Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i replaced the reptile bark (which i found out was made of fir bark) with this shredded papery stuff. it's like paper fluffy stuff.
dust free, absorbant, and both my corn AND ratsnakes seem to like burrowing into it to feel more secure.

does anyone else use this stuff? petco sells it. they use it in their mouse cages.

carefresh? that works very well, commony used.
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

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)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

I use something similar made by Kaytee called Soft Sorbent Bedding. It is smaller pieces than CareFresh and is a light tannish color. I have had very good success with this product, but I still feed in a separate container on paper towels.

Mike B

I have used both Carefresh and the Kaytee Softsorbent bedding. In my experience the Kaytee stuff seemes to mold if left even a little bit damp, where as the Carefresh I've never had a problem with. The only major discouraging factor for either of these bedding is the price. Last I looked (yesterday) a 50L bag of Carefresh ran about 27.99 CND and the Kaytee about 21.99, whereas a bag of aspen shavings was only about 15.00
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Ellen

0.1 Children's Python
0.0.1 Chondro
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Bearded Dragon
Approx 25 corns - numbers always changing

in american prices, an 1800 cubic inch bag of apsen is approx $7, carefresh about $8.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)

I bought 3 baby Dumbo Rats and some bags of the recycled paper bedding a few years ago. I knew I was allergic to the rats, but didn't know the extent of my allergies. I had a real hard time with them whenever I'd pick them up, horrible hives and breathing problems. A week after I got them, I cleaned their cage to change all the bedding. I had such an aweful reaction I almost had to go to the hospital, I could hardly breath for hours after. I cried and cried all the way to the pet store to return my precious babies.

I love rats and was just crushed. Then last week a friend of mine had a rescue rat who's owner was moving and was going to let it loose outside. Please could I take it? Remembering the allergic reaction I hesitated, but an animal in need of help, I couldn't help myself and said yes.

I bought some more of the paper bedding, bedded up his cage BEFORE even meeting the new Rat adn had a really bad reaction. OMG, could it have been the bedding all along???

I got my new boy home, did get hives and some sniffles, but not too bad. By the 3rd day I was having troubles again. Not wanting to give up my new pet, I threw out all the paper bedding, cleaned the cage, and switched to plain old Newspaper.

Unbelievable. It WAS the bedding I was mostly reacting to. I've changed the plain newspaper bedding twice since without a single sniffle. My Rat has a friend, a baby rescue who was a result of an unplanned breeding.

Me and my two Rat buddies are happy as can be now that we don't use that stuff anymore.

Of course, if you are not allergic, then there is no problem. I've heard people use it for all types of animals with no worries. I agree with the above post, feed out of the enclosure. The only negative I've heard in terms of reptiles is that it is very absorbant and can cause dehydration in certain species. I can't remember what board I read that on or what species it was an issue for though. I know it wasn't a Corn Snake. Might have been a more Tropical species.

Inky (otherwise known as Inky Bink), he is the one who's former owner was moving and just going to release outside.

I named him Inky cuz the spots on his back reminded me of the ink blot tests where you say what you see in the markings and it tells your personality... I see an apple with a bite out of it, and a mushroom. What do you see?

And Baby Oy (named after the Billy Bumbler in Stephen King's Dark Tower Series).

He's still a little shy, but he's only 6 weeks old. Here he is on the shredded paper bedding. I get sniffly just looking at it!

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Lyns Lair
WNY Herpetological Society

0.1 Cat (Mia)
4.2 Ferrets (Wolf, Shadow, Verdell, Sullivan, Boo, Peach)
2.0 Rats (Inky & Oy)
1.0 Carpet Python (Bear)
1.0 Malagasy Blonde Hognose (Wilbur)
1.0 Malagasy Giant Hognose (coming soon)
1.0 Yellow/Everglades Rat Snake (Pumpkin)
1.0 Russian Sand Boa (Fang)
0.1 Normal Corn Snake (Mysty)
1.0 Anery Corn Snake (Suezo)
0.0.3 Eastern Milk Snakes (Uno, Dos, Tres)
1.0 Ball Python (Slytherin)
2.0 Smooth Green Snakes (no names yet)
0.1 Golden Greek Tortoise (Sunshine)
0.2 Mississippi Mud Turtles (Squirt & Shyanne)
1.0 Green Iguana (Norbert)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Moose)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Dragon (Tiramasu)
0.1 Oustalets Chameleon (Cera) coming soon
1.0 Whites Tree Frog (Trevor)
2.0 Solomon Island Eyelash Frogs (Chompy & Gimli)
0.1 American Toad (Bump)
1.0 AFT Gecko (Cocoa)
5.5 Leopard Geckos (Trouble, Scooter, Simba, Firenze, Teddy, Mystique, Freckles, Dotty, Zipper, Twister)