Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased some cypress mulch from lowes the other day, because i tired of the news paper look and id like to see how much more humidity it holds.
But im scared of ticks and other parasites. Should i have looked for treated cypress? I think i saw a post a few days ago saying someone else uses cypress from lowes. Its super cheep 3 bucks for a very large bag.
Am i forgeting something or am i good to go?

here is a link to some pics for fun. (the aquarium is covered with plastic and all my temps and humidity levels are dead on using digital guages.) I hope u enjoy.
Link

I happen to think any wood (bark or mulch) type substrate is about the worse choice you can make for a snake. I have been using paper for many years and see greater benefits in using it over cypress. My retics are very healthy living on paper. The least of my concerns is the humidity. I feel it is more important keeping the cage clean by removing the entire soiled area. Using cypress makes it hard to do a thorough cleaning. Cypress can also get embedded in the snakes’ gums causing mouth problems. I hear people always making these comments about how important it is keeping the humidity high for retics. In a perfect world that would be nice. I have forced air heat, which is very dry. My snakes are on paper, which is also dry. When they are ready to shed I will mist them down in order to increase the humidity and ease their labor in shedding. Other then this I don’t even try to increase the moisture.

If you were set on using Cypress I would not get a treated type. Any kind of pesticides used would be in contact with your snake.

Jim

I can understand why you are against mulch. I always use a feeding dish to keep my snakes away from there bedding, even when i use news paper. So getting cypress in my snakes mouth isnt a huge concern. My snake is in pretty large cage so i'm having to mist very often using news paper. But i can see your point.
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1.0 American Alligator
Yellow anaconda
Ball Python
1.0 Retic

That’s cool, but I think you are missing my point. My point is cypress mulch is not necessary to raise a healthy retic. Look at 99% of all your larger breeders. Every one of those I can think of keep their retics on paper. I have been keeping snakes on newspaper for 30 years. Hey, if cypress works for you that’s fine. I am only trying to point out high humidity is hardly necessary to raise a healthy retic that will reproduce. Keeping the cage clean is more important then keeping the humidity up. In my opinion cypress is a sponge for bacteria.

No one can argue how much nicer cypress looks over newspaper. You may have a nicer looking cage but my snakes are current on world events. Well, yesterday’s current events. Lol.

Jim

It sort of disturbs me that you are seemingly disregarding the humidity levels within your cages. I'm hoping that I'm misunderstanding you and that you do in fact make an asserted effort to keep it at an adequate level. I'd like to think the humidity in your snakes cages isn't around 20% or so. By the way you describe how dry your home is because of forced air heating, that's the way it sounds. I'm hoping that I've misunderstood.

What I am saying is cypress mulch in my opinion is a poor choice for substrate. Bacteria is a much greater problem then trying to keep the humidity in the upper range. To be honest I no longer spray down my animals as I once did. It is not necessary. I have a few larger breeder friends that would agree with me here. Whatever my house humidifier is putting out is all that they need, nothing more. And I doubt that they even need that.

Cypress is a great substrate for lizards that defecate in their water and not in the cypress. It is not practical to keep a large constrictor on cypress. There is no way you would be able to remove the soiled mulch, and use diluted bleach to clean the area. If you think I'm wrong you don't have a 200-pound plus constrictor.

I am seeing more and more pic’s of water blisters on snakes kept on mulch. It’s funny that I never notice this on snakes that are kept in a clean cage that uses newspaper as substrate. My 2 cents take it or leave it.

Jim

(cough, cough) so....uhhh......... no one cares about parasites or my question?
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1.0 American Alligator
Yellow anaconda
Ball Python
1.0 Retic

I sure do. This is another reason I use paper.

Jim

I don't get this set of posts.

You say you read in another post someone is using cypress mulch and ask about it. Jim then tells you he uses paper as it is more hygenic and because humidity isn't an issue.
So what do you do? You sit there and argue with him about anything you can, go figure!!

A lot of people don't post on here because of stuff like this.

Simple facts are:

Newspaper looks crappy. Cypress has a more natural look to it

newpaper is THE most hygenic option of the two. Cypress is a "spot cleaning" substrate therefore you WILL miss bits until you do a complete change.

Humidity is not a problem with newspaper if you are prepared to put in the time misting, should you need to. Worth noting though, cypress mulch will also need spraying from time to time if the ventillation in your vivarium is any good.

Jim was kind enough to take the time to reply to you, the least you could do is show a little respect.

Sorry to jump in here Jim.

Dan

Dan,

I take no offense to what you said and I agree with your reply.

Jim

I used cypress mulch for about a year in the big walk-in enclosure I keep my biggest Burmese in. I bought the regular cypress mulch from Lowe's or Wal-Mart and used it without problems. However, I stopped using it because it was messy (and I have a dedicated snakes-only building); a year later and I still have cypress residue in the corners of the snake room. Also, I was worried about buying wet cypress (and it was always soaking wet) during the winter. So I scrapped the cypress and went back to paper. I work in the newspaper business, so I get leftover rolls of clean newspaper that serve my snake cages quite well.

To answer your question, I used cypress for a long time with no problems. My snake ate well, had no parasite problems, no digestive problems or anything like that. However, the mulch was wet, messy, and in the winter, cold.

In the end, I think paper is the best substrate choice out there. I've used several things on a number of different python species, but I always come back to paper.

Concerning humdity, I don't do anything to artificially raise the humidity in my snake room. I heat it to 85 or so degrees and that's that. No shedding problems, nothing like that to speak of.

RP

Thanks for your input robert.
I think I'll have to find out for myself on how messy it will be. It kinda sounds like both have their own appeal and i guess i'll deal with the harder clean up because i want my big retic to slide out of his skin like my super tiger. Maybe im wrong but the risks arent gigantic if he wont get sick from it. Both seem reasonable substrates.
Thanks again everyone.
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1.0 American Alligator
Yellow anaconda
Ball Python
1.0 Retic

If you'd like to try it, go for it. Pay attention to your snakes and see how you like it. Somewhere, somebody recommended cypress mulch to me as a substrate. I can't remember where or who, but it was an experienced keeper whose opinion I trusted. Otherwise, I wouldn't have used the mulch. It was just too messy and I didn't like using it in the winter. Be careful and observant and you should be OK. In the end, I think you'll like paper better, but you won't know until you try. I've seen many snakes kept on mulch over the years.

RP

Just a quick point, vets in the past have cautioned us about bringing pets into our pool (dogs for instance), as the chlorine isn't often handled well by their digestive system. While humans are smart enough not to drink much pool water, often animals aren't. Plus the chlorine is also bad on their eyes.

I just noticed that some of your pictures had your pretty snake in the pool, and I wouldn't want it to get sick.