Reptile & Amphibian Forums

can i use the big bags that u find in the garden center at lowes and homedepot?

Yes make sure they are organic haven't seen any that weren't, but just do that to be on the safe side. It usually has no additives, because it is used as ground cover and not a planting material. Don't get your humidity to high because it can cause scale and belly rot. Aspen is really all you need. I use the kaytee bags from petsmart. they are huge, fill more cages, and so that makes it cheaper.
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

i work at petsmart and that stuff puts off an aroma. will that cause any RI's?

I have never had a problem with it. I guess it just smells like what it is, aspen. i don't think odors cause RI. The I is for infection. That would mean a bacteria or virus of some kind that is introduced from an outside source. I don't think any reptiles live in those aspen shavings to cause that.
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

Jody,

Try to find Aspen at a local feed store! You'll be SHOCKED at the price difference!

You can use cypress from the home centers but some of it is died red and you don't want that kind. You could also possibly be introducing bugs, mites or who knows what when you use stuff that has been stored outside.

Aspen is a hard wood and doesn't have the aromatic oils that pine, cedar and other soft woods have, so there wouldn't be any respiratory problems with it.

love those chips!!
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Bluegrass Reptiles llc

by the time I buy one bag of the chips and ship them here, I could buy 3 or 4 of the bags at petsmart.
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Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz

1.0 albino
1.2 het albino
1.0 het caramel
1.0 het pied
0.1 poss het. pied
0.4 normals (beautiful pastel sibs)

Don't know where you live, but look around, you might be surprised!

used them for awhile but the miniscule chips got everywhere. i have some custom habitat systems caging with sliding glass doors - really mucked up everything.

i'm sure for tubs they're great.

I heard that there was cypress and cypress blended......I haven't seen the blended......it has cedar in it I hear....

I use cypress from Lowe's.....$3.40 a bag or so........doesn't do all that many cages ,but I use aspen too......open top racks cypress and closed type (Boaphile) racks aspen).......

......no bugs , no problems, no little bags from KayTee.....NO square sani-chips...you want to swallow square???.....bad enough they swallow round, long and shredded stuff...but square?....(swallow a handful of wheat chex without chewing them up?)...

.......aspen, cypress, and if you worry about them eating the stuff at all....newspaper is th best stuff of all....

.........
have fun......Jeff
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.........2.3 yellowbelly.....one normal and a really cool black back /heavy patterned.......

.....today.......BEE time........? how many?.....(hope for 6.)......aaaahahahaa.....!
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I've used cypress and I really like it I just didn't like the little wood flies that seem to come with every bag I've used. I started using sani-chips and I love it. No bugs, it's super absorbent and the snake room smells like I'm sitting on fresh cut hardwood flooring. It's like a ski lodge in there. Plus it vaccums up really easy compared to cypress which gets stuck in the threads of the carpet. I'm in pretty good with the owner of a petshop and he orders it for me so I don't have to pay shipping. it's a win win.
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Bluegrass Reptiles llc