Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just took my two new corns to the vet. they are wild caught and I want to clean them up before I try to cool and breed them.
The vet said that I should be keeping my herps ( 3 adult tangerine honduran milks, a brooksi king adult, a ghost corn male adult and now these two wild caught normal phase corn females) on news paper.? I thought that aspen was a good choice for bedding as far a wood goes. The vet said the aspen can dry the cage out and can cause respitory infections. I keep my cages clean and dry and my animals seem healthy. Maybe some of you folks could give me your opinion aspen , newspaper, or care fresh bedding?. also how about my temps day and night are the same cool 72 warm 86 light on / 80-82 light off.
light runs on cycle 6am - 11am on then 6pm - 10pm on rest of the day and night off. all herps are housed seperately.

Thanks Chris

I use aspen and it's just fine. I have had perfect sheds with it each time with no stuck shed occuring at all. My snake is big, healthy and doing okay... It really depends on the ambient humidity of where you live though. Because if you're in a place, let's say, in Arizona, chances are the humidity in your house is not going to be the same than if you lived on Vancouver Island, BC, where they get a lot more rain.

Also... Think about this for a second. Aspen is dry, right? What do you think newspaper is? It's just as dry as aspen! And, I personally would never use newspaper because it has newsprint on it. Have you ever read a newspaper and then your fingers were black after? BUT. That's just me, personally. I know a lot of people who do use it, who are breeders, with success.

In general, you have to know the humidity requirements for your snake. If they're average, like corn snakes are, then don't worry. Stick to the aspen. If you need higher humidity levels for, let's say, a ball python or brazilian rainbow boa, you might want to think about something that holds humidity better without molding, such as cypress mulch.

Good luck.
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Stephan
The Canopy

Aspen tends to be dry but also absorbs moisture well (hence why it's so good with small mammals such as mice). I use a layer of aspen over a layer of papertowel for my corn snake. I did have one broken shed but mostly due to the low humidity, not the aspen. It is winter here and it often drops to below 30% humidity in the house, summer humidity can rise as much as 80% or more in the house. However for the next shed I misted sides of the cage a couple times a day and this greatly improved his shed.

Most newspapers are now printed using a soy based ink that is harmless to humans (and animals) but can rub off so isn't the cleanest substance to use. Your vet most likely recoomended newspaper because it is easier to clean, cheap and there is no risk of accidental injesting. Aspen can be swollowed along with prey items if something isnt' put down over the aspen at feeding time or removing the snake into a feeding container.

Personally though, I would recommend just plain unprinted papertwoel instead of newspaper. You can get a cheap roll for under a $1 which will last quite some (depending on how many and size of cages you have). Also, I wouldnt' use CareFresh at all, it is way to dusty, most dusty than pine or aspen. I used to use it for my mice but after spending half the day after cleaning my mice bins, blowing the dust from Carefresh out of my nose, decided it wasn't worth it. CareFresh is also way over priced compared to other substrates you can use. I can buy nearly 4 large bags of Aspen (the 50cubic liter bags) for the same cost of one 50cubic liter of carefresh.

I've been using carefresh for about 9 months now and love it. For mice or hampsters I wouldn't, since they'd chew it up and shred it, but my corns love it. And I have noticed it's dusty when you put it in, but to me it seemed no dustier than the aspen I was using before. They make tunnels all through it and it holds the shape, (until they run over the tunnel anyway).

For my hatchlings I use paper towels, once they're "big enough" to me, I give them an inch of carefresh, and my adults have about 3" to tunnel through.

That's what works for me.
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
4.5 Cornsnakes
1.3 Cats
0.1 Child
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

n/p
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