Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yeah, the economic troubles have hit me, so I'm trying to cut corners. I was thinking about using some sort of towel or cloth for my snakes, since I'll be saving quite a bit of money that I would be spending on all those bags of cypress and aspen mulch I get every month. I have heard horror stories of large pythons swallowing towels and such, but the largest snakes I have are a ball and a rainbow boa, and if I monitor their feeding, which I do anyway, I don't see a problem. Plus I figure I can wash the towels every week and use them indefinately. As long as I keep them a hide with moist moss in it, which I also do anyway, I don't see a problem there either. I can't use the "repi-rugs" or whatever they are called, as all my snakes are in custom built plastic "display-like" cages. Any advice or feedback is most welcome and appreciated.

How about newspaper. Go out on recycle night and get as much as you need...much better than a towel.
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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

I don't know about towels, but I'm switching all mine to cage carpet. I know you are using custom enclosures so dod what I did. I went to Home Depot and bought some indoor/outdoor carpet(6ftx3ft was only $9.00) and cut it to the sizes I wanted.

your indoor/outdoor carpet is going to be a bio hazard mat that is impossible to fully clean in just a short time.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

I agree with Robyn, don't take this personally bigbearhook, while it sounds like a good idea, indoor/outdoor carpet or astroturf or cage carpet is probably the worst choice for any reptile as a substrate because it will undoubtedly sooner or later become a "filth house" for bacterial and fungi, because there is no way to "really" fully clean and dissinfect it, or keep it dry, increasing your chances for pathogenic problems, not to mention probably abrasive and irritating to the skin, the two combined bacteria/fungi and skin irritation could become a deadly combo. You would really be better off with a bare tub quite frankly and wash it once a week or after defication. If you want to cut costs "recycle" and use yesterdays newspaper, it doesn't get any cheaper than free. Get it from a friend, neighbor, relative, business, where ever, everyone has access to free newspaper one way or the other.
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Jeff Benfer
1.0 cinnamon pastel Python regius
1.1 pastel Python regius
1.1 mojave Python regius
0.3 normal Python regius
1.3 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.2 double het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
2.3 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
0.2 het Christmas albino Thamnophis radix
1.1 double het cherry erythristic, albino Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 melanistic Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
2.0 66% het snow Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 triple heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 butter p.h. stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 carmel stripe p.h. amel Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 amelanistic p.h. carmel,stripe Pantherophis guttatus

Thanks for the advice. I've had them on an aspen blend, but that ended in massive amounts of mold. I have used newspaper but I have all mine as display animals and it just looks bad. I might try the compressed coconut husks. I live in northern Colorado and our humidity(or lack there-of) is a PAIN to deal with. I'm just trying different things to cope with it. The last thing I need is for my babies to get sick. I assumed the carpet would be easy to keep clean. Thanks again for the advise!!!

Ya man if I had a display tank, I think the coconut chunks would be a great choice, but keep the substrate dry, to raise humidity in the air try a larger water dish and covering most of the top, adjusting how much you cover to achieve the desired humidity, and add a small fogger if you must during the winter time. Best of luck
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Jeff Benfer
1.0 cinnamon pastel Python regius
1.1 pastel Python regius
1.1 mojave Python regius
0.3 normal Python regius
1.3 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.2 double het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
2.3 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
0.2 het Christmas albino Thamnophis radix
1.1 double het cherry erythristic, albino Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 melanistic Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
2.0 66% het snow Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 triple heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 butter p.h. stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 carmel stripe p.h. amel Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 amelanistic p.h. carmel,stripe Pantherophis guttatus

We are also in Colorado, in Denver.

We have used Sani Chips for a few years now, and I like it quite a bit. It doesn't get moldy or funky like the aspen, which was always a pain for that issue.

You could also use Cypress mulch. Very difficult to find in Colorado (there is just one local spot that I know of to get it) but a good workable substrate that you can directly add water to to increase moisture.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Where do you get your Sani-chips? Also where can you get cypress at a reasonable price around here?

I mix newspaper and aspine. It lets me slowly switch them over to just newspaper and it doesn't stress my snakes out as much. Plus it really cuts down on the ammount of aspine I use. It is working very well for me.
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Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
1.0 Yellowbelly (Lovin' a friends breeder girls right now)
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

You can buy a three-pack of Bed-A-Beast (coconut husk) for 10 bucks S&H at LLLreptile. Thats a LOT of great substrate (480 quarts worth if you do the math!) for not a lot of money. The stuff can be spot most easily and more effectively than aspen or newspaper and holds humidity much better than both.

I don't know what you pay per bag of aspen or cypress... I know cypress is expensive. I'd be surprised it's cheaper than this though.

My BP (on this bedding) just shed two days ago... 100% perfect shed, eye-caps and all. And thats in a 40 gal. terrarium, where everyone says it's so hard to maintain proper humidity.

In Florida Cypress mulch is $1 per 30lb bag on every corner.

In California it is worth its weight in gold.

It all depends on how far West you live.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

lol i sure found that out when i ordered my pallet i had to get it from the east cost i could not find anywhere local to get it a pet store is fine for someone that only has one or 2 snakes but i have alot lol but i found it inpossible to find it in oregon and it took me months to deside to do this i went to newspaper but had to change it alot more then went to aspen i dit not have to change it as much as aspen but it spent more and got moldy easy and my snakes started to get bad sheds and eye caps. but in my opinyon cypress is for sure the best ball python bedding you can use if you can afford it
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reed at www.ReedsDragons.com & www.KillerEnclosures.com

Try coconut husk, seriously. It's cheap, holds humidity better than cypress, and it's also more ecologically sound.

cypress is exspensive so i ended up buying aklot of 2 cubic foot bags more than ill need in a year or two lol but it was cheaper than buying it at a pet store and i figured at the shows here i can sell some. but if i did not do that i would use aspen or news paper
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reed at www.ReedsDragons.com & www.KillerEnclosures.com