Substrate For Red Tail Boa

[the_flaxseed]

I have my new boa in a melamine enclosure and have been using aspen, but am having a hard time keep humidity up above 60% for more than a couple hours. I am considering switching to cypress mulch, but was wondering if it would be a bad idea to still keep some aspen in the enclosure for my red tail to burrow under (she loves doing this despite having multiple hides available). My concern is that the aspen could mold with the cypress mulch around. Is there another moist substrate that would work to keep the environment humid and still allow my boa to burrow?

Also, I got forest floor cypress mulch from zoomed. I've heard various concerns about it containing woodmites. Anyone have experience with this bedding that can comment on this?

Much appreciated, guys. Here's a picture of my new baby.

[Andy_G]

I wouldn't keep aspen in with cypress, cocohusk would be a great alternative and would allow burrowing. As far as the wood mites go, if they are present they are a non issue for your snake and won't bother it as they really only eat decaying wood, hence their name.

[scales.jp]

I bought coco husk to use as substrate, but had second thoughts about mites and for the meantime will just be using unprinted newspaper. The coco husk bag had holes punched in it (Exo-Terra), so I decided that although very unlikely, mites could have got into the bag whilst in the pet shop. Probably just me being overly precautious.

If I saw wood mites I'd most likely panic and think they were snake mites!

[trailblazer295]

Cocohusk chunks and add water as needed to maintain humidity.

[jjhill001]

A dirt mix would work wonders. Check out thebiodude.com for soil mixes I recommend. When paired with the microfauna it essentially eliminates the need to clean anything but the waterbowl. Plus the mix I have at least provides the best burrowing substrate I've ever used.