Repti Carpet?

Thinking of getting repticarpet for my BP tank, but what are the pros and cons of that and would it be better than aspen bedding? I dont want anymore mites! Also if anybody knows how do you sanitize zoomed sphagnum moss, and zoo meds aspen bedding? Thanks :)

I'd honestly stay away from it. I used it for awhile, it's a major pain. You can't spot clean very well, it's very thick, doesn't transfer heat very well, you need at least two pieces for the tank when you wash one of them. If you want something similar, go for paper towels or newspaper. Cheap, simple, and easy to replace :)

By sanitizing, I assume you mean before placing it in the enclosure? I don't think it's really necessary, but for the moss you can either freeze or drop it in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Freeze or bake for the aspen.

You will constantly be washing/replacing the carpet. It's way more of a hassle than it's worth. Aspen is a good choice, it looks nice, it's easy on the digestive system if they accidentally eat some, it holds humidity, and it's inexpensive.

Id just go with paper towels...its what we use for all of our snakes. Makes cleaning sooo much easier. You just throw it away when it becomes soiled. That repticarpet is basically just glorified felt. It holds bacteria, not to mention you cant see where the snake made liquid pee unless you feel it. And like someone said, you better get two pieces, that way you can always have a clean one on hand.

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Originally Posted by MarcsReptileShed

Thinking of getting repticarpet for my BP tank, but what are the pros and cons of that and would it be better than aspen bedding? I dont want anymore mites! Also if anybody knows how do you sanitize zoomed sphagnum moss, and zoo meds aspen bedding? Thanks :)

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If you're fighting mites, the aspen is absolutely why you can't get rid of them. You have to use paper while treating or you will never win. Repticarpet is hard to clean, more trouble than it's worth, if you ask me. Sphagnum needs to go while treating mites too. You might want to do a search of the forums for mite treatment, there are many with good advice.

If you have mites, the only way you're going to get rid of them is to treat them. It's also best to keep everyone on paper towels while you're ridding your collection of mites.

A lot of people suggest PAM (Provent-A-Mite) which can be found here:

http://www.pro-products.com/index.ph...d=53&Itemid=59

Read all directions carefully!

Recently changed from repti carpet to eco earth, sooo glad I did!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4

I removef the aspen and moss right now i only have a hide and paper towels and his water bowl, ive been spraying the tank with RID evey 3-5 days along with spraying him very lightly and soaking him in warm water in the tub. Although paper towels are my temp substrate, i personally would like tp have a good looking display tank. I just need to find out how to santize the aspen bedding before i put it back which wont be for about 4-6 weeks just to make sure all of the mites are gone.

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Originally Posted by MarcsReptileShed

I removef the aspen and moss right now i only have a hide and paper towels and his water bowl, ive been spraying the tank with RID evey 3-5 days along with spraying him very lightly and soaking him in warm water in the tub. Although paper towels are my temp substrate, i personally would like tp have a good looking display tank. I just need to find out how to santize the aspen bedding before i put it back which wont be for about 4-6 weeks just to make sure all of the mites are gone.

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The aspen you have now needs to be thrown away.

Should i moisten the aspen before i freeze it or just throw it in the freezer? Any instructions on baking it either? Thanks :)

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Originally Posted by MarcsReptileShed

Should i moisten the aspen before i freeze it or just throw it in the freezer? Any instructions on baking it either? Thanks :)

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Is this a new batch of aspen, or is it your infested aspen? If you haven't already, ditch the old stuff. I've personally never baked aspen, but if you freeze, definitely don't moisten!! Otherwise you'll end up with a sloppy mess when it thaws lol. I used to freeze my aspen, but don't any more. Not worth the hassle IMO. Never had a mite problem either *knock on wood*.

It's very unusual to get mites from the aspen. If you want to stick with it go ahead after the mites are gone. I would get it from a different source though. It seems your previous source probably had a mite problem. It doesn't come from the manufacturer that way. I wouldn't try to salvage your current aspen. It would cost you more in the long run to have to keep battling mites than getting new bedding.

DO NOT use the old bedding you had on had. This is coming from someone who just finally got rid of a bad infestation. Aspen is cheap when compared to the cost and labor involved if you have to keep fighting a mite problem.

So you understand where I'm coming from, I finally tracked down what I believe was the cause of my problems, and it was a couple bricks of eco-earth that were in a drawer in my snake room still in the package. Figured this out when a snake in QT got mites after being in my house for over 2 months. I had just changed out her bedding and a week or so later she was covered in them. Needles to say I trashed that bedding and the remaining unused brick and bombed the darn things out of existence.

^^^Agreed! Ideally you'd like to get your bedding from a store that doesn't sell snakes/rodents to rule out the possibility of mites. I usually get mine at Walmart :) That doesn't mean you can't get bugs that are specific to the bedding, but at least those don't affect your snake.

The mites did not start in the aspen, i threw the old away, but i do have eco earth that i just opened for my tree frogs, should i chuck that too? I bought eveything from petsmart bcuz thats better than my local petstores prices. Everything that had mites i threw away which was the substrate and the moss, soaked his plants in RID for a couple days, same with his hide and water bowl, than i wahes his water bowl in the dish washer, just in case. Ive been soaking him in the tub and spraying him lightly with the rid than rinsing him pff after i rub it "into" his skin.