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Aspen bedding

DJW Sep 20, 2003 03:21 PM

I’m at a show speaking with a vender; i notice his aspen bedding
I inquire on the subject; we speak about it,
I choose to change three king cages from calci sand to aspen, for
Many different reasons,
On the last and biggest cage (30 gal. tall) i had too much left
And instead of leaving alittle in the bag i put it all in there,
So there is about 4 inches of aspen in the cage......
The snake freaks -appears to LOVE it. Borrows like crazy

The snake completely stopped using both of the hides in the cage,
You will not find the snake anywhere except borrowing in the aspen, period.
Sooooo.... My question is this.
Can i get rid of the hides? Due to the fact that the snake now has free range over the intire cage, she can hide in the warm side if needed and in the cooler side if needed......
It makes for allot cleaner looking cage, allot more room up top
And the overall simpleness of it?

WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?
Also can you feed the snake on aspen bedding? Or should i feed in
A plastic container?
Thanks in advance! You people ROCK!

Replies (6)

rearfang Sep 20, 2003 04:49 PM

I frequently use aspen bedding. Yes you can eliminate the hide box and ..yes you can feed on it. I do recommmend that you (lightly) mist new aspen when changing a tank to settle the dust. I have observed respiritory distress in a few instances before I started doing that. Do not use it for snakes requiring a humid enviroment (I prefer spagnum for those).
Frank

DJW Sep 20, 2003 09:00 PM

NAAAA MAN , i just fed them(the 3) on that stuff and i had to pull sticks off the mice(while thier eating) and OUT of thier mouths!!!! WTF
i HOPE it Didn't f..... my snakes up man

genlelow Sep 20, 2003 09:16 PM

yea, keeping ur snakes in aspen is cool, thats what i ahve been doing for a while now, but feeding them on it is not a great idea. pulling aspen out of their mouth is not cool. just feed them in a differnet container and them let them chill for a few hours before gently moving them back.

rearfang Sep 21, 2003 03:29 PM

Can't say that has never happened to me...But it is definitly an infrequent enough occurence to that matter...Been doing that for 30 odd years and never lost a snake or had a mouthrot situation as a result....and I keep a wide variety of snakes. Sorry if your having problems.....Frank

rearfang Sep 21, 2003 05:18 PM

I never feed dead-thawed food on aspen (it is too wet and the aspen sticks). My reference was to feeding live food, which does not present a problem. I apologise for the ommission. If that is the case that you are feeding frozen-Don't on aspen.
Frank

jones Sep 22, 2003 12:07 AM

Same here. I've never observed any ingestion. I use one layer of paper towels, one layer of aspen, topped with another layer of paper towels.
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