Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Have a couple of questions re: my approx. 2 year old normal corn. He seems to be heathy in everyway possible, but when I was just handling him, I noticed that when he was up next to my ear I could hear him exhale every once in a while. I have not heard this before, and would not have heard this if he wasn't crawling up near my ear, but now that I have heard it I'm a little worried/overly paranoid maybe. Anyone ever listened up closely and heard this?

P.S. No, it does not sound like a snake suffering from a typical respiratory illness.

Second question: Anyone use cheap substrate, i.e., some type of bark, etc. from walmart or garden center. The reason I am wondering is because I have been using paper towels for a while (after I had a juvi corn snake die awhile back from ingesting aspen and binding up) and want to try something a little more decorative (at least until I get sick of the additional hassle and go back to paper towels)

Thanks for any help.

I have been using felt sheets. you can buy it by the yard at most any store that sells crafts Wal-Mart/Michael's/Beverly's.
It's cheap and re-usable. the only drawback is that you can't get the stink out anymore after a month or so.