Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm a big fan of Aspen, which has worked perfectly for all of the other types of snakes I've owned. It does, however, lead to a fairly dry environment as you cannot really mist a cage that has Aspen in it. I have a large litter pan in Bear's enclosure, and he can completely soak in it if he wants, but the rest of the enclosure is dry. He was supposed to go with me to a reptile show tomorrow as a demo animal. I was really looking forward to having him with me all day. But he has started to shed and unfortunately is shedding in patches. None of my snakes have ever done this, but none of them were from humid environments. I am very depressed, there is no way I can take him in public with his patchy shed. Of course that gives me a good excuse to pick up a 2nd Carpet Python at the show so I'll have two Pythons to choose from when doing plublic demos, in case one is in shed... Anyways, should I remove the Aspen and put in a substrate that I can mist? If so, what substrate works best for Carpets? I don't want to use newspaper or reptile carpet. I would think newspaper would be just as dry as the aspen anyways. I've used Cypress mulch in Monitor enclosures but found it had many sharp pieces which I would think could be dangerous since Bear cannot blink and could get poked in the eye. They sell this stuff called bed a beast which you can put in terrariums like for frogs. Looked like it might be messy in a large enclosure though. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

I know you said that you didn't want to use newspaper, but I think it is the way to go. First off it's free! Second it won't cause the possible problems that wood chip beeding could. Once I switch all my cages to Neodesha's then I am going to get DCL (disposable cage liners). I think the fancy bedding you see is more for looks than anything. I once tried half aspen and half paper and you guessed it the snake stayed on the paper. Plus the idea of wet aspen just makes me think mold. Just my thoghts

Thanks for the input, but we actually don't get the newspaper, so I'd have to go buy it or try to get friends to keep bringing it to me. Plus that's no better than the Aspen as I can't mist the newspaper any more than I can the Aspen. I'm working on making Bear's enclosure look real nice for people to look at, while at the same time making it as ideal a home for him as I can (with that being the more important of the two goals). Good news is he finally did do a complete shed today (whew). I have seen snakes in pet stores shed all patchy and end up with lots stuck on, and I thought that was what he was going to do since he had two patchy areas shedding off. I took lots of pics and will do a post with them soon. Looks like maybe I can keep the Aspen after all. I would still be interested in other options though. Looks like I get to take him with me tomorrow after all!

You can get free paper just about anywhere. Here in MN it is called the City Pages and there are stacks of them everywhere. I just feel that aspen or cypress is second to paper. I think you will find that 99% of top breeders use paper or DCL.

I myself for almost all my reptiles use contractors paper You can purchase from home improvement stores its brown and very absorbant looks good and snakes love it its pretty heavy don't get that thin painters paper

I only use cypress.. It hold humidty well and it is resistant to molds.. But besides that to help with your humidity you can put a undertank heater under the water bowl (outside of the cage) and or you could give your snake an elevated basking spot and then put the water dish underneath it.. Also it's not really like the cypress is going to jump at the snake the snake will move around it. I don't like the "zoo med" cypress at all. I have found pices of right angle board and candy wrapers in it.. other ideas are: coconut choir, "super soil" (its a poting soil with out fertilser or any additives, news paper or some sort of felt
I haven't used the felt Idea before but it seems like it could be use? you could wash it with laundery

Thanks for the ideas, if your snake hasn't been injured on the Cypress maybe I'll give it a try. Bear hasn't tried to burrow under the Aspen like my other snakes used to do. He has a hollow log to hide in, guess no need for a burrow. That was what I was concerned over, if he tried to tunnel in it and poked his eye that way. I thought of the UTH under the water but wasn't sure if it would help. If that would raise the humidity I'll do it. He did do a full shed after I did my original post, so he's all set now (whew). I just posted a new post with some of the pics of him shedding.

Lyns Lair