Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering what everyone uses for substrate for their corns. Has anyone ever had any problems with aspen bedding? I had a corn not too long ago that the vet thought might have ingested some and bound him up (he ended up dying, so I am overly cautious with my other corn. I have my other snakes on paper towels) Where are you guys purchasing your aspen, online? I have been buying it at wal-mart, but the wal-mart aspen seems considerably coarser compared to what I have seen some breeders using at pet shows. Thanks for any help.

I use newspaper.It's all i will ever use.If any of my snakes ingest the sports section then i might try something diff..Paul.

they do fine for my baby corn, becoz i can easily find his poop....i am planning on moving up to ashpen when he gets bigger....or maybe shredded newspaper =)
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"Isn't it funny you hear a phone ring and it could be anybody, but a ringing phone has to be answered doesn't it?"

BOUNTY!!
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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." -Charles Darwin

"I am turned into a sort of machine for observing facts & grinding out conclusions"-Charles Darwin

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"The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology, and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an improved theory, is it then a science or faith?" -Charles Darwin

Has anyone ever tested to see if snakes can absorb newspaper ink through their skin and is it harmful?
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Anna Plaxco

Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost (pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - ? & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Hurricane Motley - ?
Boas
0.1 Columbian - Bella
Lizards
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo - Dirt
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Dragon
0.1 Grey - Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

-We have no right to distress any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are for they cannot tell us how they feel; but they do not suffer less because they have no words. -Anna Sewell

I've even wondered whether the colored patterns on paper towels could hurt them, but to a lesser degree. If anyone knows, please post.

most newspaper inks are made from a soy based product, however check with your local newspaper to see if they are using non toxic ink. Avoid the coloured pages (glossy or not) as these contain different inks that can be toxic (at least they pose a risk to bearded dragons, so I am assuming snakes would be at risk as well).

It's better to use plain unprinted papertowels for the same reasons. Besides, you can buy plain no name brands of papertowel for a third of the cost of Bounty and they work just as well.

Thanks! I keep my corns in Aspen and always move them to feed but from time to time we temporarily use papertowels or newspaper...like when one of mine was being treated for a respitory infection and the vet wanted me to clean his cage like every other day. It's good to have more info because it always kind of creeped me out...but I figured they had probably moved to a non-toxic formula of ink.
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Anna Plaxco

Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost (pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - ? & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Hurricane Motley - ?
Boas
0.1 Columbian - Bella
Lizards
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo - Dirt
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Dragon
0.1 Grey - Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

-We have no right to distress any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are for they cannot tell us how they feel; but they do not suffer less because they have no words. -Anna Sewell

I have some rolls of brown masking paper im gonna try as soon as i get rid of 4 years worth of newspaper.

I use T-Rex Forest Bed. I highly recommend this as a substrate. Let me state advantages first - its probably to most natural substrate to use - as it is pretty much dirt. Since it is dirt, it pretty easy to spot messes, and very easy to clean up the messes becuase it clumps up well. Another good thing is that (if you spot clean) it does not have to be changed often (well depending on the size of the enclosure - a smaller enclosure will have to be cleaned more often). One of my enclosures is 4'X 2' X 2' and I change the substrate every 3-4 months. Another great thing is that it is good as holding water - it pretty much turns into wet dirt. This is good for shedding, and if its hot you can just wet the dirt to make a nice cool spot.

Now, there is only one disadvantage I can think of. Setup time for putting it in the water to make it expand, and the time to let it dry out a little is somewhat ardous.

The reason I love it is becuase all of the corns I have love to stay under the dirt during the day. It acts as another hidespot. I have noticed that with other subtrates they just sit on top, but when I put them with a dirt subsrate they tend to bury a lot more. Plus it just looks like they have fun digging tunnels and stuff.

Its weird I have never seen anyone mention this substrate in the 30 times a day this questions comes up - but I absolutely swear by it.

I use repti-bark and my snakes burrow in it. whenever I want to hold my anery i have to dig through the bark to get to him.
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-BloughchiBoy

Bloughchi is a footbag kicking style. footbag.com

1.0.1 corn (george and asmodeus)
0.1 west highland white terrier (chili)
0.1 jack russell terror(no typo)(charlie)
1.0 green cheeked conure (kiwi)
0.1 cat (highway)

yeah i think i might be switching my bounty paper towels....its kinda like a waste using it for corns....i paid about a dollar a roll.......and at the dollar store, i can get 2 swan paper towel rolls for like $1! which is sooooo cheap.....if anything i might switch to either ashpen or repti-bark....but i have noticed that people been having problems with ashpen......damn...
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"Isn't it funny you hear a phone ring and it could be anybody, but a ringing phone has to be answered doesn't it?"

i use store brand "Reptile Bark", which is the same as repti-bark..how often should the tank be completely washed out and refilled with new substrate?
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0.0.1 pacific gopher snake ; Mich
0.0.1 albino corn snake ; Shmee
0.0.1 motley corn snake ; Andy

I'm using aspen. I used newspaper for a while at first, but I don't like how the snakes were always crawling underneath the paper, requiring me to remove all the stuff in the cage before I can get the snake out.
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-audri
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