Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Yall, TRY this one more time. Need help with cage liners. looking at Bogus paper, indented kraft paper, corrugated paper, and newsprint. FLOOD took everything I had and am in need of assistance in finding out the most absorptive and mold resistant materials. I cannot evidently provide the company name I am buying from. SO this is a blind request for help. I have a very commonly used company in mind. Looking at available materials I am hoping to find something superior to newsprint. JUST too thin to be practical and a time saver. I have 70 Ball pythons that have been displaced in the Iowa Floods. Looking for reliable and EASY. QUESTION: is the idented craft paper more absorptive than newsprint? #2 is Bogus paper a viable option? I have tried Aspen bedding in the past. I found it too insulative and of course WAY too much bulk plus it is certainly doing NO favors to the tree populations. Any paper is a obviously trees but the paper is a more conservative mode. COMMENTS PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!! you can email me direct with company names or W.H.Y. littleleeper23athotmaildotcom.

I wish I could help you, I only use aspen now as it is the only substrate (besides diamond/care fresh) that allows spot cleaning and in my expierience actually soaks any waste liquid away from the snakes belly. My theory is that even if a snake urinates in the morning and you clean it by that evening, that snake layed in urine for 12 hours and that is too much for my liking.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

Hi Josh, I just have not had that much luck with aspen. I found that if they spill the water bowl it molds REALLY BAD!!! Do you find that you have trouble getting the BELLY HEAT to the animals. It seems to me they have a hard time finding the basking sites. All of my "big breeder" friends use aspen with obvious success. I cannot get diamond fresh in Iowa and aspen is very hard to find. I always find the shredded stuff that seems to get stuck in their mouths. Sanichips are IMPOSSIBLE to find!! LIKE THAT STUFF!! But I have even seen that get stuck in the mouth in the past. Lee

In my experience, when aspen gets stuck on their mouth nothing really bad happens. Only once have I had an issue and that was when I was trying to feed f/t rats and the aspen would really stick to the rats. One het pied female of mine struck really hard and had a piece of aspen lodge in the roof of her mouth into her nasal cavity. It was a tiny piece and I didn't notice it until she developed a resp. infection. Removed the sliver of wood and one course of baytril and she is all good and has eggs in the incubator due to hatch in the next week. Other than that I've never had one bad thing happen due to aspen. As far as the basking spot, I keep my snake room at 86 degrees and basking areas of 90 at the surface of the aspen and usually the snakes stay on the cool side except for the day after feeding. Very rarely the animals will burrow down into the aspen to get closer to the heat source and on the PE temp gun, their body temps will measure from 91-93 when they do this which is usually only a couple hours right after a meal. If you are having trouble finding the shredded aspen, contack Harlan teklad and see if they have a distributor within driving distance as it is well worth picking up a truck load once a month in my opinion.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto
J&K Reptiles

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, an amel tiger retic female, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

What has worked best for me is one sheet of indented kraft paper on top of one sheet of bogus paper. The bogus paper is pretty absorbent and fluids will usually pass through the kraft paper into the bogus paper limiting the puddle size that the animal is exposed to on top of the kraft paper. The bogus paper gets really soft once its wet so it's not the best choice by itself. If you have a source for pre-cut bogus paper, please email me at piedpeddler@aol.com. I spent too much time cutting up my last roll of the stuff.
Paul