Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am so excited. I am getting my first retic tomorrow. Yes, I have experience with large snakes. My question concerns bedding. I realize most retics are probably kept on newsprint. I was thinking about keeping mine on shredded aspen. Since I know it is important to keep the humidity up, I was also thinking about shreded cyprus mulch. It is real cheap down here in Florida. It seems if I rinsed it several times real well, it would make a great bedding for any humidity loving snake.

Comments?

Thanks,

Mike Miller
Brevard County, Florida

I have had nothing but problems (mites, mouth rot, belly rot) with shaving, and wood chips. So I choose not to use it, but it is totally up to you whether or not you want to use it.
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1.1 Albino Burmese
0.1 Normal Burmese
1.0 Veild Chameleon
Waiting for more reptiles of any kind

I have limited experience with Cyprus mulch other than using it in tubs within cages to help boost humidity for Chondros. I do know that Gary Braddock a well known breeder locally in eastern PA has used it for a long time with his entire collection including Kinghorni aussie amythystines. He layers it about 4 inches thick, sets a water bowel into it, removes feces/urates when observed and changes out the substrate in bulk every 3-4 months. His collection is under his kitchen and he has a loving wife and kids and used to house 60 snakes in his basement epicrates, ringed pythons, bloods, cuban boas, chondros etc and when visiting, his house never smelled like a snake room for what it is worth-

Any other mulch is certainly either too mold mildew prone or too easy for rapid bacterial growth so i wouldnt suggest them. Make sure your feeder animals are dry so the mulch wont stick to them or feed on paper or cardboard under the constricting snake and food item.

Winslow

I have used cypress for about four years and have never had a problem with mites. You can get it a wet as you want and it never molds as long as you toss it around to let it air out about once a week. The bugs you usually find in cypress is generally just the predator mites which just eat other mites. They usually kill every thing in there after they have packaged it so when you buy it the mites are usually dead and the predator ones starve. But if you want to be really cautious which never hurts just spray it down with provent a mite or black knight.