Substrate

So I was looking into substrates for burrowers. And well, obviously I've looked at aspen.. but another substrate has come to my attention.

Tell me, is there anything bad that anyone has heard about this stuff?
https://www.nibblenest.com/10Expand....oductCode=1165
They have quite a lot of it cheap at a pet store by me and a friend of mine uses it for her corn snakes and says it works perfectly.
I'm just a paper towel person and this substrate is about as close to crupted up paper towels as it gets. :]

Thanks everyone.

Personally, I've found every Carefresh product to be extremely dusty and just out of the package, it stinks. It's also VERY expensive.

For the Ball Pythons, I've used paper towels, cypress mulch, aspen, newspaper, indented kraft paper and medical exam table paper(white paper on a roll).

Definitely stay far away from any substrate that is dusty(ReptiBark is one of them as is Bed A Beast when dry) as it can start coating the inside of the snake's lungs and lead to a respiratory infection. There's a young man on here with a female albino Ball and he has been battling an RI with her for 3 months all because he used Carefresh. Snakes can't cough and aren't able to expel that dust like we can, so it just sits in there making their one functioning lung more and more useless.

Cypress is nice and looks natural. You can get it at Home Depot or any garden center for around $2 a bag.

Indented kraft paper can be purchased at www.uline.com. You can also get unprinted newspaper there, among other things.

Newspaper is generally free, and aspen is in BIG ol bags in the small pet section($12 at Petsmart for a 4 cubic foot bag not expanded).

I've only ever used Bed A Beast with my tarantulas and my baby box turtles. It has the tendency to grow white fuzzy mold sometimes and can be a bit dusty. It would get expensive though to change out everytime the snake defecated/urinated.

I use newspaper for all of the Ball Pythons and the Beardie, just because of ease of cleaning and it's easy to obtain.

Alrighty then! That answered my question. No carefresh for me.

Aspen seems cleaner (like pine would) than cypress mulch.. which seems like it would have a lot of dirt?

When I use cypress, it doesn't have much finely ground stuff, just nice little shredded pieces of the wood.

If you don't have humidity problems, aspen is a good one to use. If you do have humidity problems, then try the cypress. I've fed snakes on both and they do fine.

Just FWIW, I'm not big on spot cleaning, I find it very gross. Snakes pee.. LOTS! And all of that wee just slips underneath the bedding not getting absorbed.

The indented kraft paper or unprinted newspaper is nice with a sprinkling of aspen on top. Looks very professional and clean. Just trying to give you some ideas :)

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

When I use cypress, it doesn't have much finely ground stuff, just nice little shredded pieces of the wood.

If you don't have humidity problems, aspen is a good one to use. If you do have humidity problems, then try the cypress. I've fed snakes on both and they do fine.

Just FWIW, I'm not big on spot cleaning, I find it very gross. Snakes pee.. LOTS! And all of that wee just slips underneath the bedding not getting absorbed.

The indented kraft paper or unprinted newspaper is nice with a sprinkling of aspen on top. Looks very professional and clean. Just trying to give you some ideas :)

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Thats what I think I want to do for my boa! But have one side a bit deeper for burrowing. Jimis boas don't use hides soo thats my plan for it.
Thanks again, your too kind. :]

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

The indented kraft paper or unprinted newspaper is nice with a sprinkling of aspen on top. Looks very professional and clean. Just trying to give you some ideas :)

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Yeah, this is what I do with great success. Is put down news paper, then aspen or cypress mulch on top. Works very great that way.

As for the carefresh, I wouldn't use it just because it's soooo expensive. We use it for our rabbit's litter box, and I haven't noticed it to be dusty at all. Is it possible that whoever had the bp with the RI got it from something else? Or maybe he was using a knock off brand of lower quality? Because, honestly, in my experience it would be fine for a snake bedding. But for housing 30 snakes its just too expensive.

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Originally Posted by blueapplepaste

Yeah, this is what I do with great success. Is put down news paper, then aspen or cypress mulch on top. Works very great that way.

As for the carefresh, I wouldn't use it just because it's soooo expensive. We use it for our rabbit's litter box, and I haven't noticed it to be dusty at all. Is it possible that whoever had the bp with the RI got it from something else? Or maybe he was using a knock off brand of lower quality? Because, honestly, in my experience it would be fine for a snake bedding. But for housing 30 snakes its just too expensive.

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Hmm, maybe it was an off brand. There are like 2 or 3 different carefresh types in the first place that I've seen, and I'm sure there are other brands.
I agree that it's expensive, which is why I think aspen + papertowels will work well. :]

Definitely stay far away from any substrate that is dusty(ReptiBark is one of them as is Bed A Beast when dry) as it can start coating the inside of the snake's lungs and lead to a respiratory infection.


OH GOD! reptibark is plenty moist at its driest stage.if you want to use it and are affraid of this accusation,spray the bark once a day lightly.these animals are burrowing creatures in the wild and if dust was that big of a issue they would all have RI in the wild.ive heard the ink in newspaper is toxic,im not sure how true that is but people still use it.i have a friend that insists on corn cob.it is so dusty,especially since he neglects to clean his tank but 1 time a year.also his temps are at 75 ambiant with no uth or heat tape.his animal has never been sick and eats great.im not saying this is safe for his animal but if dusty conditions cause RI and low temps provoke sickness,he must have one superhero of a snake

If you don't want to use alot of the aspen bedding. This is what I do for my bp George.

I lay newspaper down, add paper towel, & then some aspen under both hides. :gj:

Dear Butters.. Have you ever breathed into a bag of reptibark or sifted it to see the enormous amount of dust that it exudes? It's also dyed red, so if you want your snakes to be rusty brown on the bottom with their nostrils and heat pits caked with it, go right ahead and use it.

And your friend who is keeping his snake at 75 without any supplemental heat.. THAT is called surviving. What you want the snake to do is THRIVE, which his very likely isn't.

And where in the world did you learn that newspaper ink was toxic? It's made from vegetable ink! Very safe. If it was toxic, wouldn't you think everyone who handles a newspaper and gets black ink on their hands(aka everyone in the world pretty much) would have cancer by now? Newspaper is perfectly safe to use.

The dust in the wild is not manufactured, dyed dust(which reptibark is), and the animals in the wild have a MUCH different immune system than captive animals do.

i have and do it every time i get a new bag.it smells great!also smells good once you have misted it.i have heard in this forum that ink is toxic(hence buying unprinted rolls) like i said i dunno how true it is.as for dust ive tried aspen and it seems to be a lil more dusty than bark.

DONT USE CAREFRESH! That is what gave both of my snakes Major RI's. I regret ever even seeing or touching that stuff. I literally hate that stuff. Just use paper towels. All that bark and aspen stuff could also cause problems + you can easily see if there is poop or pee on paper towels. If the snake burrows and poops or pees you might not be able to see it. That is until everything in that area molds up a week later. Paper towels are easy to clean and isn't not dusty. Good luck!

I use nothing but carefresh and I have used it for years, carefresh is not dusty however I use the origional carefresh not the stuff you have pictured... I dont like aspen it can get lodged in the snakes mouth... Ive never had a problem with carefresh and it is very good for keeping humidity lvls right.... Ive never had a problem with odor from it either... Aspen shavings have a much stronger smell than carefresh...

If you do use it dont get cheap non namebrand stuff... That stuff is dusty....

Also it costs about the same amount as aspen bedding... If you buy mulch its a lot cheaper but I dont like to cook stuff before I use it.... If you buy the huge bags of carefresh the cost is a lot less....

Just putting in my two cents.

I've been using EcoEarth, which you can also find under the cheaper brand name "ForestFloor". It's compressed ground coconut fibers, and it's been working excellent for me. It's very attractive, retains misted moisture for days and days, and so far hasn't grown any mold and isn't dusty all. It's kinda a pain when changing the substrate, since you have to soak the bricks and then wait for them to expand and dry before putting it in your cage, but it's not such an inconvenience for the clean look and other benefits. It spot-cleans very well too.

I know you said you looked at aspen, but did you look at Sani Chips? It's aspen in a small square chipped form. The chips are very smooth and when I was using them, they were not as dusty as aspen. I quit using them because it was making too much of a mess in my herp room...and the snakes were getting a bunch of the chips in the water bowls. I think it would be good for burrowing snakes like KSB's though.

Newspaper people.... Newspaper......

Or indented (or not) kraft paper. It's a medium brown color and looks great in cages and tubs!!

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Originally Posted by mcavana

Newspaper people.... Newspaper......

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Haha, I already use newspaper/paper towels. I'm getting a burrowing snake so I need something that it'll feel safe in, considering jimis boas don't use hides and I want the availability for them to burrow.

How would indented kraft paper work for burrowing? I don't think I understand like I'm supposed to.. :oops: