Native Earth Aspen

[MasonC2K]

Any one use this stuff?

http://www.amazon.com/Native-Earth-S..._petsupplies_2

I use Sanichips right now but this stuff seems more bang for the buck. Almost twice as much aspen for the same price.

[MasonC2K]

I guess no one has used it. So I'll be there first to try.

[JohnNJ]

I have used it and the sani-chips. I think the sani-chips make it easier to spot clean so you don't have to clean out the entire tub/tank as often. Plus, I think the sani-chips are easier for the snake to pass if they swallow some while eating.

[ChrisS]

I've never used this brand of aspen, but would be interested to k ow what you think of it. Let us know how it works for you.

[dart]

I've used it for my snakes and hated it. Gets everywhere. I now use paper towels and probably won't ever use anything else. I still use it for my rats though and it works great for them.

[satomi325]

I use it. But I use it more for my breeding rats than snakes. I have tried it on my snakes, but they tend to push the aspen around to the edges of the tub leaving them exposed to the heat strip. Once the aspen piled upon each other at the edges of the tub, they just stuck together at the edge (probably due to the shape). And I couldn't get the heat just right to accommodate whether or not the snake was on top of the aspen or if they were directly exposed to the tub bottom. It was either too cool on top or too hot on the bottom. So I ended up switching back to newspaper.

I recently got a new rack that is back heated, and I may use this kind of aspen again since it wouldn't matter whether or not the snakes buried themselves or not. But I wouldn't use it again for belly heat.

And if you feed in tub, it does get slightly messy if your snake 'drools' during a coil.

Overall I do like it in general. It smells good and isn't like aspen shavings. However, I would only use it for my rats and not my snakes. I just don't like how it clumps to the side of tubs(more so w/ my big girls than the little ones).

[wolfy-hound]

I use it and love it. If it's still on the National Pet Pharmacy site, they have the OMG sized bales for $10+, and I'm probably going to get a autoship order of 5 bales, so it's free shipping.

It's good for my snakes, and my rats love it. For 4.4cubic feet for $11, can't beat the price.

[JohnNJ]

National Pet Pharmacy and Pet Food Direct will never see another order from me. KMA

That aside, I did not like the shredded aspen for my rodents either. It compacted quickly, was not very absorbent and did absolutely nothing for odor control.

I highly recommend Tractor Supply FINE Pine Shavings (5.5 cu. ft.) for $4.99 and Equine Fresh Pine Pellets (40lbs) $5.49 for rodents. Price varies by store.

I use either sani-chips or paper towels for the snakes.

[Shadera]

I tried one bag of it on my snakes once, and didn't like it. It was way too dry, and I could easily imagine my snakes getting those sharp bits of aspen wedged into tender mouth tissues when eating. It may have just been my particular bag, but those things were like toothpicks.

I buy sanichips 3 bags at a time from NPP and PFD. They aren't perfect, but they do the job best for my situation.