Question for all you spot cleaners

[jben]

Hi,
lately i've been thinking about giving this aspen or pine a try, i've always used paper, even back in the days but i'm willing to give anything a try. so, i'm guessing that when you spot clean urates it's very easy but how about when it's poop, do you spot clean or do you clean out the whole tub? i personally like the idea of a clean and disinfected tub. how much substrate do you put in the first place? 1/2", 1"? thank you for your advice.

[2kdime]

I HATED spot cleaning

They always seemed to run through their poop and it would get all over the whole tub, so I'd have to change it out completely.

I also HATED trying to feed on loose substrate

When I used it, it was about an inch deep.

This is just my experience

I'm back to paper, for good.

[Vypyrz]

I try to keep it about 1/2 to 1 inch. I'm more concerned with the 1/2" on the warm side to allow heat dissipation. As for spot cleaning, if it is poop, I will scoop it out and the top layer of substrate where it was laying. If they pee, I dig it all the way to the bottom of the enclosure. If it soaked all the way down, I will spray Chlorhexidine on a paper towel and wipe the bottom of the enclosure where I removed the substrate and replace it. I do a complete cleaning and substrate change once a month or, if they smear poop all over the place or F/T blood gets squirted everywhere.

[sho220]

I thought pine was toxic? Or could be if not kiln dried, or something like that... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...hreadid=115838

[kitedemon]

Personally I just remove the area around uranates or poop and check to see if there is any ... smearing. Whip that up (in my case it is very very rare) and add some fresh substrate.

Pine seems to be a bit of a debate, I have read well respected sources that say it is ok and that it is toxic. I don't know myself so I'd avoid it.

I just had a thought isn't most paper made from pine? I would think bleaching and such would remove the oils from it. Just a passing thought...

[Tochigi_R]

For my bigger snakes I use paper, just because a bigger snake means a bigger mess. My albino and my spider and on aspen, though, and I like it. I clean out the whole thing once a month, but they're rather well behaved when it comes to not smearing their doodies around so spot cleaning is wicked easy. I always grab a good 3-4 inches around the pooh or urate, though, because of those access fluids.

As far as feeding them on it, I've never really had a problem with it, besides my spider who misses theh head all the time and then slobbers all over the rat trying to find it. The aspen will stick to the spit and I have to pick it off.

There's a downside to everything I suppose, but if you wanna try it then go for it.

[dsirkle]

I spot clean. I have a tablespoon as a turd removal tool. Solid stools are the norm and merely lifting them out without leaving residue is not a problem. When they pee, I use the tablespoon to remove all of the wet area and a little more which is replaced.
Many of my snakes keep their environment clean as a whistle and some of them are water spillers and get the most frequent aspen changes.
I determine the depth of the aspen based on the habits of the individual snake.
Since pine is suspect in many quarters I stick to aspen, though I suspect that by the time you see it in a store, the pine would be well dried out and wouldn't be a problem. If you got your pine shavings straight from a saw mill or something they may contain harmful sap.

[don15681]

I thought pine was toxic? Or could be if not kiln dried, or something like that... http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...hreadid=115838

x2

hear the same, why risk it, stick with aspen.

[Jason Bowden]

Nothing cheaper than news paper.

I do have about half my collection aspen. I put about an inch thick and they move it around a bit. I think the ones on aspen are happier. IMO I don't know!.?

[muddoc]

We use about 2 inches of Aspen, and spot clean very similar to Dale. Poop comes out pretty easily without afecting surrounding Aspen. However urates normally get passed with a good amount of fluid as well, and everything that is wet gets removed. As far as full tank clean outs, as long as you are very liberal when spot cleaning, we can normally get about 1 year out of an adult tub before we break it down and clean everything thouroughly. (that normally happens right after egg laying season, as all of the females that ladi already have fresh cleanned tubs).

Hope that helps,