Question for all you spot cleaners

Hi,
lately i've been thinking about giving this aspen or pine a try, i've always used paper, even back in the days but i'm willing to give anything a try. so, i'm guessing that when you spot clean urates it's very easy but how about when it's poop, do you spot clean or do you clean out the whole tub? i personally like the idea of a clean and disinfected tub. how much substrate do you put in the first place? 1/2", 1"? thank you for your advice.

I HATED spot cleaning

They always seemed to run through their poop and it would get all over the whole tub, so I'd have to change it out completely.

I also HATED trying to feed on loose substrate

When I used it, it was about an inch deep.

This is just my experience

I'm back to paper, for good.

I try to keep it about 1/2 to 1 inch. I'm more concerned with the 1/2" on the warm side to allow heat dissipation. As for spot cleaning, if it is poop, I will scoop it out and the top layer of substrate where it was laying. If they pee, I dig it all the way to the bottom of the enclosure. If it soaked all the way down, I will spray Chlorhexidine on a paper towel and wipe the bottom of the enclosure where I removed the substrate and replace it. I do a complete cleaning and substrate change once a month or, if they smear poop all over the place or F/T blood gets squirted everywhere.

I thought pine was toxic? Or could be if not kiln dried, or something like that... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...hreadid=115838

Personally I just remove the area around uranates or poop and check to see if there is any ... smearing. Whip that up (in my case it is very very rare) and add some fresh substrate.

Pine seems to be a bit of a debate, I have read well respected sources that say it is ok and that it is toxic. I don't know myself so I'd avoid it.

I just had a thought isn't most paper made from pine? I would think bleaching and such would remove the oils from it. Just a passing thought...

For my bigger snakes I use paper, just because a bigger snake means a bigger mess. My albino and my spider and on aspen, though, and I like it. I clean out the whole thing once a month, but they're rather well behaved when it comes to not smearing their doodies around so spot cleaning is wicked easy. I always grab a good 3-4 inches around the pooh or urate, though, because of those access fluids.

As far as feeding them on it, I've never really had a problem with it, besides my spider who misses theh head all the time and then slobbers all over the rat trying to find it. The aspen will stick to the spit and I have to pick it off.

There's a downside to everything I suppose, but if you wanna try it then go for it.

I spot clean. I have a tablespoon as a turd removal tool. Solid stools are the norm and merely lifting them out without leaving residue is not a problem. When they pee, I use the tablespoon to remove all of the wet area and a little more which is replaced.
Many of my snakes keep their environment clean as a whistle and some of them are water spillers and get the most frequent aspen changes.
I determine the depth of the aspen based on the habits of the individual snake.
Since pine is suspect in many quarters I stick to aspen, though I suspect that by the time you see it in a store, the pine would be well dried out and wouldn't be a problem. If you got your pine shavings straight from a saw mill or something they may contain harmful sap.

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Originally Posted by sho220

I thought pine was toxic? Or could be if not kiln dried, or something like that... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...hreadid=115838

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x2

hear the same, why risk it, stick with aspen.

Nothing cheaper than news paper.

I do have about half my collection aspen. I put about an inch thick and they move it around a bit. I think the ones on aspen are happier. IMO I don't know!.?

We use about 2 inches of Aspen, and spot clean very similar to Dale. Poop comes out pretty easily without afecting surrounding Aspen. However urates normally get passed with a good amount of fluid as well, and everything that is wet gets removed. As far as full tank clean outs, as long as you are very liberal when spot cleaning, we can normally get about 1 year out of an adult tub before we break it down and clean everything thouroughly. (that normally happens right after egg laying season, as all of the females that ladi already have fresh cleanned tubs).

Hope that helps,

thank you all. i will try with one bp and see how it goes from there, the only one i'm worried about is my pastel, she looves to paint with her poop...LOL
now for all of you worried about pine, check this out...
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=121518

PS- also i have to agree, there is nothing cheaper than newspaper and i still have two big rolls of unprinted paper, hmmmmm

If spot cleaning is your thing....try Sanichips. Much easier on spot cleaning (it works like kitty litter by absorbing/clumping). With my BP's, I spot clean daily and replace every 6-8 wks....Doesn't last as long in my colubrid tubs but they're stinky little boogers anyway lol. Just be careful feeding your snakes in their enclosures if you use anything other than paper b/c of accidental ingestion of substrate.

Lots of good advice, I'll share what I do....

1-2" of aspen, which the BP and RTB manage to spread around to meet their needs. When they do either #1.5 or #2, I use a kitty litter scooper to get the area all the way to the bottom and I go out about three inches. I then use the huggies non-toxic, no-fragrance, etc. wipes to treat the area (as suggested for tub cleaning on RTB.com). When the snake sheds, everything is taken out, sanitized and new bedding applied.

That's been working great for me.

EDIT: forgot to add that I feed my snakes outside the tub for their first mouse/rat then after they strike the second I leave them on top of their hide.

I use aspen for both my snakes. My local walmart sells these little bundles of it for like 3.50 and one bag lasts me almost 2 months. I spot clean because mine dont mess everywhere, they usually do it in the cold hide and then switch back to the hot side. I do a full substrate change the last day of every month and bleach everything. My snake is just fine.

I have my kingsnakes on aspen and ball pythons and boas on paper. I spot clean the kings, their mess is small, they like to burrow and they are in tanks. The pythons/boas get a fresh tub when they mess, newspaper is fast, cheap, non toxic and absorbant plus the snakes keep up with current events;)

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

plus the snakes keep up with current events;)

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LOL, thank you all. i will try with one of my bp's and go from there.