Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Guys;
I have been using bedding for a while now, misre specifically the very small sized Critter Litter I think it is called. What first atracted me to it was the fact it stated that it was digestable if accidentally ingested. In the long run though it is quite irritating as I have had to remove tiny peice of it from one of my snakes mouth a couple of times and also due to the fact that when wet it tends to take on a very foul smelling odor. I have changed out one tank to just plain newspaper nad have noticed this is used in a lot of the pictures here. Is this just easier and cheaper or is this in fact safer for the animals? Also does the ink on the paper run a risk to the health of the snakes if the constantly are rubbing their scales against it?

News paper is alot chaper and you get alot of it. bedding does look nicer but alot of work i have woodchips for my snake and so far its been a pain! they breed mites and yeah one of my snakes do have mites so we had to take it all out but i dont feed my snake in there because of the risk of them swallowing it. Alot of people use news paper because its there and alot cheaper. I really doubt that the snake could get ink poisioning from the newspaper though because so many people use it i think it does its job and its cheap.
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Matt Smith
0.2 columbian red tails
0.0.2 leopard geckos
RedGhostKingApril

Yes newspaper is easier, cheaper and safe to use. The ink for newspaper is made from vegetable oil.
One of the best ways to keep your boas healthy is to keep their cages clean. So if your cage is hard to clean, you may only spot clean your cage, when you should clean the whole thing. Just think of it like this, if you went to the bathroom in your bed....would you spot clean it and sleep on the other side? or would you wash the sheets and sleep on clean sheets? I clean my cages on a weekly basis, and using newspaper makes it very easy to do. Yes, I do wash my sheets weekly too! LOL
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McCarthyBoas.com

What we do is keep our boa's on Aspen bedding, but when we feed we slip a sheet of newspaper under the boa and lay them on it once they have taken the rat. That way they do not chance getting bedding in their mouth. Once they are done we pull out the paper.

Good luck,
Rich and John

I switched from Reptibark to using newspaper underneath a layer of reptile carpet from JustHerps.com

The reptile carpet is definately the way to go in my opinion. It is much better looking than newspaper, is reusable many times over, can be cut to fit the dimensions of the cage and you don't have to worry about any ink rubbing off on your snakes.

The only reason I have a few layers of newspaper under the carpet is to help reduce the heat from my undertank heater. Even that would not be necessary if you used some other form of heating element.
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David - Houston, TX
Young Red Tail Boa
Purchased 11/16/03
www.geocities.com/davidag02