Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How many of you recommend against aspen shavings for bedding?It seems everyone recommends something that the skink can burrow in yet almost any bedding a skink can burrow in can be eaten by the skink.

thank you for your opinions!

For babies: I do not use any type of loose substrate. I use the reptile carpet. You have to keep two pieces (at least) so when you wash one you have a clean piece to put in while the other one dries. You can also use the Duck brand shelf liner from Wal Mart. The non adhesive type. It probably cleans much easier, but I am having a hard time finding it.

For adults: I use Carefresh litter. No sharp pieces, no dust, they can burrow, and I feed in a ceramic bowl.
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Stacey

Here's the mama...

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Stacey

I use indoor/outdoor carpet I got at Home Depot for about a dollar. I cut it to size & have 2 pieces I rotate. Also, I use a towel under the carpet to get my UTH to the temp I want. How would I regulate the temp (w/o a rheostat as I don't want to buy another one) if I used aspen or carefresh?
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1.0 Reverse Okeetee Corn snake Fuzzy
1.3.0 leos, Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
1.1.4 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton, Olivia Newton John & Helmut Newton
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena

I do not use a UTH, I only use a MVB so I really do not know about temps with one of those. My Care Fresh for my adult is about 5-6" deep.
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Stacey

I don't know if you have a Meijer nearby but they carry a Rubbermaid shelf liner. I use it and it works really well. Easy to clean and a rubber backing, not adhesive.
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Rob Talkington

i use artifical turf/grass. it is easy to clean, the skink cant eat it, and it is easy to spot any type of sperm plugs and feces on it so i can always clean it quickly as well as sex my skink accurately. the only thing is that if you use artificial turf, make sure you have a hide log or hide box so the skink has a place it will feel secure without the need to burrow. i used aspen bedding for a very short while a couple of inches deep but there would always be a dust coating on my skink from it which cant be good for his lungs, and also it seems sometimes he would burrow under all of it and wouldn't be able to get to the top, and also his poop would get stuck in it, i would have to sift through it and i would find it like halfway down. i think artificial turf is by far the best choice. good luck though.

Did it say on the bag or box it came in that the aspen was sifted to remove dust?Because if it did i might think of using something else.

potting soil and sand. One pic I posted shows her on sand, but only because I had not added the potting soil yet.

A large slab of slate with a brick under each side, for a hide.

And a big log and wide piece of bogwood, or drift wood to bask on.

And 2 terracotta type saucers for food and water.

Eve

n/p
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Edward
Carpe diem

There are many different opinions on the subject of substrate. I have personally tried many of them myself, and I have found that newspaper, Care-fresh, and artificial-turf have all proven to be effective substrates for me. Cypress mulch is also frequently used and recommended by many keepers. Aspen Bedding has been used by many hobbyists, but it contains long sharp slivers can work their way into the skinks nostrils, eyes, or vent, causing serious injury. It is also hard to keep it out of the skinks food, and can cause very serious problems when ingested. I also avoid orchid bark for the same reasons and because of the possibility of respiratory and skin problems as a result from the red dust that it produces. Note: Never use cedar chips due to the toxic oils that they secrete.

Blue-tongues will often burrow in their substrate if given the opportunity (especially when kept in a glass tank). They do this simply out of convenience, in an effort to get under something and out of sight from potential dangers. Blue-tongues are not burrowing lizards by nature, rather they are opportunistic shelter seekers that do not need a substrate to burrow in if given appropriate hides and an enclosure that provides them with some sense of security.

Sand is also not recommended, mainly because it is very hard to maintain. Blue-tongues can be very messy lizards, causing the sand to have a very unpleasant odor in a relatively short period of time, and it is just not practical to replace the sand as often as you will need to. It is often pointed out to me that sand is often encountered in the wild by many blue-tongue species. However, that does not change the fact that it can get into your skinks eyes, nose, and food, unnecessarily causing potential health risks to your skink. The reason for this is that in the wild the skink is not forced to be in constant contact with the sand 24 hours a day, for its entire life, as it would be in captivity. Let me try to explain. Many of the lizards from the south-western United Stated come in close contact with many different Cactus species. However, cactus is not the best choice of cage décor for these lizards in captivity. The point is, just because something is encountered in the wild, does not automatically make it beneficial in captivity. In captivity we should try to duplicate the beneficial aspects of the wild while decreasing the dangerous and rigorous aspects that the wild also presents.