Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know many people use cypress mulch for substrate (I will be using it for ball pythons) and I was pondering whether or not to do the same. I saw some at Lowes today and was debating if I should buy their cypress mulch or not. I was concerned with the possibility of bugs/lice/mites in the mulch b/c the bags were not sealed completely.

I know I can bake it in the oven to kill any bugs but for the amount I need to use that would take me forever. Any other way to kill the bugs in the mulch?

How many people that use cypress mulch have bought their mulch from Lowes or Home Depot or any other commercial home improvement/lawn and garden store?? What if anything, did you do to kill any pests in the mulch?

Everyone's opinions/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
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Michael

Cypress mulch works great for ball pyhtons, it keeps the humidity at a great level, and look good to boot. as far as debugging it, what i do is go to the camping section of wal mart and get some sawyers tick spray, and open the bag spray a puf in mix it around and spray another in for good measure. let it air out and then use. i have never had a probelm with bugs when using cypress mulch. you can also use seven dust. the 5% kind in the same manner put some in and mix it around. both are harmless to snakes, and i have been using them for years to ward off mites and all that good stuff

froggy
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The next time the shuttle lands, lets all get dressed up in ape suits and charge at the astronaughts yelling and ranting. That way they can try to figure out where they took a wrong turn.