countryside accents Cypress mulch from lowes

is it any good ? it says organic . i put it in one of my tanks . havent put a snake in it yet . needed to boost humidity a little and it seemed like my newspaper wasnt gonna do it no matter what . i use lights to heat my tanks " i was raised doing it and the guy who showed me my way into reptiles did too with 0 issues " it worked humidity is up to 55% and i didnt even dampen the mulch yet . question is . has anybody else used country side accents before ? its at lowes and is only $4.69 for 3 cubic feet . nice sized heavy bag it says organic on it so i figured it cant hurt them ,

Does it say 100% cypress or does the word "Blend" appear anywhere on the bag? If "blend" then it's at least 50% pine.

I can't find it online to better inform you. So my opinion is, if it is a "blend" than it may contain pine which is bad for the snakes. If it is not a blend and it is pure cypress and you can find out is has no pine in it, then you should be fine.

I personally pay $10.30 for 4.3 cubic feet of all natural Aspen.

"Countryside Accents" is trademarked by Grant County Mulch, Inc in WV. I would call them tomorrow and find out exactly what is in it before putting a snake on it.
http://gcmulch.com/index.php

i asked lowes representatives and they said its just cypress . the bag does say blend though . i already put my 2 adult BP's in it , i tried aspen but it did not hold humidity at all

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Originally Posted by juggalodudz

the bag does say blend though.

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There's your answer, it's not 100% cypress.

What's the point in asking for advice if you're going to ignore it and just put your snakes in it anyways. Your humidity problems all stem from your husbandry. Just because that's the way you did things in the past does not mean it's the way you should do things now. In the past I used to use heat rocks but that was 20 years ago and things have changed and improved since then. I have no problem maintaining my humidity and all I use is paper towels. The difference is I use a bin with an under the tank heater. If you use like to heat a tank you will have humidity problems. You'll have to keep missing that much regardless of what its made out of to maintain the moisture. When it says it's a blend it could be anything. Do yourself and your snakes a fever and get rid of that mulch and the light.

Well how do you suggest getting ambient temps up ? My house stays 75 degrees at the very most. Uth does not bump ambient temperature up. Just that one spot gets warm. I don't know about rack systems they are probably more effective in that case. And seems like a heater emitter would do the same as a bulb. .... Snakes are both in shed and humidity was at 16. Furnace is also drying up the house so that just made it worse. Humidity has been stable at 65_70% since yesterday. So it kind of does make a difference what you use. Lol

To up ambient temps you can either use a heater to heat the room or use a che/heat bulb but that option will further kill humidity.... And yes it does matter what you use... Its also very important to not use substrate that contains a wood know to cause health problems in ball pythons regardless how much its helping the humidity none of that matter if you make the poor things sick in the process

Also if you are using a screen topped cage you can cover majority of the top in aluminum foil and move the water bowl partly onto the uth to help create humidity in the tank.

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Originally Posted by juggalodudz

i asked lowes representatives and they said its just cypress .

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I hope you learned, do not ask them anything besides "where can I find *item*?"

I use the royal garden cypress blend. its what lowes/home depot sells here. I called at they basically said it contains pine but is mostly cypress. I will say when they stock it I like the pure cypress better since it is normally shredded better. however its been a while since I've seen it.

People freak out over pine, but I don't see any reason to. Sure you can find a few real studies that show respitory problem when breathing in pine dust. Obviously this is a problem in woodworking and mills and things like that. It could even be an issue in rodents which create a lot of dust by chewing it into dust. however snakes just crawling on it? yeah im not seeing the issue. I've always heard of oils being toxic but find no real backing to this claim and given the numerous amounts of people who keep snakes on pure pine, I wouldn't worry about it personally until something other than hear-say says otherwise.

cedar on the other hand I haven't seen or even looked for studies on it's effects on snakes, but from working with it, I know it can get to me quickly and it does produce an obvious oil. Knowing this with a few horror stories of snakes passing quickly or having problems while on it basically made me never even consider it. it is naturally weather resistant which is great for out door furniture, but chances are not so great for snakes.

Those people are also using pure kiln dried pine witch is known to be safe... Not pine still containing the oils known to not be safe for reptiles

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No reason to give up like that, you cared enough to ask... Just take the simple advice and adjust your setup

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Originally Posted by M.P.C

Those people are also using pure kiln dried pine witch is known to be safe... Not pine still containing the oils known to not be safe for reptiles

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show me anything that suggests it is not safe besides hear-say

I use the Cypress from Loews. I don't have the bag, but I do remember that the wording was squirrelly so as to make me question it. I dumped the Cypress into a tub with 128 holes to help with pre-drying.

I first checked with a local breeder who houses about 50 snakes. He had not had any problems with it.

I been using it about 4-5 months without issue.


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Actually the fumes from pine and cedar can cause fluid build up in the lungs causing a tendency toward respiratory infections in snakes kept on it. There is a possibility of skin lesions from the oil, as well. I personally wouldn't take a chance on putting snakes on it just to save money. Sometimes saving money might be more expensive in the long run.

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Originally Posted by M.P.C

Those people are also using pure kiln dried pine witch is known to be safe... Not pine still containing the oils known to not be safe for reptiles

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Originally Posted by marya1962

Actually the fumes from pine and cedar can cause fluid build up in the lungs causing a tendency toward respiratory infections in snakes kept on it. There is a possibility of skin lesions from the oil, as well. I personally wouldn't take a chance on putting snakes on it just to save money. Sometimes saving money might be more expensive in the long run.

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

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In the mean time many breeders have used Cypress Blend for DECADES without any single issues. :gj:

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Originally Posted by marya1962

Actually the fumes from pine and cedar can cause fluid build up in the lungs causing a tendency toward respiratory infections in snakes kept on it. There is a possibility of skin lesions from the oil, as well. I personally wouldn't take a chance on putting snakes on it just to save money. Sometimes saving money might be more expensive in the long run.

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

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I have found actual studies on pine dust causing issues, never came across anything about fumes. Also nothing about oil as well. I've actually never heard of a snake having any skin issue related to substrate, not to say it couldn't happen but given the amount of people who keep them on pine (no not just horse pellets), i don't see much validity to the pine claim.

I've been using cypress blend on and off for at least 6 years and consistently using it for the last year or more, and its not about saving money, its about doing whats best for the animal with my husbandry. Cypress keeps the humidity where it needs to be, clumps well to make spot cleaning easier, almost never molds, also keeps the smell down when they do go. Would I prefer pure cypress... yes, it normally comes packaged better and offers the same benefits as the blend. but availability is my issue. So I contacted the makers of the blend, found out pine was the major addition and did my own research on pine toxicity. Needless to say I didn't find any source to many of the claims floating around this hobby. Also seeing many experienced breeders have evidence that directly contradicts the claims against pine, I don't feel I am taking any chances at all currently.

I just use regular pine bedding. Nothing to do with money, I like it far better than aspen. Better odor control, better absorption, far less molding.

Hey all got a call back . it has pine in it . but its steady with humidity . seems to help my temps too lolidk how but my temps went up a few degrees and it needed too anyways . both snakesare eating fine pooping fine and showing no issues . male shed great . and I agree i haven't found anything but people saying it bad with no hard proof besides. ( I heard from my. Brothers friend's cousins) lol so I'll stick with it ty tho for the info