Cypress Mulch question

[SteveySingle]

I can get cypress mulch from the local Lowes...it's super cheap...my question is: Can I trust it(Bag says it's passed some type of inspection and free of any pesticides, the only ingredient is "cypress mulch")? The pieces of mulch also seem pretty huge and bulky...still good?

[Croickie]

I use to use the cypress mulch from home depot for my corn snakes, but I noticed little bugs inside of it which comes from it being stored outdoors. I use aspen bedding from Petco, if you go to the small animal section you would see a huge block of it for about 7 dollars. It expands to 3x the size of the block and you're getting more for your money.

[SteveySingle]

I use to use the cypress mulch from home depot for my corn snakes, but I noticed little bugs inside of it which comes from it being stored outdoors. I use aspen bedding from Petco, if you go to the small animal section you would see a huge block of it for about 7 dollars. It expands to 3x the size of the block and you're getting more for your money.

Im currently on aspen and looking for something better to keep moisture high and smell down. Cypress seems to be very good at both of these...the bugs thing is my biggest concern.
Buying from Big Apple Herp is always an option I just hate paying shipping for anything so if I can get a comparable product locally I would rathergo that route

[Shey]

You can bake the hardware store cypress if you are only bedding for a handful of snakes (otherwise it's too much of a hassle) for 15-20 minutes at 250 degrees. I hear freezing for 24 hours also kills bugs (if you have a deep freeze you could just drop a big bag in for a day or two?) but I would trust baking it more. I believe most bugs found in cypress mulch are completely harmless, however. There is some research out there on it already, I just haven't the time to dig it up right now. Good luck!

[SteveySingle]

seems easy enough to just bake it...I did a search on here but theres just so much to sift through!! thanks for that info...kinda seems like somthing i should have thought of.

i grabbed a bag of the stuff from lowes for 2 bucks n Im trying it out.. house smells like dirt now but thats better than poop lol. SideNote: there is a never ending competition between the wife and I about who's room smells worse; the cats, or the snakes. Snakes are now winning!