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Wood Shavings as Substrate

spud

spud

Need more Corns
I am thinking of changing my substrate from paper towels to shavings. I was going to use aspen but im finding it hard to find anywhere that sells it. I was speaking to a man in the pet shop and he said he uses wood shavings that they sell for rabbits, hamsters etc. Is this any good for corn snakes as i don't want to go and buy some if it is going to be harmful?
 
I have been using wood chips for bird cages for 20 years. It is a bit more heavy. Some snakes have ingested some particals along with their food. This caused never a problem. I would recommend anyone to use it. It also looks nicer than papertowels.

I have no close up picture available right now but behind me in this pic you see some of my cages.

monty-04.jpg
 
Bark chips seem to be more readily available in the UK than aspen. I've used them for years without trouble (I feed outside the viv, so no chance of accidental ingestion).

With either shavings or bakr chips, you need to make sure they're not from a soft, resinous wood like pine or cedar as these are dangerous for Corns.

Also, avoid buying cheaply and in bulk from commercial garden centres. I once asked in Homebase and they told me their bark chips were treated with fungicide and pesticide - very bad for reptiles.
 
I used Aspen for a while, got tired of the small mites that sometimes comes with it. The bedding they are using in the small animal cages is probably pine. Just make sure its kiln dried before you use it.

If you can get a hold of cypress over there that works great, just let it sit out in the open for a while to dry and lose any smell of its sap prior to putting in your cages. Oh and use the non-colored stuff, the red chips will lose its dye and I've heard though the grape vine the dye can be toxic..
 
Something I've gotten in the habit of doing to avoid potential mite problems is to freeze or bake any substrate before I put it in a cage. I had one bout of mites due to a new bag of aspen. Don't want to go through it again. :)
 
bkelm18 said:
Something I've gotten in the habit of doing to avoid potential mite problems is to freeze or bake any substrate before I put it in a cage. I had one bout of mites due to a new bag of aspen. Don't want to go through it again. :)
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Indeed :)

My problem was I had nearly 100 adults so I would have been baking like Martha Stuart! :rofl:
 
RickersRodents said:
Indeed :)

My problem was I had nearly 100 adults so I would have been baking like Martha Stuart! :rofl:
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Yeah, that would make it tough. Though my friend has a couple dozen and he keeps his bags of aspen in his chest freezer along with his frozen rodents. Then again he's anal and obsessive compulsive so.... :p
 
Buzzard said:
I use Sandi chips (aspen)
snakephotoshoot121.jpg

they are awesome. Picks up like clumping cat litter.
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My only real bitch with that is, I was using Harland Teklad for bedding and the snani chips costed the same amount as the shredded. The shredded held a WHOLE bunch more. I might get some next time Im down and see how it works out...
 
RickersRodents said:
Thats a cute lil critter there by the way :)
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Thanks....

I bought a bag (I think 3 cubic feet) 15 bucks from the show in Birmingham. This is the second bag I bought. Now I only have 15 critters but the bags last almost 3 months. I do complete changes about once every 3-4 weeks and of course spot cleans every time I see poo/ dirty substrate.

I buy the tractor supply aspen for the rodents 9.99 for 4.4 cubic feet. But it tends to be a little dusty for reptiles.
 
My price is $10 for the Teklad sani chips, not sure how much is in the bag... I'll also look into the tractor supply stuff too, thanks for that tip!
 
You shouldnt have to bake Aspen. Its Pine that the bad wood. I havent had to do it but I would "assume" a really low oven temp.....
 
Buzzard said:
You shouldnt have to bake Aspen. Its Pine that the bad wood. I havent had to do it but I would "assume" a really low oven temp.....
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True you SHOULDN'T have to, but I believe we were talking about the possibility of picking up mites from bedding, which is certainly possible with aspen, especially aspen from big box pet stores. :(
 
i buy the aspen bedding from a pet store called petco (not sure if they are everywhere) would my snakes get mites from that??
 
MyCrazyManny said:
i buy the aspen bedding from a pet store called petco (not sure if they are everywhere) would my snakes get mites from that??
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Let me clear some air here. The mites we are talking about are much different then the mites you hear about infesting reptiles.

The mites in Aspen are very small brown bugs that you will see all over the inside of an enclosure, but they do not cling to your reptile the same way. Never the less I'm sure nobody wants any kind of mite at all.
 
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