Looking to spice things up

[☁ Rainy Days ☁]

Alright, so I'm not complaining or anything but I have a problem with my KSB terrarium... I want it to look, well more natural. Like you just walked into the African plains yourself and came across a beautiful sand boa... His cage... Well... Looks like you just walked into a lumber mill.

I have nothing against Aspen, it treats him well and I haven't had a problem with it concerning the snake himself, but I can't stand it.

A} It reeks of wood. I can't stand the smell no matter how many times I go over the room with febreeze.

B} It's messy. It's on my clothes, all over the floor, my dog's eating it up. I can't really vacuum it too well, either.

C} It's given him mites. This had only happened once, but it was a seriously bad case of these filthy bugs and I know they can't attack people, but it was in my room and I didn't sleep in my own bed for weeks. The couch was more comfy than that mattress....

D} It's unattractive. It looks awful, it smells awful, and it's everywhere. It's like that {Excuse this reference, I freaking love this show} Spongebob episode where Spongebob gets the ick and spreads it all over the Krusty Krab.

Now, my biggest problem is C cause I'm just anxiety-prone, but I'll admit that all four of these things bothers me. Now, I feed him in a separate bin and change the water out on a daily basis so I don't think I will worry about him ingesting anything, but I did sand once and won't do it again. It would always get under his lips and I'd have to pry his mouth open to wipe it off GENTLY with a wet Q-tip {And get my hand bit}.

Now, does anyone have any suggestions they could give me? I won't mind if it's not natural, but I just can't stand this aspen anymore :/

[wrecker45]

Iuse reptibark.

[Starbuck]

Reptibark, Colombian, sand/soil mixture, newspaper.... or be neater pouring it into the tank??

Your substrate did not give you mites, or if it did they were wood mites, wouldnt harm you or the snake, and will disappear on your own. Snake mites only come from other snakes, so unless you bought the adorn at an infested store or brought some mites home wit you from a shop or a friends....

[Terranaut]

Rest assured the aspen did not give your snakes mites....another snake did. You most likely brought them home on your cloths.

[TheZoo]

A} It reeks of wood. I can't stand the smell no matter how many times I go over the room with febreeze.


animals and febreeze never go together anything withe a perfume smell should not be used around pets its really not that good for people either

[Tsubaki]

animals and febreeze never go together anything withe a perfume smell should not be used around pets its really not that good for people either


Agreed! Not only is it unhealthy for animals, i personally i can't stand it either. it smells so chemical, makes me unwell. When i still lived at home a several years ago, if there was a really icky smell. I would use a scented oil burner, always combined with an slightly open window. My rats had very sensitive lungs and they did not respond ill to that, they did however get iffy n sneezy from incense and any kind of perfume. (So i obviously never used those again)

I would personally advise coco-husk or a sand/soil mix. I don't think the smell of wet wood is very appealing either (Even though it does not bother me much) Never really smelled the coco-husk, and sand/soil mixes smell nice and earthy to me :D

[Sharlynn93]

I didn't like the aspen either...I quit using it for my collection. I use eco-earth for some, eco-earth/sand mix for others...I use carefresh for my garter because she sneezed whenever we used anything else, but that seems to work for her...I use aspen for my rodents, but even a couple of them seem to be sneezing from it...I tried shredded newspaper for them, but they buried the babies in it and I had a hard time finding them...I am looking for a good inexpensive cypress mulch to mix with my eco-earth for my rainbows, but all I find is "blends"...a few breeders have told me they use it and its fine, but I am wary since one of my rainbows already has a health history...I don't want to take chances with her...