I'm new and have a Question

[RETICULATED]

Hello I am new to the board but have been checking it out for the past week. Well i have been into reptiles for 5 years and have had a few right now i keep a Retic and a Burm. And i have a question...lol would (Forest Cedar Mulch) be ok for a substrate for my retic? I use newspaper but i hate the looks of it the reason i ask if it would be ok is that i have a huge bag here and thought i could put it to use

Hope to talk to you all real soon

[Linds]

1: Welcome to the site! Glad you finally decided to join! ;)

2: Cedar is an absolute no-no! All softwoods contain oils with are toxic to different degrees. Cedar is a powerful neurotoxin, which can easily kill your snake if not leave give it a large degree of neurological damage. Pine is being much milder, more of a very mild respiratory irritant. If you want to use a mulch, go for cypress mulch ;)

[RETICULATED]

Thanks! I think i will stick with the newspaper it wont do any damage And it gives my snake something to read...lol

[Pookie]

A lot of people here use newspaper. It's a cheap and easy choice! :) Try using the "funny" pages to make it look a bit more appealing. My friends get a kick out of it when they come over and see my snake reading the "funnies!"

[burmer]

Newspaper is great to use. It's cheap, easy to clean and replace it. The only draw back is you don't get the humidity from it. I had a mite problem a while back and have been using newspaper. It's been a month and no mites so I'll be going back to cypress mulch. Cypress will work good for you RETICULATED. It looks good, it holds humidity well, it's cheap and it's easy to spot clean.

[RETICULATED]

I use to use Aspen bedding and it worked great But i can not get the humidity right with it so i think i am going to try the cypress mulch

thanks for all the help

[Steele]

welcom to the site reticulated I have bean looking for cypress mulch here and i cant find it if eny one from around me can tell me wher to get it that would be great.

[RETICULATED]

You should be able to get it at your local pet store i know that Pets mart and super pet would probably have it

[reverendsterlin]

indoor/outdoor carpet, sheets, carefresh, and inviroguard even coconut fiber need a mention

[Ed_r]

Your petstore doesn't want you to know about cypress.

You get a 10 pound bag (its allot actually) at Home Depot, or Lowes, in the gardening dept. YOu get a mongo bag for about $3.00 Compared to a tiny bag of reptibark for $10.00

I personally dont use cypress ecept on my arboreals. Definately DO NOT feed on it. The snake will ingest the pieces and you'll have HUGE problems later. I use newspaper on all my Boids. Biggest thing is the urine. On newspaper it's very easy to spot and clean. With cypress the urine flows all over and hides throughout the cage. You just end up replacing it all anyway. Not really sure how everyone "spot" cleans a huge puddle of urine.

Id stick with Newspaper

[daver676]

I've got some green felt carpet I'm going to try out. Looks a little more natural than newspaper. But I have to agree. Newspaper is great for cleaning, cheap, and plentiful.

Dave

[BurmBaroness]

I agree with ed. I can see immediately when I need to clean, and with newspaper, cleanup is fast and easy. As far as humidity, I have a rather large burmese, who has always had a perfect shed on newspaper.

[Invictus]

I've personally never used newspaper, but then again, I've never owned something as big a burm or retic. My biggest snake right now is my 6' corn. :) I'm going to look into Cypress mulch though, as it seems to be pretty popular here.

[Mike177]

newspaper is great! if you are haveing humidity problems there are other resons it might be low. what kind of cage is you retic in??? when i built my burms cage i made a BIG mistake by useing peg board for the sides and i had to cover them up with duckt tape and plasic trashbags to hold humidity. if you cover up all the holes exceptes some on boath sides of the cage at the top and mist the cage you realy shouldnt have a problem. i use newspaper on all my snakes except my blood python (witch i use cypress multch) shreeded aspen is good for colubrids but not too good with boids or any anamal who needs a high humidity

[RETICULATED]

Well my retic is only around 5' to 6' and for right now i have her in a 125gal tank

[Invictus]

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with anyone who says that shredded aspen is not good for holding humidity. If you spray down aspen, it will stay wet for weeks. It absorbs almost as well as sphagnum.

[RETICULATED]

I Agree Invictus..

When i use to use it i had problems getting the humidity just right but i think that was more my doing.

But i have always liked the looks of my enclosures with the Aspen bedding it brings the colours up very nice in your snakes. Because if you have a dark snake and use Cypress it take away the colour of the snake. Were as the Aspen is real light and shows off the colours of the snake. And if done right it will hold the humidity.

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Nothings better then shredded newspaper! I'm sure glad I bought a paper shredder!

[Ed_r]

Shredded newspaper is fine just don't feed on it, it also could be injested and cause problems.

[Invictus]

You know, given that the ink on newspaper is toxic to humans, I still find it hard to believe that it isn't at all toxic to snakes. Does anyone know of any scientific studies either proving or disproving the effects of newspaper ink on snakes? I know that TONNES of snake owners have used it without a problem, I just wonder if this has ever been studied.

[Ed_r]

I have heard now the black ink is soy based so it's not toxic. Now colored inks, are said to be toxic to reptiles, such as geckos. Not sure if this is axtended to the rest of the lizards and snakes.
I wouldnt use newspapre for too many lizards anyway, would think they would claw it up real good.

Just as a precaution i dont use newspaper with colored ink for my snakes.