out of tank because my tank is sort of on display so I like to have my tank need the least amount of clean-up issues as possible.

Holds humidity great. With it being winter time, its very dry here in the Northeast and sometimes I have to spray but usually only once in the morning and that's it. Even in the winter it maintains a 55% if I don't spray the whole day.

Looks nice too. Easy to flatten out and looks like regular dirt.

I started out with white Desert Snow but changed it out because it didn't match my "decor". It's awesome because if it gets wet, it changes to a cream color, so you know where to spot clean. I changed it to Aspen because the aspen is more "natural" looking and matches my "forest" scene. But then, I changed to Cypress Mulch because I had humidity issues. I got the Cypress from Petsmart, so I don't know what kind of "milled" it is. On the back of the bag, there's a label thingee that tells which substrate is best for what type of reptile and listed on there is ball python and it says Aspen is better but Cypress is best. Aspen is listed as best for cornsnake. The only thing I don't like about the cypress is the damp-earth-aroma to it. It smells like wet dirt which is not my favorite... I like the dry summer aroma of the Aspen.

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

2 questions franky... why does it matter if it is wet packed? (I plan to freeze it for a solid week in my deep freezer to kill whatever critters and things are in it)

When you talk about slivers, what are you talking about? Sharp pieces of much? other stuff in the mulch? If you are talking about sharp pieces of mulch, do you really think that would be an issue?


Thanks!

Mike

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Freezing will kill most things, but there are many strains of bacteria that can survive the freezing process. When they are frozen, they go inactive, and reanimate themselves once they return to their breeding temp.

I do not know what effect it would have on mulch, but heating above 205 F for thirty minutes will kill most everything. That should be below the kindling temp of the mulch, and would kill everything in it. There are other methods for killing bacteria but I don't it would be a good idea to try it on mulch.

LOL! how do these threads keep getting pulled up from the dead!?

By the way folks, this I have since seen the light! I will never use ANYTHING but newspaper. Tub or tank.

I use newspaper, & for under the hides, I add some aspen. I have a tank for my girl-George. But getting a male tomorrow, so I am using a tub. May switch George to a tub later!!

the aspen seems to be working so far. no problems.