Aspen as substrate?

[viron]

Just about everything I have read on Blood Pythons concerning substrate suggests that you use either cypress mulch or newspaper. My obvious question is can you use aspen bedding as an alternative?

[Smulkin]

My wife uses aspen for her corns, and used to house her young ball pythons on it.

Given the humidity needs of a blood, how they seem to have a proclivity to make quite a mess getting water all over and finally the ease with which wet aspen can mold I'd venture to say it would not be an ideal choice. You'd be as well off with newsprint as you would with aspen.

[viron]

OK, well...I'm not really concerned with molding. My cages & tubs are checked / spot cleaned at the very least twice a day. I use aspen for all my other snakes, but since I recently aquired the two bloods I wasn't sure if there was any special reason to not use aspen bedding other than what you have already mentioned.

[Smulkin]

It does tend to kind of sponge up humidity - but if you think you can counter that and avoid the mold go for it. What are you keeping it on now? For what it's worth - if you have a substrate that the blood can work its way under they more than likely will.

[viron]

Since I received them this past Thursday (26th) they have been on aspen. The male burrowed initially but as I type is laying on top near one of his hides. The female however has pretty much stayed underneath...moving back and forth from hot side to cool side every now and then. From what I've read this is normal behavior for a blood in order to feel *secure*. Occasionally she will be in either of her hides but still burrowed underneath the substrate. Is this in fact "normal behavior" or something I should be concerned with?

[Smulkin]

It is normal behavior. They are ambush predators and their natural environment is marshy and allows for that. The only thing I would be concerned about them burrowing in aspen is how dry it is - and being in that much surface contact (when burrowed) well you get my point.

Unless conditions demand otherwise I keep mine on newspaper and have a cat litter box filled with moist sphagnum they can lay around in or burrow in - they use it with great frequency. We got a cold snap not too long ago and I had to crank up the heaters down here which resulted in the room humidity dropping sharply. At that point I just kept them on full sphagnum. The nice thing about sphagnum is the high acidity content makes it harder for mold/mildew to get a foothold (possible - just not prone) This is not a prescription - just an observation based on the 3 we have. It's early in the day yet - other blood owners will chip in I am sure!

[viron]

Well I think I'll let them go ahead and continue to acclimate until next week, and then go by Home Depot and pick up some sphagnum moss. Speaking of which...do you use sphagnum moss or sphagnum peat moss? And last but not least, does it matter which one you use?

[Smulkin]

Just sphagnum.

I've usually ordered mine online at tolerable prices from mosserlee.com (local resources not being the most varied out here lol). http://www.mosserlee.com/products/lfsm.html

[viron]

Thanks for the link...I was expecting it to cost more. You know, concerning the humidity...the tubs I have them in with the aspen hold humidity around 75%-80%. I've also read that keeping the humidity too high can/will eventually cause an URI. What do you keep yours at?

[Smulkin]

Mine hovers around 65%. Took some tweaking with melting vent holes in the enclosure to get it where I wanted it. It can be a juggling act sometimes trying to keep humidity where you want it while also avoiding air stagnation.