Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have always used the standard wood chips, but this tends to dry out kings, mountain kings esspecially. Obviously a moist hide can easily counter this. But what about using Cypress? It would eliminate the need of a hide; instead one corner of the cage could be sprayed.

The only problems I could see would be cleanliness. It may be hard to see the feces.

I noticed Mike Russo Does this for his Bamboo rats, at least that's what it looked like in his picture. Great pic BTW.

I'd love to hear from you wood chip alternative enthusiast.

I have never liked chips or even aspen shavings in the end as they allow moisture to build inside the wood allowing all sorts of molds and bacteria to grow. Additionally particulates from either chips or shavings, if not the chips or shavings themselves, are bound to be ingested or inhaled by the snakes causing issues like obstructions, respiratories, and the like. Cage liners though not attractive seem to be the best option these days but when I was keeping I used paper towels in the end (we didn't have purpose made liners).

cypress is fairly mold resistant. I had one problem with mold when I tried it (briefly) with tree boas, but I wound up keeping near saturation point for weeks in an effort to get humidity up...and at that point yeah mold grew. Otherwise it's been fine. Aspen on the other hand...get that stuff wet and if you don't pull it ASAP you'll have funky green-black stuff growing in no time. I hate hate hate hate hate aspen (although I'm allergic to it...that certainly plays a part!).

Cage liners though not attractive seem to be the best option these days but when I was keeping I used paper towels in the end (we didn't have purpose made liners).

Who do you buy your cage liners from?

Just wondering if there is anyone with better prices.

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www.Bluerosy.com

"Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8".

"They that can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." -Benjamin Franklin

I've always preferred aspen, but cypress works just fine too. We've used it for all kinds of kings with zero problems for a long time. Cypress is always a better choice if you need higher humidity IMO.

cypress has been my favorite substrate for many years, in large part due to this. Only downside is seasonal availability. No stores here will have it in stock again until spring *sigh* I've used it on corns, kings, retics, boas, balls, vines snakes, savus...almost anything I've kept. Sand boas didn't seem to do as well on it--harder to dig in I guess or something. It's easier to manipulate humidity with cypress than newspaper, IME, and aspen. What I do is just put down a saucer, or cork hide, or something similar, and heavily mist under it...keeps a great local humidity.

Part of this may be that I've always lived in dry climates--even Colorado's pretty dry--so even moderate humidity snakes have needed more humidity than available without misting and/or moist hides.

Thanks for all the replies! I will try both methods and go with whatever works best. Cage liners seem to be the easiest and most sanitary of the three. But does it provide enough for the snakes needs? Where do you get your liners?

http://www.cageliners.net/ ???

Cypress works well. So does coir fiber. I have used both with success. Where the cages are now, I can't have particulate substrates. Now I use the alternative methods below.

Alternative:
Cage liners (or newspaper) plus a shoebox filled with sphagnum moss will pretty much meet the snake's needs.

I use a 2" hole saw and cut a hole out of the side of a plastic shoebox. I cut another hole in the lid roughly center. Fill with damp sphagnum (that new ZooMed $15 moss is the best moss I have used ever in the world) and put the lid on. Then, either set the box partially over a heat pad or up against a heat pad mounted vertically against the cage wall. The hole in the lid allows the moss to dry out in time. Rehydrate as needed.

Another thing that works is a piece of either 1 1/2 or 2" dia PVC pipe. Spray the inside with water. Snakes love PVC pipe hides. My only challenge now is keeping it from rolling when the substrate is paper. A 90 deg elbow on one end helps. My latest one uses a few beads of epoxy putty to support the pipe.

You can get cage liners at the link you provided, or the same product (dimpled Kraft paper) from Uline. I use the dimpled kraft paper plus some newspaper over it - snakes like to hide in the newspaper folds when they aren't in the pipe or moss box.
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Mark

Hey Thanks Mark,

I'll give some of those ideas a try.

I would strongly suggest you read the package first. Many of these products state "Cypress Mulch" on the front of the package, and on the reverse, they state the stuff inside is a "blend". They may contain other kinds of wood, including redcedar, melaleuca, eucalyptus, Brazilian Pepper, or other woods known to be toxic to some herps. There is even one company named "Cypress Mulch Brand"; it ocassionally contains a single piece of cypress in the bag. Also keep in mind that this is a product manufactured for the gardening industry; if it is treated with colorants or other chemicals, it might not be labeled such. Because it is not manufactured for the Herp industry, chances are individual manufacturers have not tested its compatibility with reptiles.

I had done some research on Cypress. The distributor I used had two different plants to ship from. The sales person was very familiar with the reptile industry and specifically directed me to get the cypress from one plant and not the other. As said some cypress has be raked and harvested from the ground making it not suitable for reptiles. The one he told me to get was harvested right from the tree, shaved. Best stuff I ever used. It can be reused as well. Hosed down cleaned and used again. Try that with another mulch...lol Kalmar Corp but you have to buy bulk and you are welcome to pick it up from their plant.