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substrate
Just curious as to what YOU use for substrate. I used newspaper, then switched to aspen a while back. I am finding aspen ALL over my house. its getting annoying. Im thinking of switching back to paper but i wanted to see what everyone else does.
Thanks!
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I use aspen in my tanks (2) and my DIY rack (4 tubs rack)....I use newspaper in my other racks. I find aspen everywhere too, it's a PITA...I'll probably keep it in my tanks for humidity but I'm definitely changing to newspaper for my DIY rack....
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Im tired of finding big clumps of aspen in the water bowls as well. it obsorbs the water and turns into a bowl of nasty that has to be changed every day if not more. Dealing with some pissed off females this time of year, im getting really tired of aspen haha.
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I use a coco coir (eco earth) substrate. I had big issues with wood chip substrates I'll never use them again.
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I used coco fiber before the aspen, that's 10 times worse than the aspen (mess wise...it does wonders for looks and humidity!) LOL. I'm just switching to paper....you're right lol.
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Re: substrate
Quote:
Originally Posted by SHROP
Im tired of finding big clumps of aspen in the water bowls as well. it obsorbs the water and turns into a bowl of nasty that has to be changed every day if not more.
x2! I'm going to use up the supply of aspen I have on hand and then switch to paper.
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Re: substrate
I use unprinted newspaper in my tubs and I won't use anything else ever again.
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Im a cypress user, and i wouldnt use anything else. Looks nice not too messy and hold humidity great!
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whats the price point on cypress? Ive been getting in trouble with my better half because there is always aspen in the bathroom trash can or on the bath mat or on the carpet or in the living room or in the bedroom, or in the sink lol. "oops" haha.
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i just got 40qts for 22 yesterday at an expo. i was pretty excited about that.
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I use papertowels for my BPs, mulch for my bloods and aspen for my hognose.
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I use the new eco-earth coco fiber substrate. It looks cool for a while but you have to fix it every day because when they go exploring at night they push it all over the place and leave half the tank bare. But it does seem to help keep humidity up fairly well in my tank.
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I'm a paper towel user. Easy to spot messes, does well with the humidity.
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Re: substrate
Currently for my ball pythons I use paper towel and newspaper. I use aspen for my corns and king, but I'm thinking of trying aspen in a few ball tubs to see if I like it.
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for those that use and prefer aspen here is where i get it. Great price and shipping prices are awesome. I use it for all my rats because of the price.
http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/P...ressed-Bedding
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I never liked paper products for bedding. I used Aspen for a long time before switching to Sani-chips. I couldn't find any aspen in my area that wasn't crazy dusty. Sani-chips have not been dusty at all for me. I've gone through 2 12 cubic feet bags of it ($10 each) and I don't see myself switching back. It almost clumps when wet, making spot cleaning a breeze.
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i just use repti-bark. its widely available in my area and i've used it for 10 years and never really tried anything else except astro turf for an iguana and calcium sand for desert stuff. i believe its made of fir. its somewhat messy but keeps the humidity up in all my tubs. around 70% at first and down to 55 60 by the time i change it, which is once a month (besides daily spot cleaning.)
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Re: substrate
Cypress mulch all the way. You can make it as moist or dry as you want. It holds humidity like nothing I have ever seen and it is great looking.
My Borneo python loves it !
Yosef
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I use the free newspaper they throw at my house on Wednesdays and Sundays. Occasionally I bum a stack from my mom and/or mother-in-law. :D Free is good mmmkay?
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Re: substrate
i use coco, it sucks cause i use the bricks and have to dry it for 2-3days in the oven before use, but it looks nice, holds humidity almost perfectly, and i can bury the water bowls in it so i can use tupperware instead of ceramic
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Newspaper.
1. Its free
2. Makes clean up easy
3. IMO its safer than any substrate.
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I think I'm the only person here who haaaaaates paper towels/news papers. They are horrible to use, for me!
I hate not being able to spot clean. Ah!
:)
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Re: substrate
I use coconut husk chips. Holds humidity well, easy to spot clean, smells good and isn't as messy as loose fiber like eco earth. I use eco earth for my toad and slate tiles for my leopard gecko.
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Re: substrate
Quote:
Originally Posted by CatandDiallo
I think I'm the only person here who haaaaaates paper towels/news papers. They are horrible to use, for me!
I hate not being able to spot clean. Ah!
:)
I think not having the ability to spot clean encourages a cleaner/healthier enclosure since you have to clean it out so often.
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We usually use newspaper, however we are using aspen at the moment, just for a change.
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i just got my 4yo twins to assist in getting the rest of the balls changed to news paper. I left a 40gl breeder on aspen to hold humidity, a pair that was locked on the aspen for now, and pissed off female that wanted NOTHING to do with me opening her tub lol everyone else accept two cal kings and two KSB's is now on newspaper. thanks to the freebie newspaper that gets delivered weekly. now if i could get my baby albino cal king girl to eat id be doing just fine lol.
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I'm using Eco Earth at the moment. :3 Looks nice, smells nice, makes humidity high for a little bit after fresh stuff is in, but not enough for condensation and it dries out after a few days
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Re: substrate
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcutting
i just got 40qts for 22 yesterday at an expo. i was pretty excited about that.
Is that a good price? :O
I just picked up a 5.5 foot compressed block of coco coir for 100$ it expands to just over 1000 quarts at about 9¢ a quart. That does me for 18 months.
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Re: substrate
Quote:
Originally Posted by kitedemon
Is that a good price? :O
I just picked up a 5.5 foot compressed block of coco coir for 100$ it expands to just over 1000 quarts at about 9¢ a quart. That does me for 18 months.
wow thats just crazy!!
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Im using plantation soil right now by Exo Terra. It was extremely good a month ago when I first put it in, but after this month, its drying out just as quickly as aspen would.
Im going to make the switch to cypress tmr. Ive heard mixing it 50/50 with coco-husk is not a bad idea so thats what Im going to try :) I dont know how you guys use aspen, it totally ruins my humidity. (im using a tank atm tho that might be why)
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i use cypress from lowes... spray some provent-a-mite in there and let it air out... 1 bag does 10 41q tubs... and it only cost $2.50 and it will last for a while as you only have to spot clean for a while
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(Cut/paste from the last time I posted about substrate)
I've tried a lot of different subs but in the end I went with paper for my bps. They don't "mess" that often so its not a big deal to clean up, but they can get messy themselves. I end up soaking them while I clean up their cage (viv, not tubs).
My Ratsnakes are in aspen, but they burrow a lot and need daily spot cleaning.
With adult bp's spot cleaning can mean removing large fist sized lumps of substrate to get all the soiled sub out.
I've tried majority of subs available here.
-I found dry Eco earth was very dusty, but clumped and cleaned easy. It was also either too wet or too dusty. My bp's kept sneezing from the dust. I also found it was constantly getting their water.
-Bark, when rinsed was good but really insulated against a UTH, 1 inch deep was about all I could put in, and almost useless with so little.
- I also tried a mix 50/50 Eco earth and bark but it ended up being the worst of both.
-aspen was good but still dusty and not cheap, also an insulator against a UTH.
I ended up using news paper, its almost free (mailers), dustless, little chance of injestion, and it doesn't insulate against a UTH for more stable heat. But there's no spot cleaning, the snakes can get messy, if water is spilled its not really absorbent. But when it is cleaned up, its clean.
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Re: substrate
My biggest issue with paper is that my bp will constantly shift it around. Both hides aren't too heavy and they are fine on aspen but get moved around everywhere when I had her on paper towels.
Any tips on how to around the paper so it doesn't move around so much?
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currently using repti-bark and underneath i use a thin layer of newspaper so they can't dig thru the bark and come in contact with the heater. next time i do a thorough cleaning i'll probably replace with cypress
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im going to feed this weekend so i hope the change from aspen to paper doesnt upset them.
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I use coco husk for Lily and it keeps the humidity up, but I've only had her for a week. The geckos are on paper towels because they poop alot and it's safer than sand.
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Re: substrate
Quote:
Originally Posted by eel588
I never liked paper products for bedding. I used Aspen for a long time before switching to Sani-chips. I couldn't find any aspen in my area that wasn't crazy dusty. Sani-chips have not been dusty at all for me. I've gone through 2 12 cubic feet bags of it ($10 each) and I don't see myself switching back. It almost clumps when wet, making spot cleaning a breeze.
I use the Aspen Sani-chips also, and love it. Spot cleaning is easy, no sharp points or splinters, when pieces do ocassionally stick to f/t feeders they are usually knocked off by the snakes mouth as it swallows, pieces that are accidentally ingested are small enough to pass through, unlike shredded aspen that gets stuck in the carpet, Sani-chips can easily be vacuumed up. Unfortunately, my supplier has decided to get out of the business, so now I need to find a new source.
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Re: substrate
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vypyrz
I use the Aspen Sani-chips also, and love it. Spot cleaning is easy, no sharp points or splinters, when pieces do ocassionally stick to f/t feeders they are usually knocked off by the snakes mouth as it swallows, pieces that are accidentally ingested are small enough to pass through, unlike shredded aspen that gets stuck in the carpet, Sani-chips can easily be vacuumed up. Unfortunately, my supplier has decided to get out of the business, so now I need to find a new source.
5 buck flat rate shipping, no matter how many you order. A buddy of mine and I went in together and got 2 bags of sanichips and about 8 bags of aspen. ea bag was boxed and shipped with its own tracking number. everything shipped for 5 bucks total.
http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/P...c-Foot-Bedding
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I use both paper and aspen. Aspen for the ones that are on display (okay, so most of them) and newspaper for the new babies in quarantine. I only use aspen over newspaper because I can produce it myself, and I don't have to worry about finding stuff in the aspen itself. I've found bits of metal, a few pieces of plastic - and my personal favorite - a dead mouse.
If it wasn't so easy for me to use aspen I make myself, and wasn't so cheap - I'd buy printless newspaper. Until then, I'll use aspen, and printed newspaper for the quarantine room..
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I'm gonna throw out my suggestion of Healthy Pet Pure Cellulose Dust Free cat litter. No other brand or type. This stuff beats aspen by a mile, is safe, absorbent, odor free, and just beats everything else i've tried by a mile and a half. Call me crazy but it works very well.
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Re: substrate
I currently use aspen bedding and don`t have any problems with it.I was wondering about saw dust though,Could i use it or would it just be more of a problem?
Reason for asking is i have a endless supplie at work.
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I use coco husk for my snakes now. We use it at my work and i love it!
Makes spot cleaning so much more easier. plus humidity is wonderful!
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Re: substrate
I use aspen for all my snakes
I use coconut and moss for my skink
I'm hating the aspen too though. I wonder if I can switch them to fleece liners like I have with my hedgehog. D; Would make life so much easier.
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Coconut fiber with cypress mulch ontop
a big bag of cypress mulch is 2$ at lowes and lasts me like a year.
when i switch to a tub rack i might use just the coconut fiber tho, or aspen.
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Re: substrate
The germans use "Tierwohl" alot. Or JRS what is similar to Aspen, just cheaper.
My problem is that iam allergic to all wood stuff. so im trying som coco husk now.
Second problem with that is, that the males get soak this stuff into the hemipenes and
get an infection!
Over here you cant get Cypress. Only the "ForestFloor"... 12 Euro for the smallest bag LOL!
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Re: substrate
I use coconut soft chips, holds moisture the best and keeps the humidity at a good level.
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The aspen shavings are a bit of a pain, but I use them in a pinch. The shredded aspen, on the other hand, is awesome. The only drawback is that you have to keep an eye on it for mold, as moisture will cause it to mold up eventually. It's extremely absorbent, stays put, and is easy to deal with.
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Re: substrate
Ive tried different bedding and I will stick to my blue shop paper towels. Work well for me.
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