Thoughts on cypress bedding?

So I've ran out of aspen for my snakes and I've been kicking around the idea of trying cypress bedding like the Zoo Med or Reptile Basics stuff. What are your thoughts on it as far as those who have used it and aspen? I've heard a lot that it comes with wood mites in it. Anyone ever find this true? And how do your snakes seem to like the stuff? Find any sharp "prison shanks" in it? My humidity sits around 50% now so I wouldn't need it for humidity really although getting up to 60% I guess could be ok. It's mostly for just a change in scenery I guess as I've used aspen for a couple years now.

I use the stuff from Reptile Basics and it's awesome. I think the folks complaining about bugs, large chunks, and sharp edges try to cheap out by getting the blended "cypress" mulch for gardens. They are absolutely not the same product.

I use it for my BRB's as they require 70% humidity or higher, and aspen just molds very under those conditions.

You use it for boas and BPs? Im just wondering if it will give too much humidity and promote scale rot. And yeah I wouldn't cheap out. I'd probably pick up the Zoo Med Stuff for right now to see if they liked it and if they did, I'd just order a couple big bags from Reptile Basics. I'm just wondering it is too much moisture for BCIs and BPs.

I've used it over the winter for ball pythons BUT between the heat pump and wood stove the relative humidity in the house is under 10%, and I just put it in the front of the tubs on the cool side in the rack, with paper covering the rest of the tub, to maintain humidity. Now that spring is here only the BRB's are still on cypress, the BP's are all back on nothing but paper, and my colubrids are on aspen.

If your BP's have been doing ok on aspen then there's really no need to switch to cypress mulch.

Yeah true. I was just looking at something different as atm my bp and baby sunglow are both in 40 gallon breeders and I wanted to change up the look lol.

And the BP has thrived on the aspen. She went from a 102g 12" baby in November to now a 1028g 3' fat girl. My sunglow though I've only had 3 weeks but she seems to like burrowing in the aspen to "play" I guess and then goes into one of her hides when she wants to sleep.

Oh forgot to ask also, how often do you completely switch out the cypress? I know with aspen, I throw it out every month and chlorhexidine down the whole cage and replace fresh aspen.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Oh forgot to ask also, how often do you completely switch out the cypress? I know with aspen, I throw it out every month and chlorhexidine down the whole cage and replace fresh aspen.

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Man, IMO, 100% cypress mulch is the best substrate to use for bp's. I don't want to say that for boa's bc I haven't read on the effects it has with them. Colin Weaver of ECRB has a good article titled " the enigmatic ball python appetite" where he discusses the benefits of using it with bp's. How 100% cypress mulch has a proven positive effect on the feeding response in bp's. The article is a "must read".:salute:

I use cypress with my bp's haven't had a problem and I switch it out once a month during my deep cleaning cycle

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Oh forgot to ask also, how often do you completely switch out the cypress? I know with aspen, I throw it out every month and chlorhexidine down the whole cage and replace fresh aspen.

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Same procedure with cypress.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Man, IMO, 100% cypress mulch is the best substrate to use for bp's. I don't want to say that for boa's bc I haven't read on the effects it has with them. Colin Weaver of ECRB has a good article titled " the enigmatic ball python appetite" where he discusses the benefits of using it with bp's. How 100% cypress mulch has a proven positive effect on the feeding response in bp's. The article is a "must read".:salute:

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Yeah see my BP has no problem eating. If anything she is too hungry. She has a stronger feeding response than either of my BCI. Every week like clockwork, she is out of her hide and standing up like a cobra striking at shadows for food. the sec I put her pre killed rat in front of her, she slams it. And I know im not underfeeding her as she is 3' and 1028g and two days ago she pounded a medium rat down. I was really worried she wouldn't get it down. It was HUGE. She ended up holding it in her coil and powering it down, then went into a food coma in her warm hide. I think I am going to actually skip next week as she is really fat now. And this on aspen. So like I said, cypress would just be for me. It would help with humidity a little as right now im sitting at around 50% +- 3-4%. Although I do want to read that article as that seems interesting.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Same procedure with cypress.

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Ugh that would be spendy compared to aspen. I pay about $11 for 60qt of aspen now. Buying Zoo Med cypress local would run me about $60 for 50qts and if I ordered it from Reptile Basics, it would be $28 for 52qts. I might just stick to aspen :P

If you don't mind it not being finely shredded you can buy cypress mulch from your local lawn & garden shop. I pay $8 for a 3 sq foot bag at mine

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Originally Posted by ajmreptiles

If you don't mind it not being finely shredded you can buy cypress mulch from your local lawn & garden shop. I pay $8 for a 3 sq foot bag at mine

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I would kind of be scared of getting mixed stuff or critters in the stuff. Ever find anything like wood mites or stuff? Also with it not being double milled, you ever find large splinters in it? Ro are you sifting it very closely before hand?

I do remove rather large pieces of debris when I'm changing the bedding. As for the wood mites I have seen a bug from time to time but I haven't had a problem with any kind of outbreak or them doing harm to my animals.

Ah nice. Yeah I imagine like a breakout of wood mites in my house lol.