Which is less "smelly" in a rack system?

[JasonG]

Paper or Aspen? Or is there another substrate that smells even less?

Currently I am using paper and I love how easy it is to maintain, but if the aspen provides a better scent "cover" then id love to hear about it.

Dont get me wrong, my snake room smells just fine, but if I dont get a chance to change the paper right away it can get what my wife calls, a "snake smell"....

[Freakie_frog]

I don't know how many snakes your keeping but I have 25+ and all but 1 is on paper and there is never a "snake smell" because they don't smell. Now if they paper is a little damp from urine or spilled water then that combined with the heat will produce a slight stale smell and poop is the only other smell I can think of. Spot cleaning and using a disinfectant every week when you clean will totally do away with that.

[JasonG]

I don't know how many snakes your keeping but I have 25+ and all but 1 is on paper and there is never a "snake smell" because they don't smell. Now if they paper is a little damp from urine or spilled water then that combined with the heat will produce a slight stale smell and poop is the only other smell I can think of. Spot cleaning and using a disinfectant every week when you clean will totally do away with that.

Right now we have 7... I think my wife is being neurotic.. LOLOL For instance.... I worked overtime last night and got home so late I passed right out... Didnt get a chance to spot clean any tubs that needed changing.

So my wife insists that when you walk into the room, theres a "snake smell"... I must admit I smelled it, but I think its just the fact that a tub or two needs changing. LOL

[Freakie_frog]

Right now we have 7... I think my wife is being neurotic.. LOLOL For instance.... I worked overtime last night and got home so late I passed right out... Didnt get a chance to spot clean any tubs that needed changing.

So my wife insists that when you walk into the room, theres a "snake smell"... I must admit I smelled it, but I think its just the fact that a tub or two needs changing. LOL

Sounds about right.. When they need to be changed or cleaned there is a slight smell.

But I have had people walk in my room and smell Oust! and fresh pine and swear it stinks to high heaven..

[JasonG]

Sounds about right.. When they need to be changed or cleaned there is a slight smell.

But I have had people walk in my room and smell Oust! and fresh pine and swear it stinks to high heaven..

LOL!!

on a side note... i think of the the asfs i picked up last weekend might be preggo...

[elevatethis]

I've tried both and I'll tell you that paper tends to smell less because you end up cleaning out the entire cage any time there is any "action" so to speak. With aspen, either you end up spot cleaning and never get all of the smell out, or you dump all of the aspen every time the snake pees, which is a pain in the arse and could get expensive (relative to paper).

If you have a massive collection and a dedicated reptile area, aspen is advantagous because it is more forgiving in terms of the time it takes you to get to cleaning after the mess is made - it absorbs a lot of the liquid waste and the extra smell isn't that big of a deal. Paper is much less forgiving, and especially with larger females, you'll want to get in there and clean as often as you can. Paper is probably a better choice for someone with a smaller collection.

JMHO. Hope that helps.

[Ginevive]

I like newspaper because it is just so easy to clean the tubs using it. I would recommend 2-3 layers though, since some snakey defecations can be pretty messy.. I just remove the snake, crumple the paper/waste up and toss it out, and then remove the tub to be cleaned with dish soap and scrubbed with a scrubbie sponge. No odor this way, in my experience, except before cleaning and after a big poop!

[Somed00d]

aspen gets smelly.. I try to change it out before it smells but sometimes you don't catch it. I smell each tub when my rack starts to smell, you can find the culprit pretty quick with this method. I don't have any proof but I think its a combination of high humidity and heat causing the aspen to mold. It could also be missed urine, if it dries before I find it? I spot check each tub minimum once a day and I still get the smell.

[m00kfu]

aspen gets smelly.. I try to change it out before it smells but sometimes you don't catch it. I smell each tub when my rack starts to smell, you can find the culprit pretty quick with this method. I don't have any proof but I think its a combination of high humidity and heat causing the aspen to mold. It could also be missed urine, if it dries before I find it? I spot check each tub minimum once a day and I still get the smell.

Yeah the aspen will start to mold and smells almost sour. I kept our corn snake on it for a couple weeks and that was enough for me, haven't used aspen since. On the other hand, we use cypress mulch now for most of our snakes and there is no smell at all. Might wanna think about giving cypress a try.

[jknudson]

I've used paper and aspen, and have always come back to using aspen. Like Brad stated, it's much more forgiving, I can spot clean every day, and then I dump everything roughly every two weeks and disinfect tubs completely.

No smell other than if you let damp bedding stand in the heated rack.