Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Troy,

Hope you are doing well man. I know you use rabbit pellets as bedding for your hogs. Have you ever had any other snakes on it? No issues shedding or feeding? Also, does it mold if it gets wet? I am thinking about putting my hogs and kings on this bedding that I found at my local feed store. It is horse bedding but I bought a bag and it looks just like rabbit pellets. Just wondering what you though about it and if you think this horse bedding would be just as safe and effective. It is almost half as much as aspen is around here. Hope all is well and post up some pics of Twix if you still have her and get a chance!

Here is the link
http://www.bestcob.com/retail-products/horse-bedding

Thanks man!
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Jeremy Thompson
Captive Born Investments Inc.
www.captiveborninvestments.net
Jeremy@captiveborninvestments.net
941-323-4850

Hi Jeremy

Yeah, I'm doing ok. It's been a rough last couple of months, but I'm toughing it out!

In regards to rabbit pellets, I started using them in the early 90's with corns and kings when I lived in hot and dry Southern California and never had a problem with either shedding or feeding while kept on the pellets. I've even witnessed quite a few ingestions of pellets stuck on mice without any issues as it's just a clumped fine alfalfa which easily breaks down into passable "fiber".

Since I have moved up to Washington state where it's a lot wetter/humid and colder, I have noticed mold issues using rabbit pellets in limited instances, perhaps it was from a damp bag I got at the feed store or temperature fluctuations in our house before I had a dedicated snake room. However, now that I have a dedicated snake room and it's consistently warmer, I've noticed a reduction in mold. Having said that though, I do get the occasional water bowl spills or very large defecations that can start a mold clump to appear. Usually it's very easy just to scoop up the clump and remove the mold but sometimes, if unchecked, it can spread and then the entire tub should be dumped and washed out. I've learned over time to only fill the medium to larger sized water bowls half as much to avoid evaporation/humidity build-up and that's helped tremendously as well, especially considering the the snakes never drink but a small portion of the water I offer them every week anyways.

As of today, I keep Western Hogs, Southern Hogs, Cal Kings, Grey Bandeds and Greeri on rabbit pellets successfully. The only 2 species I don't keep on pellets are my Balls which I keep on newspaper and Mandarins which I keep on aspen.

I'd take some new pix of Twix to share, but she's currently blue and looking extremely gravid!!! I paired her with my original Anaconda this Winter, so wish me luck for some Supers this Spring.
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

Hey man, sorry to hear things are rough but glad you are pushing through and your snakes are doing well!

Thanks for the help on the bedding, I think I will at least try it for my neonates and yearlings and see how they do, they seem to not be near as messy with their water as the adults. The bedding that I got is cork, but it is natural too so i don't see why it would cause any problems if ingested.

Mold is my only concern, but I open each of my snakes' bin daily or every other day anyways so it shouldn't get too out of hand, appreciate you sharing your experience.

I too keep my BPs on paper, they do great on it!

Also, CONGRATS on her being gravid, hope she drops a bunch for you and you hatch out some supers (a male would be nice huh?). Do you still have the Axanthic x Pink project going?

Thanks again and I will let you know how it ends up working, cleaning day is tomorrow lol
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Jeremy Thompson
Captive Born Investments Inc.
www.captiveborninvestments.net
Jeremy@captiveborninvestments.net
941-323-4850

Hey man, sorry to hear things are rough but glad you are pushing through and your snakes are doing well!

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Thanks for the help on the bedding...

My pleasure. I've mentioned this before, but I learned about using rabbit pellets all those years ago from either an article in Reptiles magazine or one of my old reptile books. I think it's a viable substrate that is too often overlooked. So I'm always glad to share my experiences in the hopes that someone else might have as much success with it as I have.

The bedding that I got is cork, but it is natural too so i don't see why it would cause any problems if ingested.

I'm not sure if I know of any animals that do eat or can digest cork, but rabbit pellets (alfalfa) is eaten by lots of things.

Mold is my only concern...

The mold can be an issue, especially if you live in a humid environment, otherwise I think it's reasonably manageable and in some cases negligible.

Also, CONGRATS on her being gravid, hope she drops a bunch for you and you hatch out some supers (a male would be nice huh?).

Thanks! I await patiently with bated breath. I'm always nervous about a female's first lay, especially Twix, she's my wife's baby after all.

Do you still have the Axanthic x Pink project going?

Yep, I still have the project going although the females have gone off and on on a few hunger strikes, so they've been a bit slower growing than the males I hatched out a year earlier which are now of breeding size. I was hoping the females would up to size in early 2013 but now I'm thinking maybe 2014 unless they start getting hungrier. I've been pairing one of my males to one of our 100% het PPA's and seeing lock-ups. So if anything, I might get some PPA's poss. het Axanthics sometime this year with any luck.

Take care and keep me posted how things work out for you.
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles