Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For years I got my bedding and other supplies from Bush Herpetological which went out of business last year. I would like to find a supplier of aspen bedding and/or cypress mulch which doesn't charge too much and are close to the Midwest. Can anyone make a suggestion or two? It's really the pits when you have to have everything shipped to your door because you live so far in the boonies. I'm 100 miles from the nearest large city which has hardly anything I can use in their pet shops.

Thanks a bunch,

TC

Being on the east coast of NC, I have steady supply to Cypress mulch as they fearlessly destroy acre upon acre of forest. My question is this: Is it safe to use for bedding? I have heard of people using it for pictures, and a couple that will get the fresh mulch, dry it and hit it with a parasite preventative. Could it be a cost effective sollution for me as it is so readily available?

I've not used cypress before, just want to try it.

Aspen is very expensive to get shipped through the mail. The farther away the company is, the more shipping costs. Even to buy it at a store costs about $1 per lb, or more.

esp. for snakes that like a little more humidity. you can keep it dry as well. i've run the gamut thru the years and back to good old newspaper again.....it's just easier to clean. tc, what about going to a lumber mill? it'll be dirt cheap there....i wish i lived in the boonies. i have to contend w/ a different set of problems. suffocating traffic, crowds everywhere, spreading crime, etc. if i could switch w/ you, i would in a heartbeat.....i think. ;-] guess you gotta walk a mile in a guy's shoes though huh? good luck in your quest!

I've got my mandarin rats and a few other snakes on cypress. Never had a parasite problem. You must go through a lot of bedding to want to buy it wholesale, I can get a huge bag at the gas station for $2.50 and it lasts me all year .

Yaaa. I use aspen for my mice and my snakes..clean a lot, since I have them in the house. I go through two thirty lb. bags every six months (aspen, that is). I hear ya on the cypress. I'll pick some up and try it Thanks.

I've been using the classic "bird and reptile bedding", and go through the largest bag available every couple of months(I keep em clean). I might have to try out the cypress, I can get it all over the place dirt cheap!

Hey, Dan. I hear ya. I grew up in the city and will never go back. I'll pay the shipping bills if I have to. I went down by Lake Huron after work tonight to check out my Butler's garter snake spot. Saw eight Eastern garters, darnit. Then I went over to a ridge that's almost overlooking the lake and saw my first ringneck of the year, about eight more E. garters, and had a shot at milks, greens, and massasaugas, etc. The downside is that there are tons of black flies and mosquitoes this time of year.

Later, I went home and saw several snakes in the yard (ten acres) and lots of frogs and stuff at one of the ponds. Sorry about the traffic. We only have one traffic light in the whole county (Presque Isle Co, MI.)...LOL.

Thanks for the info. Later...TC.

I swear you live in a dream world I cannot access...lol I gotta travel all over the place to come up with 3 or 4 snakes sometimes...I get skunked a lot. I've NEVER had an outing where I've seen more than 5 snakes. I live right on a woodline too, and that has only yielded 2 greenish rats, and a canebrake rattlesnake. Maybe I'm just unlucky... Hope my hatching eggs turn out better than my finding chances.

The Midwest is like that. In Michigan where the snakes are mostly small kinds, you can find a lot in good habitat, under the right conditions. Last year at this time my friend, Eddie, and I found as many as five ringnecks under one limestone rock, and there's hundreds of rocks on that ridge. We also found a ribbon, E. garters, milks, smooth greens, browns, waters, and an assortment of frogs and toads. We've found massasaugas close by, so are looking for them in this locale too. The whole ridge is surrounded by a swamp.

At home, I like to call Afton Farm (20 acres), we manage the property for the maximum herp habitat. My record is thirteen herps under one rock on a hill (garters, browns, red-bellies, greens, and a skink). Sometimes I'll go out after dinner, at 7:00 at night, and find ten to fifteen snakes in a half hour walk. Once, under a big sign, I found five milksnakes, two of them over four ft. Another time my brother and I found five E. fox snakes and two melanistic garters under one rock (I'll explain that some other time).

You should come out to MI sometime. BTW, I love hunting in N.C. and will be there in August. Later...

TC

I'm from Iowa originally, and didn't get into herps big time untill I had did my time in the Army and ended up here in NC. I don't remember seeing the amount of snakes you mention back home either though...I think I'm just jinxed or something. I've even did some back packing in eastern Pa. and only found some mountainous salamanders. I'd love to get up that way sometime. Maybe I'll see whats going on with my vacation time...when would be a good time to get up that way? What kind of drive am I looking at?

last summer about 5 minutes (on a bicycle) from my house. I went down there with my daughter just last weekend and the whole area has been bulldozed and much of it is beginning to be paved All of these snakes were released after being photographed - I wonder where they've gone now? The area yielded tons of wandering garters and bullsnakes as well as the occasional milk and western hognose.

Ophidiophile Farms

I made a post earlier today on the Pine Snake Forum about a habitat spot that I lost.

Put Up a Parking Lot

I can't guarantee a snake a day, but I often run across multiples in the course of a work day. If I road cruise, I catch SOMETHING every nite, although usually just garters, copperheads or black rats. I always move Copperheads, but am running across so many on job sites this year, I've considered just letting the Mexicans kill them instead of running to their rescue! What is with that? Are there THAT many poisonous snakes in Mexico? They grab a shovel at the site of a greensnake or garter! And I go and save a copperhead and get repeatedly struck at by it...

I can go out to Croatan for 3-4 hours in the evening road cruising and be lucky to come across 3 snakes. Mostly watersnakes, greenish's, or copperheads too...once in a while a kingsnake, and very rarely see any garters, rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, eastern hogs, or any other of the "common" snakes down here. I've even proven that if you have an area where you can "guarantee" a good snake finding expidition, you won't find jack when I'm there. I think snakes smell me and run...what's up with that?

i have to go thru 4 just to get out of my neighborhood......dammit! we have dekay's though. ;-/

Terry.........Give these guys a call.

http://www.teklad.com/standard/index.htm

They are located in Wisconsin. Harlan-Teklad aspen is the best that I have found, and I've tried a few different brands. You can occasionally find it at herp shows for 10-12 bucks for a 4.38 cubic foot bag. You can find cypress mulch in most Home Depot's or Lowes.
Link

I'll try it.

TC