What do YOU use for substrate?

I am on aspen now, but a few people have recommended paper towels. What do you use and/or suggest?

I use aspen but I am not happy with it. As soon as I find a place to buy cypress at a decent price I will be changing over to it.

It depends. I've got most of my adults on Aspen now, others are on newspaper, and last years hatchlings are on paper towels. Paper is cleaner and I never have problems with them getting pieces of wood stuck in their mouths, but aspen holds moisture better. So it pretty much depends on what I think will work best for that particular animal. I wouldn't stick myself with just one substrate anymore.

Im an aspen man for now i dont think i will be switching if i was to switch paper towles or newspaper.

I use unprinted newspaper. Only down side is I have to do a total cage clean whenever someone uses the restroom or smears some blood around while eating.

Coco-Coir from General Hydroponics. It is the best I have found. True Organic Coco... No chunks that pose any problems just nice pure clean Coco chips...

i use aspen, always have, always will. never had a problem with it. holds the humidity, all you have to do when they poo is spot clean and add a little more, and do a routine monthly cleaning(thats me cause im a clean freak, sortof). my brother use to use paper towles and he got sick of haveing to clean the whole tub everytime they took a dump or pissed somewhere. he also had a few problem feeders that as soon as he went to aspen they converted to little black holes. all my snakes seem to love the aspen as they burrow through it and make little paths. i think aspen is the ideal substrate for my snakes and would never use anything else.

And its cheap too no matter hwat people say

I use a Eco-Earth / Douglass Fir bark mixture, about 50/50.

I personally use paper towels for any tubs under 41 qt. And then I use newspaper for all my 41 qt tubs.

I use newspaper.

I use aspen. Not had a problem in 8 years

Jim

unprinted newspaper here.

Aspen all the way!

4 or 5 sheets of newspaper with a single layer of paper towel on top. :)

I have enough snakes that it pays to consider each animals needs.

All of my boas are on coconut bark - Eco Earth by the brick 3 pk $10
All of my pythons are on shredded aspen bedding - by the bale $15
My hognoses are split - sani chips for one young adult male, Eco Earth for another adult male, and shredded aspen bedding for a couple juveniles
My ratsnake will be on repti-carpet soon, currently on paper towels

The vet I take my snakes to recommends papers towels, cloth towels, newspaper, but not any wood product (including aspen). I can't recall his perspective on carefresh. His experience is that the wood products tend to be too dusty and can cause respiratory problems with reptiles. I'm using shredded aspen, but have his advice at the back of my mind.

Aspen in my big guys tank so I can monitor him and remove it as he eats if it looks like it is going to get caught, and for my babies in the rack, they are on newspaper.

unprinted newspaper or scott shop towels

Nothing is better then newspaper. 1,000 times easier to keep the tub 100% clean most of the time. With the right tub you won't need a substrate that holds humidity.

And its free.

Aspen for now.

I prefer loose bedding, such as aspen (what I use for everyone besides Blood pythons, they get cypress), just because paper towels were extremely messy for me.

newspaper :)

I've used both and they both have their ups and downs. Aspen is eazy to spot clean so you don't have to completely change it out every time a mess is made. Paper towels are cheaper in bulk. Currently I'm using aspen, but I have a big bag of Sani-Chips that I picked up at the last show and will try out after the aspen is gone...

I personally use paper towels for all my snakes. Buy them in bulk relatively cheap easy to clean and not dusty. Don't have to worry about them injesting it when eating either.

Newspaper, It's satisfying to see them mess on pictures of people I dislike. :rofl:


My colubrids have aspen though. I tried cypress for my BP and it has it's merits but I prefer this.

I use aspen. The zoomed stuff

Thinking about trying this aspen.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/premier...cu-in--2455829

http://www.tractorsupply.com/pet-car...cu-in--2419459

Any1 ever use it? Seems like it "expands" to a lot more then the zoomed stuff

newspaper

i use aspen no problems now that im using a uth

Hatchlings - Paper towel

Sub-Adults/Adults - Aspen

I just started with my first ball and I use aspen from the advise of others. I feed in a separate tank with repti-carpet because I'm paranoid of the wood shavings. :-p I've read that repti-carpet in conjunction with aspen bedding is best for UTH, any validation on this point?

i have cypress mulch from home depot/lowe's

I've been using Aspen, but I really don't like it. Trying to do a complete cleaning every month is a pain with all that dust. I'm considering trying Cypress. My friend uses it and dumps a half gallon of warm water on it every time he changes it, and his BP LOVES it! Is it ok to get it from a hardware store?

Unprinted Newspaper :)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...s/100_2173.jpg

Get cypress from lowes if you want, i've contacted the manufactuerer and they sanitize their blade they use to cut the wood between each wood, so there is 99.99% chance the mulch has no cedar in it. Some cypress has cedar chunks in it, so you have to contact the manufacturer and see.

I personally use shredded paper, its cheap, effective and they love it!

news paper all the way. theres a small local paper in my city and one sheet is the same dimension as the tubs I use, so when it comes to do a change, one sheet out one sheet in. super easy.

I use Eco- Earth expandable dirt substrate. I am extremely happy with it, it is easy to clean, holds humidity very well, and is very resistant to mold.

I'm currently using paper towels. Fast, easy, and sanitary. In the past I've used Aspen and it was just too much work to completely clean tubs. However spot cleaning was nice.

I also liked Aspen in my big Boaphile and Vision cages. They were so big it took forever to cover the bottom in paper towels and newspaper wasn't absorbent enough for a large Berms waste.

Never tried Cypress. I use Eco-earth or Forest Bedding for my humid hide substrate.

newspaper all the way!!

BP is on craft paper, and has been for about a year. I'm not sure if that's the same as 'unprinted newspaper'...it comes on a big roll? Anyways it's a pain to cut to fit her tub. I'm switching her over to aspen ont he next cleaning day.
My corn and BTS are both on aspen.

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Originally Posted by Krista

BP is on craft paper, and has been for about a year. I'm not sure if that's the same as 'unprinted newspaper'...it comes on a big roll? Anyways it's a pain to cut to fit her tub. I'm switching her over to aspen ont he next cleaning day.
My corn and BTS are both on aspen.

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Craft paper is very similar to un-printed newspaper. It's more known as "Packing Paper." You can get a box with about 150 sheets off Home Depot in the "Packing Section." You still have to cut it some though. I dont mind.

I use cyprus, with a mixture of eco earth, easy to clean and buy it for roughly $9 for a 3 square foot bag, also comes in bigger sizes which allows for easier clean up, holds humidity well and soft enough for snakes to lay on. I also use a mixture for my sand boas of eco-earth and purple calcium sand hold up well with them digging around.

im using cypress mulch