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substrate?

Morticia

Morticia

New member
Well, yesterday I cleaned up my snakes viv and gave him some new substrate...
but now , my problem(?) is the humidity again..
68% -> could substrate cause this?
Now I'm using 'premium repti bark' from zoo-med...
I have noticed that he is enjoying this by digging etc.. but I'm (again) worried about the humidity.. should I change it again to the small 'wooden chips'?
 
i think most people use aspen. you could also use newspaper or paper towel. do you spray the viv with water, or does your snake ever knock over his water bowl? :shrugs: i know bark holds moisture and causes high humidity,but it could be for other reasons aswell.
 
I never really liked that repti-bark, I'd imagine it to be so uncomfortible especially for larger bodied snakes. Whats your ambient humidity? How big is the waterdish and how close is it to the heat? What kind of enclosure is it in and hows the ventilation?
 
Agreed. I used repti bark for a while and it does not retain humidity well. I have a few snakes that had real bad sheds when I was using that stuff. Plus it always stained my hands when I was digging through it and I thought, maybe it's staining my snakes as well :shrugs: Aspen has to be the best choice. It holds humidity, meshes together so snakes can create their own hides, and it's easy to find feces in it. :wavey:
 
hmm, weird, I use repti-bark and all is well with mine and her shed :shrugs:
 
I started with reptibark but as it got more humid, (Florida), I started to mix it with the aspen, (which looks pretty cool), but now that ambient humidity is about 50-60% I'm using straight aspen. I'll probably reverse the changes as the humidity drops.
 
Morticia said:
my problem(?) is the humidity again.. 68%
could substrate cause this?
Now I'm using 'premium repti bark' from zoo-med
Click to expand...

I use Repti-Bark and my Corn Snake, Mr. Bill, has thrived. The humidity is usually around 55%. I have a misting machine in the viv that sprays twice a day for about ten seconds.

Eric
 
Well, I don't spray the viv with water and my snake doens't ever knock over his waterbowl. I didn't change the set up.. just the substrate.. so the waterbowl is still on the cold side. And the ventilation: I have 2 large 'things' for that, above the viv and one at the front of the viv where my viv opens..
So before Repti-bark its was 50(-60) % now always 68-70 :shrugs:
so I think I should remove the substrate again?

Damn shops! It hasn't got my first substrate :grin01: 10 euros throwed away again lol
This was the substrate before i changed it: (is it aspen?)
 

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Here is a list of substrates, with pictures, The third one down is Aspen, and the forth is what you have, on there it is called 'Sani-Chips', but I have also seen it labeled as 'Beech Chips', or just 'Wood Chips'. I also use them. I did use bark. But didn't like it for the same reasons as Mike, as well as the fact that although it clearly states it contained no Cedar. I did find it contained Pine. So off it went. It was annoying to spot clean using it too.

http://www.reptiledepot.com/substrate.html
 
So the 'sani chips' is good too ?
Well I can't change it today because I fed Seth yesterday..
So i'm leaving him alone till tomorrow..
The humidity can't harm him for so short time can it?
 
Sani chips seem to be pretty good. I'm using Aspen right now but am thinking of giving the sani chips a try. I like the way they look a lot more than aspen and they seem like they might "clump" better after a poop so spot cleaning might be easier. Maybe someone else with more experience with them can chime in.
 
I've used just about everything, though I haven't tried sani-chips yet. I like aspen the best. (But not Kaytee brand, its awful and I suspect mixed with another bark!) The repti-bark was to dusty and didn't absorb well.
I don't have any advice on your humidity though, sorry. If your not spraying, I don't know why its so high. Are you sure of your temps? Is their enough air flow?
 
never had any probs with air flow..

Well.. the new substrate is causing condensation on the bodem I think..
never had this with the sani chips.. I think i'm going to put the sani-chips back tomorrow.. ( I hate shop-people! :grin01: )

I have another question too.. It has nothing to do with this subject, but I thought it was kind of stupid to open a new thread for it..:
My grandma has a problem.. she has a nest of mice in her house somewhere.. but don't know where.. she caught 1 in a mouse trap.. so the question is: If I freeze the mouse in for a while, can I give it to my snake later.. ?
I just wanted to ask this first to be sure..
 
The mouse may have parasites, or have gotten into something toxic, or may be diseased, etc. It would be best not to chance it.
 
Just my 2p worth ....

I used repti-bark for almost 15 years. It was OK (can't say it ever caused me any real problems), but, having now switched to aspen, I wouldn't go back.

I found repti-bark was always pretty wet when it was fresh out of the bag so the first few days it was in the tank, the humidity went waaaay up. You'll probably find it'll start to drop back once the heat in the tank starts to dry it out a bit.

You can avoid this, to a degree, by slicing open the bags a few days before you use them to let some of the moisture evaporate.

Oh, and beech chips (sani chips ... whatever you want to call them) are fine also. I doubt they clump as well as aspen for spot cleaning though.

:)
 
Freezing might take care of it, but it might not.

I'm wondering if the repti-bark here in the USA is different from the kind "over the pond". The kind I've used here is really dry and dusty.
 
I've used those chips, they didnt impress me much especially when compared to aspen. It kind of reminded me of that natural kitty litter that doest clump. It doesnt hold burrows either as aspen does. My bag also came with an added bonus of being infested with mites.
 
I use Sani-Chips as well and I have no problems at all with it. I haven't tried Aspen so I can't really compare, however, the poo does clump together and it it's very simple to clean. My snake can easily burrow himself under the chips and seems to really like it. But unlike aspen, it doesn't hold these burrows. And in my own opinion, I like the look better... You make the choice.
 
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