Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm torn between paper and aspen...what's better for the snake??I keep all my balls in ars racks...what do you guys use???? Is paper cleaner than aspen? Which is the better for breeding? Thanks

We started out using aspen & have since converted to paper. I suppose it all boils down to how much time you have to devote to your animals. The pro side of aspen, lies in your ability to 'spot clean'. Personally, that is it's only up side & even that has it's problems. One of the major problems I've encountered is the snake getting aspen shavings in their mouth when they're swallowing. It seems to matter not if your feeding f/t or live. Either way, at some point the food will get wet resulting in shaving getting stuck on the fur of it's food. Breeding, the same thought process applies. You run the risk of them getting pieces stuck in places the aspen needn't be.

You wind doing a lot more housekeeping with paper, but in my opinion if you keep after it, your snakes will be all the better for it.

Don't you think in the wild they don't get stuff in when they eat (dirt, sand etc...) ?

It's a fact that they can also die in the wild.

So far, I have been using aspen and it's not a problem. (Can't newspaper also get stuck to the rat and be eaten ?)

I am thinking of switching to news paper or kraft paper or something like that. Thinking it would be easier to change everything than to spot clean sometimes.

The problems with paper is that when a snake flip their water bowl, it's a big mess, you get a snake in an half-inch of water, witch is not good if you don't catch it enough fast. That's the only reason I have been out of it so far.
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love this world, don't hate it.

i personally am an aspen user, its easy to spot clean, holds good moisture for misting when they shed, medusa is correct that it does get stuck to the rats if they get wet but i havent had any issues. My buddy uses paper and he complains about having to scrub the tubs everytime the snake poo's on the tub instead of the paper, but like already mention it is up to you how you want to clean. The cost is a downer too, i can find 4 cubic foot bales for 12 bucks and i go through 2 of those every 6 months, i only have 20 snakes in my collection tho.

hope this helps, happy herping!
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0.3 double het pied/carmel 1.3.2 normals, 1.3.1 pastels, 0.1 mojave, 0.1 pinstripe, 0.1 albino, 1.0 yellow belly, 1.1 het pied, 1.0 amelanistic corn, 0.1 normal corn, 2.1 miniture dachshunds, 0.1 beautiful fiance
*snakes are like oreos, no one can just have one!*

$24 isn't too awful. I started out using paper towels and they were running me about $30 every six months. I switched to newsprint and I get free unused ends from my local newspaper company. Two rolls lasts me a long time so I only have to pick it up about 3 times a year. But I'm definitely loving the free beeding and cleanup isn't horrible. I wash each tub out every week if there's poope or pee in it and if there isn't I just do a paper change. I can do about 10 tubs an hour.

Ball pythons like it humid. Newspaper dries out too fast and Aspen does not do well with water.

Cypress multch is the way to go. It holds humidity well and you can mist/soak it. I use ARS racks as well, and once a week I go through each cage spot clean, and spray their enclosure. The humidity will generally hold over the week.

When I was using newspaper, I was getting a lot of skin shed issues. Also, I had some females that were so big, when they peed, they would be literally soaking in their own pee (because there wasn't enough newspaper to soak it up).

It is truely personal preference though. What I like about cypress is, its cheap and works well...
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Reid Begnoche
http://www.tallgrassreptiles.com
tallgrassreptiles@gmail.com