Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...heres a few pics i took to show how much nicer shavings are to use as a substrate. these are actually an aspen and poplar mix, that i get from a feed store out where i live BFE,illinois. they are bagged by a company called "buchannan". 4-5 bucks a bale, great price. when i get a mess i just stick the shop vac tube in and suck out the bad shavings...add another handful and you are done. i usually change all the shavings a few times a year to keep them fresh. the first pic is two bolivs burrowed under the shavings, and the next two pics show a gravid female hog who pushed out a nice spot to coil part of her body on over the heat pad,,,,then she formed a "trench" to lie the forward part of her body in. this behavior interested me so one day when she left this position i spread the shavings flat to see if it was a fluke how she formed it. again she formed the shavings into the same shape. you cant get this natural behavior with a newspaper substrate. thanks for looking, john yocum

I have stayed away from Aspen, although I like it. I am still unsure about feeding on Aspen.

...is feed prekilled or f/t off of forceps, so they get a good clean strike. they rarely injest the shavings and when using this soft wood it passes right thru if they do. i would not use cypress mulch or pine as there are "splinters" in it and i believe is the reason i lost a female BRB a few years back. i use Sani-Chips brand aspen chips for all my babies for the past 10+ years and never had a problem. i went back and forth with using shavings and newspaper with the adults for the past 18+ yrs ,mainly due to price. sani chips arent exactly cheap. i found these large bales at a feed store for a great price last summer and switched over. i love the smell of wood shavings and i believe it absorbs the smell of the feces somewhat as well. thanks, john yocum

saying that as long as the rats were 100% dry, and so was the Aspen , they did not have problems with ingestion.

I still like paper towels for my babies, and yearlings. I just think that Aspen would be easier for my adults, since they can defecate a lot more. Also, I think Aspen is beneficial to gravid females so that they have a place to deposit their young, although many breeders use paper with no problems.

I have two reasons that I continue with paper, although I like the look of Aspen. First is, what if it (Aspen) has mites in it? Second is cleaning. If one of my snakes poops in its cage I am forced to COMPLETELY disinfect the cage. With Aspen I am worried that there will be residual fluid waste that can't be scooped up.

...if you disinfect the whole cage any time they defecate than i would stick with paper towels. also if your cages are in a bedroom over carpeting i probably wouldnt use shavings as inevitably you will get some in the carpeting. which reminds me...... as i was growing up i had tropical fish, parrots and reptiles in my little bedroom,,, i had to clean up one time with a rake,LOL! (cue the duelling banjoe music now). when i met my wife i was forced to culture up a bit (why do they do that to us!!) and the two homes we owned have had designated "snake rooms". my current one is in my basement with a concrete floor which makes clean up a snap. thanks, john yocum

My boas are kept in my bedroom, but there are hard-wood floors.

Thank you for the input though.
Also, I love that Bolivian. Amarali are the most fun to work with!

Try putting down a fold of newspaper, then feeding them on that. so they cannot ingest the shavings, and no bloody messes get into the shaving. Havent tried it, its just a thought.
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0.0.1 Pastel
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow


Clicky Clicky

i have done it before when i was nervous about the shavings,, but when you are feeding close to 200 snakes it can put a serious dent in your scrabble playing time...i guess you could just leave the paper in there,but so far i have never had a problem even if they do injest a few pieces. j yocum

is that of lazy folk that only pick up the poo, leaving behind the shavings that all the liquid waste soaked into. You can't even really tell how far the liquid waste spread, unless it is still wet. I would think weeks or months of sitting in chips that had been soaked in liquid waste could be harmful, especially since all that liquid waste will be multiplying weekly or every couple of weeks with each poo. I like your shop-vac idea, at least that can pick up the whole nasty area, rather than just the poo.

I could be wrong though...they may weather the dried, cruddy chips just fine...It was only a concern of mine.
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

the shavings are so absorbent the liquid is contained in a smaller area then if you have paper, i just take out a sizeable area with the shop vac or a scoop. plus i change the whole thing periodically. jy

I just made the switch this week, and I love it. My Boa moves through the aspen enthusiastically. I get the impression that the more natural feel is comforting to the snake. So far so good.
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2.1.0 Kidletts
0.0.1 Ball Pyhton (Rex)
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn (Maizey)
0.1.0 BCI (Ruby)
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

My bolivians do the same thing. They like to burry themselves
just like Dumerils do when they're young. I kind of hope they
grow out of it.

None of my other boas or pythons do...

Newspaper is just too fugly, however cheap and functional...

I use those thick, paper, sales type brochures from the Sunday
newspaper & feed them on those.

Interesting thing is that it seems they have picked up on the
fact that once I put the paper in the corner of their cage they
will soon get fed, like a Pavlovian conditioned response...

If I switch, it will only be my 18 pound, 4 year old, 6'plus female bci first. Larger animal, larger plumbing, more easily passed if ingested. I'll have to feed F/T dry, too, as I'm used to feeding after thawing the last few minutes in warm water. You guys are making me think about it. There are pros and cons to both.

get small sani chips for the babies, the sani-chips brand is very tiny like 1/4 by 1/4 inch. i have had small snakes on that for many years without a problem. oh yeah i wouldnt feed a wet rat on it,,,,just let them thaw completely before feeding. john yocum

where to get something called Keepers Choice I use to used this wood shavngs many years ago I can not find them any more.
Where should I look?
Thank you,
Jole Pretz

where is this feed store ? I also live in ILL.not BFE but little north of there and I've ben looking for a new source for aspen shaveings the feed store I deal with does'nt carry them

is there really a town called BFE (bum #$%&@* egypt)??? i get my shavings at D and H country supply in yorkville. but just call a few feed stores and ask if they carry "buchannan shavings" they are a producto de canada. so i am sure they are shipping them all over. i have had good success from them. i am sure there are other companies packaging it. john yocum