Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought some shredded aspen for my baby bairdi who wasnt eating as reccomended....i have had astroturf for all my tanks...and I went ahead and put this aspen in all tanks and all my snakes love it! They used to stay in their hides all the time but now they're out crawling around...i'm guessing because they can somewhat hide in it, making them feel slightly safer. I know to spot clean, but how often should I do a total bedding change? This stuff is CHEAP also!
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

Battling ignorance one stupid person at a time.

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat(Lola)
1.0 Neonate Black Rat (het for Lic Stk's) (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)

My posts are my opinion only. What you end up doing is your own choice. I will not be held liable for any negative outcome of my advice. (However I will never intentionally give bad advice. My advice is ALWAYS geared towards a positive outcome.)

Dave Barker wrote in an article once that he does a complete change when the enclosure begins to smell despite spot cleanings.

When my adults do their business, the whole snake room smells!!!! And they all seem to do it about the same time!!!! LOL So needless to say I clean my snakes containers every week!!! But I have switched over to newspaper, and love it even more than aspen!! Lots cheaper, and the snakes dont seem to mind either. Of course I kept all hatchlings on newspaper to begin with, but now the adults are on newspaper as well. A rack system makes it easy to clean as well.

>>Dave Barker wrote in an article once that he does a complete change when the enclosure begins to smell despite spot cleanings.
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1.0 Corn snake "Warpath" (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Punisher and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Eastern Yellow Belly racer "Nightcrawler" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.1 California king snake "Bandit and Moonstar" (Coastal phase)
1.0 Prairie king snake "Bishop" (KY locale)
0.1 Black king snake "Domino" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern Milk snake "Cable" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern/Red milk intergrade "Omega Red" (KY locale)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

Hey, man, that's what Dave Barker said. If you can find a guy who knows more about keeping snakes then Dave Barker, or perhaps if you yourself are better at keeping snakes then Dave Barker, then you can poke fun at me all you want. However, if you're not an expert (which I certainly am not), then I think it's a good thing to look at what the guys who paved the way in this hobby have to say. I'm definitely not going to make a dumb statement like " clean it when it smells" unless I've got a reasonable and supported reason to say it! By the way, that's an impressive list of animals you got their. I hope you have some bandaids for when you handle that racer!
Cheers!

I was not trying to hurt any feelings here. I was only trying to make a funny statement that when my adults answer to the call of nature, they stink up my whole snake room, not just their enclosures. So there is no question when it is time to clean them out. And in no way was I trying to make fun of anyone, especially the herp gurus.

And as for the racer, he is dog tame and can be handled as easily as my rat snakes, just alot quicker when he decides to go somewhere!!!

>>Hey, man, that's what Dave Barker said. If you can find a guy who knows more about keeping snakes then Dave Barker, or perhaps if you yourself are better at keeping snakes then Dave Barker, then you can poke fun at me all you want. However, if you're not an expert (which I certainly am not), then I think it's a good thing to look at what the guys who paved the way in this hobby have to say. I'm definitely not going to make a dumb statement like " clean it when it smells" unless I've got a reasonable and supported reason to say it! By the way, that's an impressive list of animals you got their. I hope you have some bandaids for when you handle that racer!
>>Cheers!

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1.0 Corn snake "Warpath" (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Punisher and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Eastern Yellow Belly racer "Nightcrawler" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.1 California king snake "Bandit and Moonstar" (Coastal phase)
1.0 Prairie king snake "Bishop" (KY locale)
0.1 Black king snake "Domino" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern Milk snake "Cable" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern/Red milk intergrade "Omega Red" (KY locale)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

I have been using aspen for a few months now. I used to use pine shavings, but with all the talk against it I've switched. It is easy to use and I also think my snakes enjoy it as well. What I do as far as cleaning is, I spot clean my cages a couple times a week and will clean the whole cage about once a month. This keeps the cages smelling fresh and nice.

I clean my cages whenever I have time and enough aspen. But when it comes to my hots (3 pygmy rattlesnakes and soon to be a pair of copperheads) I spot clean forever until I have to do a full tank overhaul. As for the adult snakes smelling up the whole snake room I haven't noticed that. Are you feeding yours something different? Just kidding but seriously opening a window for an hour (if its not 10 below zero outside) will clear the smell as long as you spot clean the droppings into an airtight container (I use Giant Eagle deli cups and just fill 'em up then toss 'em). Also a little potpourri spray can go a long way. Good luck with your snakes. I'm glad they seem happier. Sera
Link

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3.6 ball pythons
1.2 king snakes (1 chocolate, 2 albino)
1.0 columbian red tail boa
1.1 pueblan milksnakes
2.2 african house snakes
2.2 striped albino applegate gophers
1.0 watersnake
1.2 burmese pythons (1 albino, 2 hets)
2.1 pygmy rattlesnakes
1.1 dumeril's boas
3.3 corns (miami, okatee, snow, caramel, 2 creamsicle)
1.1 jungle corns