Opinions on EcoEarth substrate

[Sauzo]

Thanks everyone. I was mainly concerned about it being harmful if my sneak ingests it. Since he has a screen-top cage, it's probably best to keep the EcoEarth to keep the humidity as high as I can.

If you have a screen top glass tank, then for sure stick to Eco Earth or some other humidity holding substrate as you will have a much harder time holding humidity.

[Zincubus]

I haven't looked much into Orchid bark - I haven't seen it in stores around here.

Sorry ... it may be known as reptibark over there ..

[cchardwick]

I looked up Repitbark, looks like it's bark from a fir tree, that's not what you want to use for snakes. Also, be sure to look at the expanded volumes when comparing prices. Reptichip expands to 72 quarts, hard to beat that. Right now it's $22.95 on Amazon with free shipping, that's $1.28 per gallon. I can't find anything cheaper per volume unless you are talking just using straight paper, which is a high maintenance mess and doesn't hold humidity at all.

[predatorkeeper87]

Thanks everyone. I was mainly concerned about it being harmful if my sneak ingests it. Since he has a screen-top cage, it's probably best to keep the EcoEarth to keep the humidity as high as I can.

not something you need to worry about too much. When you feed simply drop a papertowel over the EE and feed on that, if your snake gets a bit of it on the rat when wrapping it up its no big deal either, as long as they don't fill their mouth completely full. Just be mindful, watch them and if you notice the snake acting oddly check its mouth for some substrate that may have gotten stuck.

[Zincubus]

Sorry ... it may be known as reptibark over there ..

See how it enhances the colouration of the snakes ..



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[Zincubus]

I looked up Repitbark, looks like it's bark from a fir tree, that's not what you want to use for snakes. Also, be sure to look at the expanded volumes when comparing prices. Reptichip expands to 72 quarts, hard to beat that. Right now it's $22.95 on Amazon with free shipping, that's $1.28 per gallon. I can't find anything cheaper per volume unless you are talking just using straight paper, which is a high maintenance mess and doesn't hold humidity at all.

Maybe it's not ReptiBark in that case ...

In England it's called Orchid bark or apparently Reptile Bark .

There is a photo of the stuff in the post above ..


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[vikingr]

I just switched from zoo med forest floor (cypress mulch) to zoo med eco earth (coconut fiber) and have slightly better humidity retentionin an exo terra cage. A bit more messy but think I prefer the way it looks so likely will be combining until I use up the cypress… throwing in a little dampened sphagnummoss has also helped increase humidity.

My only concern is reading some reviews that stated they got snake mites in the aforementioned substrates? I hope that’s not the case with zoo med bedding… I’m buying from Amazon versus a pet store and haven’t seen this (and hoping to not have to treat the substrate first).

[sneksNferts]

I used to use it. My BP is a derp sometimes. He constricts his f/t rats after he grabs them and sometimes after he unwraps he forgets where the head was. He would roll it around and get it absolutely caked in EcoEarth, which led to it getting all over his mouth. I even tried feeding him over a paper plate or a towel and he'd be a big idiot and roll it off into the dirt. I switched him to paper towels for now but it's a lot more maintenance, I'm probably gonna try Reptichip next.

[Sensismell]

I recently switched from eco earth to reptichip. I didn't have a problem with ball pythons, but my jungle jag carpet missed her target at a couple if feedings and because the eco earth is so fine she got a mouthful of it where it seamed to cake her mouth shut. i eventually had to rinse her mouth out and it was really stressful for her. Now with the switch to repti chip it's a lot more chunky. She had one miss but instead of taking in her mouth a chip got stuck to her tooth and she was able to work it out herself.

[Zincubus]

I just switched from zoo med forest floor (cypress mulch) to zoo med eco earth (coconut fiber) and have slightly better humidity retentionin an exo terra cage. A bit more messy but think I prefer the way it looks so likely will be combining until I use up the cypress… throwing in a little dampened sphagnummoss has also helped increase humidity.

My only concern is reading some reviews that stated they got snake mites in the aforementioned substrates? I hope that’s not the case with zoo med bedding… I’m buying from Amazon versus a pet store and haven’t seen this (and hoping to not have to treat the substrate first).

I've never quite understood that suggestion of a substrate containing SNAKE mites , how would they get there in the first place PLUS how would they survive without blood ?

I got the impression that any mites brought in to a house were simply ON bags of substrate or whatever has been purchased from a reptile store