Hi BP.net gang, glad that I found this thread. I'm JT, the owner of Reptichip LLC and On the Ball Pythons. Would like to take a second to clear up any misconceptions and to answer any questions that you may have about Reptichip. More information can be found on our FAQs page at our website (I won't attach a link here, as we want to be cognizant and respectful of anything that could be perceived as advertising...but for interested parties, it's very easy to find).

First and foremost the advantage over cypress: We ceased using cypress due to the rampant destruction of wetland habitats. 68% of the US wetland habitat has been destroyed since 1970 due to the deforestation that occurs to produce cypress products and mulch. A cypress tree takes 40 years to grow to size...so there is no such thing as a sustainable cypress product. We moved to chipped coconut (of the absolute highest quality) which is a sustainable and renewable resource. Here are a few articles for those that are interested in learning more about wetland habitat destruction caused by the cypress logging industry:

http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi...=facsch_papers

http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/2015/...tland-forests/

Having bred ball pythons for over 10 years, I've used the gamut of substrates (aspen, newspaper, liners, cypress, different types of coconut, etc..). What we've found is that Reptichip has superior absorption and odor control qualities that far exceed those of triple milled cypress. You can see customer reviews of the difference here.

As for the quality and location that we source our coconut: just like any natural product, there is a wide variety of qualities of raw product. Sri Lanka is widely regarded as having the highest quality of coconut available (a fact that we confirmed here during 9 months of testing). Beyond that, we source from specific locations of inland Sri Lanka where the coconut is not exposed to the salt that is found in coastal coconut products. From the plantations, coconut then goes to our manufacturer where it is highly washed to remove remaining salt, minerals, and tannins that can be found in other products. From there it goes to processing where the coconut is chipped, inspected, pressed, and packaged. Some people assume that because the size of different brand of coconut blocks are similar, they all must be from the same manufacturer or source...this is not the case. The reason that the blocks are similarly sized is that there are only a handful of molds that will fit the German machinery that most manufacturers use to compress the coconut. So far I've seen coconut from Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia, and Vietnam all use the same sizes to compress their product. The quality of the product that is inside the packaging is what matters to us here.

There are many differences between the manufacture of Reptichip and other agricultural based coconut products; the main being that we've invested the time (and money) into ensuring that our manufacturers know and understand that our customers have significantly higher standards than the horticultural industry when it comes to the care and health of their animals. We implement this through our QA/QC at the manufacturer, and here at Reptichip main.

I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have here or in private. My contact information is on every block of Reptichip as well, to include my personal cell phone number, so please fee free to reach out to me at any time. I appreciate the opportunity to share a little more about Reptichip...thanks BP.net!

JT
512-828-2545