Death to Aspen!!!

[gregmonsta]

:mad: My Squiggles had not been acting normal for a little while (burrowing and hiding) and .... after looking at him today and seeing an unusual bump at the anterior end of his stomach I decided to make him regurgitate ... needless to say it was a piece of Aspen bedding :mad: ... I'm damn glad I caught it in time!!!!

I herewith condemn Aspen bedding!!! #'*#@

Why do reptile shops even bother to sell substrate that can lead to such problems????

[Zephyr]

I'm currently using aspen for my corn snakes, but I feed them in a separate enclosure. It holds burrows well as well as warmth, but the impaction issue is always there.

[Stefan-A]

Because there are no substrates that are safe AND look good.

I'm glad you did get Squiggles to regurgitate it, good job. :)

[adamanteus]

Because there are no substrates that are safe AND look good.

Yes, there is.... slate. I always use it, as I've said in the past ( a few times):rolleyes:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//537/medium/Slate_floor.jpg

[Stefan-A]

Yes, there is.... slate. I always use it, as I've said in the past ( a few times):rolleyes:
:rolleyes:

[gregmonsta]

Yes, there is.... slate. I always use it, as I've said in the past ( a few times):rolleyes:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//537/medium/Slate_floor.jpg
Good idea :D I've already ordered reptile carpet and I'm going to feed them on that and leave them with an Aspen corner (only until I run out of the stuff ... then I'll order chunky stuff that even an adult wouldn't swallow!!).

[gregmonsta]

I'm currently using aspen for my corn snakes, but I feed them in a separate enclosure. It holds burrows well as well as warmth, but the impaction issue is always there.
Unfortunately I couldn't get sqiggles to feed in a seperate enclosure :( he's an awkward little sod.

[adamanteus]

A few good points about slate:

It looks good.
Used with a good thermostat, it retains and radiates heat perfectly.
It wipes clean in a second.
It is totally non-permiable.
It cannot harbour mites, ticks or bacteria.
It can't be swallowed or contaminate food in any way.
It cannot be dragged into the water bowl.

I'm no expert on many aspects of this hobby, but I've been keeping reptiles of many types for over forty years. In that time I've tried more substrates than I care to remember, slate works consistantly. Try it, you'll like it!:)

[gregmonsta]

I'll skulk about my mum's old cottage and see if there's any windfall ;) cheers. Sounds perfect :) . I might use it to landscape my vivs a little :)

[Stefan-A]

A few good points about slate:

It looks good.
Used with a good thermostat, it retains and radiates heat perfectly.
It wipes clean in a second.
It is totally non-permiable.
It cannot harbour mites, ticks or bacteria.
It can't be swallowed or contaminate food in any way.
It cannot be dragged into the water bowl.

I'm no expert on many aspects of this hobby, but I've been keeping reptiles of many types for over forty years. In that time I've tried more substrates than I care to remember, slate works consistantly. Try it, you'll like it!:)
Too heavy, too expensive. :p Do you have any alternative materials?

[anji1971]

I haven't had any problems so far with aspen, but I also feed in a separate tub, at least for Deejay. Stitch is still more comfortable feeding in his own little house, but I put his food on a plastic lid, and watch him like a hawk while he's eating to make sure he doesn't swallow any aspen.
They don't usually just ingest the substrate during their regular activities, do they?? That's something I kind of wondered about; if burrowing around, they would end up swallowing some? Then I would definitely look to another alternative.

[tikichick]

I'm so glad you caught it in time!!!!!!

[Rook]

Rooks tank is half Peat half slate, I LOVE the slate, for all the reasons adamanteus mentioned. I use Slate tiles, its only $4 for 9 tiles.

[Loren]

I use aspen for many of my snakes, but I almost always raise young snakes on paper towels. I figure larger snakes can pass or digest bedding easier, where as little guys like baby garters would have much more of a problem if they ingest even a small piece of bedding. Generally I wait till snakes are 15" long or so before switching them to bedding, although I do have a few small species of snakes- ones that do not often exceed 12" or so( ringnecks, night snakes, ground snakes), which I keep on bark or fine sand.

[adamanteus]

Too heavy, too expensive. :p Do you have any alternative materials?

Roofing slate is heavy.... but not too heavy, as it it cut very thin. A well constructed timber viv can easily support the weight. Broken slate is usually free.... one of my favourite prices!:D

[Stefan-A]

Of course you're in the right business and able to get your hands on broken slate. :D Here, it's not really a popular roofing material either, slate is used almost exclusively in interior design and as you can imagine, that raises the price and reduces the availability a lot.

Concrete I could use, but it doesn't wipe clean in a second and it's not totally non-permiable. :p

[adamanteus]

No, concrete wouldn't really work in the same way!:D

[drache]

James
do you know anything about polished concrete?
I once stumbled upon a blog of a woman who put polished concrete slab in her home and stained it with coffee
it looked fantastic
I don't suppose that's the kind of thing one could put into a viv though
but wouldn't it be possible to seal just about anything with some sort of resin coat?
I like the slate and I've been keeping my eyes open when I pass construction site dumpsters - no luck yet

[adamanteus]

The need to seal it would be a drawback in my view. Plus concrete is very heavy.
You should be able to get sizable pieces of broken roofing slate from a builders merchant, you just need to ask.

[Sputnik]

I could imagine concrete could be quite dangerous. As moisture can penetrate it, it would be a great haven for bacteria, wouldn't it?

When I first read about James' slate flooring I was quite impressed and a couple of days later I passed a building site and asked the roofers if I could have a few pieces of the old slate that had been taken down.

A good scrub later and they went into all of my large vivs. It really works great! It warms up to a lovely temperature, doesn't get too hot (I have a thermostat anyway), but keeps the temperature for a while after the heater has been switched off. I know James seals his in, which I think I might do eventually, so far I have not had anyone slithering underneath, but my pieces are placed in loosely, so I can take them out and rinse all the soiling off. I also add some soft substrate like recycled paper animal bedding (like catlitter) in one corner on top, larger pellet types are best, so less risk of swallowing, as the snakeys love digging through it.

[drache]

You should be able to get sizable pieces of broken roofing slate from a builders merchant, you just need to ask.

thanks for the tip - I'll try that


but my pieces are placed in loosely, so I can take them out and rinse all the soiling off. I also add some soft substrate like recycled paper animal bedding (like catlitter) in one corner on top, larger pellet types are best, so less risk of swallowing, as the snakeys love digging through it.

that sounds more like what I would do
I like being able to rearrange things

[mycolorfulheart]

this is what i use Zoo Med Premium Repti Bark at PETCO (http://www.petco.com/product/4956/Zoo-Med-Premium-Repti-Bark.aspx).
It's fir bark bedding. I got it from the person who used to have Raven, she was bought a couple years ago and so far hasn't had problems with it. Does anyone else have experience with this stuff?

[gregmonsta]

I'm quite happy with my repti-carpets now :) .... nice and green ...

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/DSC03190.JPG

[Lori P]

Green is good, especially this time of year when everything outside is so blaaaaaaah!

I'm tickled so far with the Care Fresh-- Mordecai and Miriam have been burrowing like crazy, and, when I fed Miriam the minnow the other day, she dragged it across the Care Fresh and nothing stuck to it!! (I can't feed her out of her tank yet... she gets too scared and won't eat.)

[Loren]

this is what i use Zoo Med Premium Repti Bark at PETCO (http://www.petco.com/product/4956/Zoo-Med-Premium-Repti-Bark.aspx).
It's fir bark bedding. I got it from the person who used to have Raven, she was bought a couple years ago and so far hasn't had problems with it. Does anyone else have experience with this stuff?
I use "orchid bark" from orchard supply- it is also fir tree bark. Just cheaper (1 cubic foot for 8 bucks I think), but also dustier and sometimes damp. I hand pick the bags for best quality and dry the bark out in large tubs so it doesnt mold, and sometimes sift the dust if its really dusty. I have 20-something tanks to fill, so I cant afford the zoo med. Havent had any problems with it other than that.
As far as the type of bark- I really like it. Looks good, and takes misting well if needed.

[Thamnophis]

In mber of vivariums in our Reptilezoo we use vinyl. The kind of stuff you lay on floors in kitchens etc.
Works as well as the slate James uses.
Weighs nothing and is not expensive.

[Lori P]

Oh, the exotic store where I sometimes have to go to get pinkies uses vinyl flooring in most of their tanks. That was the first time I'd seen it and I thought it was cool because it's easy to clean and sanitize between snakes. And inexpensive to change out as needed.

[CrazyHedgehog]

A number of our tanks have lino floors, I cover it in wood chip. it never occured to me to leave them bare!