Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two burms and have just started using an organic cedar mulch. I have used cypress before but now wit the 6' x 6' cage I started using ceadr it seems like the same texture and hold moisture as good but smells better and is $4 for 2 cu. ft. Rater than $30 for 1cu.ft. Has anyone used this before?

You probably couldn't have picked a worse substrate. It is well known that cedar is toxic to most reptiles. I would STRONGLY urge you to chuck everything, scrub the entire cage down and hope that you didn't already do permanent harm to your burms (I would even find a way to get some pure oxygen pumped into their system if that's possible). For now, I would just keep them on newspaper until you know that they are okay. After that, either stick with newspaper, or, use Aspen if you prefer a wood type of bedding. Hope you heed this warning.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>I have two burms and have just started using an organic cedar mulch. I have used cypress before but now wit the 6' x 6' cage I started using ceadr it seems like the same texture and hold moisture as good but smells better and is $4 for 2 cu. ft. Rater than $30 for 1cu.ft. Has anyone used this before?
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Thanks for the help could I use pine mulch is this any better. Do you have any suggestions on the mulch that I could use. I am pretty sure that pine bark is used could I use pine mulch. I have only had the cedar in for one day thanks for the advice.

cedar will KILL them for sure. Cedar exudes compounds that are lethal to reptiles, snakes in particular, I would use the newspaper like rob suggested and hope no long term health problems arise. Most beddings are not suitable for larger pythons anyway. Newspaper although less pleasing to the eye is the best all around substrate, cheap and easy to replace daily if necessary.

below is a good link for you to read CLOSELY!!!
Use of Cedar as a Substrate for Reptiles and Other Pets

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Frank Roberts
R&R Herpetological Frank Roberts & John Rodriguez

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Roberts'Realm of Reptile Research

Do Not use Pine bedding either. Please read the article that Frank linked. There is a lot of good info on that site.

IMO Aspen is the best bedding if you want to use wood. Most pet stores sell it and I'm almost positive any reptile store would sell it also.
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Pete

1- 0.1 Boa Constrictor
1- 1.0 Patternless Green Burm
1- 0.1 Pueblan Milksnake - Apricot phase
1- 0.0.1 Honduran Milksnake - Tangerine phase
1- 1.0 Ball Python
1- 0.1 Rainbow Boa
1- 0.0.1 Cornsnake - Blood