Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I currently am using reptibark for my snow corn but was curious of alternatives for switching. I was curious if I could swicth to paper towels and pine shavings. I have a bag of pine shaving sitting around since I cannot use to do respitory problems for my hedgehog. I was curious if I could use these shavings or if it would cause a respitory problem with the snake as well. There is also the chance that I am better off with what I am using.

Thanks in advance,
Don

I would not suggest bark. I have gone through many types of substrate, and find a problem with each of them. It is mainly just your preference. I use the reptile carpet in my display case. Some people just use paper towels. It depends if you want something asthetically pleasing, natural for your animals, or practical to clean. Good luck, let me know if you come up with something that works good.
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------Misty-------
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More pets than one room can hold. I listed them all but it looked ridiculous!!!
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Pine shavings are severely irritating to snakes.

Have you ever seen a snake try to climb into a woodpecker nest in a pine tree?

As soon as they hit the sap seeping out from the hole, they recoil and fall off the tree. It's actually pretty funny looking. Once saw a large snake try about 10 times before giving up. It reacted as if it had been shocked every time it touched the sap.

I have used reptibark for over 3 years and have never had a problem with it. But I agree with xblackheart, it depends on whether you are looking for good looking or cheap. This is all I have used though, so I can't recommend any other brand/type.

Almost forgot.

I've been using this stuff called Kaytee Reptile Bedding and Litter and it's been great.

When it gets wet it turns to powder so that it won't cause impaction. But if the snake soils it and you let it dry, it clumps into one cohesive chunk kind of like kitty litter. Then you can just scoop it out in one piece and replace the missing material.

Even better, it's lightly permeated with two antibacterial agents so you don't have to worry about it getting infested unless it is really, really soiled.

Half a 5 pound bag nicely covers the bottom of a 20long and the stuff is dirt cheap (costs 2 bucks for 5 pounds, less if you buy it in bigger quantities).

Kathy Love's book says avoid aromatic woods, especially the barks of those trees (which includes fir). Reptibark is made from Fir bark.

Newspaper is perfectly fine. I just started using Cypress Mulch for my milk snake. You gotta mist it, though. Paper towels, fine...

Good Luck,

Walt

i would not use pine my self. i use newspaper in all my snakes cages and have had no problems and its really cheap.

Well guess I will stay with what I have, a bag of pine chips with no ues.......

>>Well guess I will stay with what I have, a bag of pine chips with no ues.......

Aspen shavings.
Easy to spot clean
not dusty
the snakes like to burrow through it. Providing alternative hide spot.
non-toxic
looks decent
cheap
I use it for all of my snake enclosures
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

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I was using newspaper, but since my snakes are babies they would always find a way to get in between the pages. If I wanted to handle them, I had to remove everything from the enclosure to find where they were. I switched to aspen shavings. The snakes love to burrow through it and it's pretty cheap. Also, it must insulate a little better, the first time I put it in, the temps jumped a few degrees higher than the newspaper.

I agree with the above post for aspen. The corns love to burrow in it and aspen compacts in a way that keeps the tunnels intact for the snake to use over and over. I feed mine outside the cage so that they do not injest any due to possible impaction.

I've been using the stuff 5 years & love it, but I just got a big bag yesterday & think something's wrong...does anyone think the manufacturer could have gotten mixed up & put pine bedding in an aspen bedding bag? When I opened it, it was very aromatic. I've never encountered any smell from it before. It seemed slightly damp to the touch & the shavings weren't the nice "peelings" shape...they were kind of mashed, rolled up & wouldn't compact. Is there a good way to tell the difference between aspen & pine shavings? If it turns out to be pine shavings, is it ok to keep it in my sterlite snake boxes with duct taped lids anyway? Or is it something that'll kill them? I have a lot of holes drilled in the boxes & tops, but there's not a lot of ventilation in them & I definitely don't need 5 snakes keeling over in a few days! Any info would be useful! Thanks!