Substrate Talk, Aspen Vs Coco husk (All variations)

[Diago326]

Heyyo i just wanted to get a good layout for my albino BP i have had coco husk in there for a little while now and he has no negative affects except he enjoys to burrow more than anything in the world. I had aspen bedding in there for him for a while but i notice a long piece of it in his mouth one day and freaked out. Been on coco husk ever since but recently he has been getting large clumps stuck to his face because he is more use to the substrate and digs deeper. he has about 8in of coco husk to dig in at his deepest spot so he has a fairly large tank. I want to end this battle in my head between coco husk and aspen wood chip bedding. Brands, Pros and cons, any details you guys need i can provide. Or if you just wanna speak generally about their differences i also would love to hear it. I just want to finally have a happy snake (he is happy i am just a wussy about his enclosure making him upset when it come to my little homie:eek:) and sleep better at night knowing hes not eating dirt or wood or anything like that.

[trailblazer295]

When I used aspen shavings I could never keep the humidity up even misting twice a day. I use a cocohusk chunk blended with cypress mulch. Depending where you live keeping 50-60% might be easy. Up here not so much so have to use a bedding that will hold moisture. My king is on sani chips. All moderate humidity snakes are on other substrates.

[afsgr88]

When I used aspen shavings I could never keep the humidity up even misting twice a day. I use a cocohusk chunk blended with cypress mulch. Depending where you live keeping 50-60% might be easy. Up here not so much so have to use a bedding that will hold moisture. My king is on sani chips. All moderate humidity snakes are on other substrates.

Any specific reason why you mix the two? I am looking for a new substrate that holds the humidity better, that's why I ask :)

[trailblazer295]

I used cocohusk bricks exclusively soaking as per instructions. Come spring had mold issues as no matter how hard I tried using fans couldn't dry it out, switched to cypress only no mold. Come winter again in new house had trouble keeping the humidity up for extended periods. Found it dropped fast with misting. Decided to experiment breaking bricks apart by hand and soaking a portion of it in water and mix with the rest. This approach seems to be working well. I'll scoop out a portion of the coco husk/cyrpess into a pail and add water. Mix it around and put it back in mixing it with the dry. Seems to be a good balance is maintain high enough humidity without saturated for my snakes. My bp is 50-60% and my boa 55-65%

[afsgr88]

I used cocohusk bricks exclusively soaking as per instructions. Come spring had mold issues as no matter how hard I tried using fans couldn't dry it out, switched to cypress only no mold. Come winter again in new house had trouble keeping the humidity up for extended periods. Found it dropped fast with misting. Decided to experiment breaking bricks apart by hand and soaking a portion of it in water and mix with the rest. This approach seems to be working well. I'll scoop out a portion of the coco husk/cyrpess into a pail and add water. Mix it around and put it back in mixing it with the dry. Seems to be a good balance is maintain high enough humidity without saturated for my snakes. My bp is 50-60% and my boa 55-65%

Seems like a good solution. I will definitely give it a try. Thanks for the answer :) And my apologies to the OP for intruding :rolleyes:

[jay's reptiles]

if you wannna use aspen again, make sure to get the snake kind. They come in very small pieces. Most people buy the kind that is for mammals which has large pieces.

[akane]

The aspen sold for things other than reptiles really put me off aspen. I've seen mammals come in with splinters stuck in them. One person had to slowly pull dozens out of a hedgehog's ears which is no easy task. If they get upset you just have a ball of hedgehog spikes and no more ears to see. The hedgehog was so much more active and nicer without his ears full of splinters. The reptile stuff might be consistently better, I haven't tried it because I like the more natural materials look which led to me to bioactive, but it's too expensive for other uses.