Cypress Mulch

[BrandonB]

I have 1.1 BRB that I have a hard time keeping the humidity up with. I heard that using cypress mulch as bedding and keeping it moist can raise humidity up a lot. Is there a special brand of mulch I need to get or can I just get it from lawn and garden places?

[lord jackel]

Any type of 100% cypress mulch is fine...but you need to make sure it is 100% there are a lot of "blends" especially at home improvement stores which contain other woods (mostly cedar which is really bad).


When you first put it in it will more than likely raise the humidity to near 90%+ then come down over the next week or so (you will need to make sure it comes down quickly a day or 2 otherwise you risk an RI). It will eventually dry out and drop your humidity back down again and you will need to spray it to keep it up. The overall benefit of cypress is that the constant misting doesn't grow mold quickly unlike aspen or other woods. (cypress is mold resistant)

[frankykeno]

I'd look for double milled cypress mulch if you can find it. It's more expensive but it is much nicer to use as a bedding and doesn't have the sometimes large pieces of wood in it (they can be very sharp and sliver-like). Also always make sure it's untreated mulch and you may want to dry it a bit before use. Any cypress I've ever got from a garden center was almost soaking wet in the bag.

[qiksilver]

cypress mulch is great for humidity, but not for my snakes. My rainbows HATE mulch. Everytime I put it in, they push it all into a corner and lay on the opposite corner. Since humidity has to be above 70% I just reduced my ventilation holes. It was working well, but I moved them recently due to a drastic change in my living conditions, and now I'm having condensation problems since now they're in a basement which is a lot cooler than the cage. So once I'm all situated again I'll have to play with the vents again. But I was working great before that.

Try Cypress too though, and I hope it works well for you, since it didn't for me.

[littleindiangirl]

jglass knows alot about rainbows, PM him, i think he'd be glad to help

[BrandonB]

Ok I will go pick up a bag and try it out thanks for the advice.

I send jglass a message to ask for some other advice.