Best substrate for kings?

**EL Ziggy** · 07-10-13, 10:01 AM

Greetings all,
Just wanted to ask what you all think is the best bedding for king snakes. I currently have both of mine on aspen but was considering switching to cocohusk. (I like the way it looks) I thought about reptibark too but haven't heard many good things about it. Any thoughts on the pros/cons of switching their bedding? Any other ideas on the best substrate for kings?

smy_749 · 07-10-13, 10:13 AM

I like aspen for its burrowing potential. Cocohusk keeps humidity better, so it depends on the needs of the species.

Concept9 · 07-10-13, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smy_749

I like aspen for its burrowing potential. Cocohusk keeps humidity better, so it depends on the needs of the species.

Agrees.

And the snake. My MBK HATES Cocohusk, reptibark (Which are perfectly fine for Kings) but loves Aspen.

He will EAT my face if I give him anything but aspen.

My Cali could care less.

sharthun · 07-10-13, 11:13 AM

My Albino Prairie King snake loves aspen! But I think it depends on the snake's individual taste. He didn't like reptibark at all.

**EL Ziggy** · 07-10-13, 11:23 AM

Hmm, sounds like aspen is the way to go.

sharthun · 07-10-13, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Hmm, sounds like aspen is the way to go.

I need to try some finely shredded aspen bedding to see if the kingsnake prefers that to coarsely shredded lol.

bcr229 · 07-10-13, 12:29 PM

We recently switched our kings, milk, and garter snake from cypress to aspen. All of them became excavators and created rather impressive tunnel networks. The cypress they basically just packed down over time.

KORBIN5895 · 07-10-13, 03:47 PM

Can I ask you guys how you know your snakes didn't like the other bedding?

Mark Taylor · 07-10-13, 04:30 PM

Highway patrol lol.

My female boa never liked the aspen

she would rather have been hanging from the branch I wondered why that was the case as all the temps/humidity were correct, so I took the branch out and noticed she would sliver across the side of the viv (were the glass opens there's a lip). So after a few days of observation I noticed she stayed on top of one of the hides, so the next time I cleaned her cage I changed to news paper and kitchen towel.

I re placed the branch back to it original spot and the hides etc. now she slivers all over her viv and rests in her hides.

That's my 2 quid lol.

KORBIN5895 · 07-10-13, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Taylor

Highway patrol lol.

My female boa never liked the aspen

she would rather have been hanging from the branch I wondered why that was the case as all the temps/humidity were correct, so I took the branch out and noticed she would sliver across the side of the viv (were the glass opens there's a lip). So after a few days of observation I noticed she stayed on top of one of the hides, so the next time I cleaned her cage I changed to news paper and kitchen towel.

I re placed the branch back to it original spot and the hides etc. now she slivers all over her viv and rests in her hides.

That's my 2 quid lol.

Very cool. Thanks.

Amadeus · 07-10-13, 05:23 PM

My snakes are content with whatever I put them on. Not burrowers I guess. My one colubrid seems to make more of an effort to destroy the viv when on cypress.

Mark Taylor · 07-10-13, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

Very cool. Thanks.

Your welcome

Concept9 · 07-17-13, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

Can I ask you guys how you know your snakes didn't like the other bedding?

Well with mine. I changed him to repti-bark a few months ago to help raise the humidity a bit.

Now with my MBK, he never bits or hisses.

After switching him to repti-bark, he wanted nothing to do with me. He hissed even if I just opened the door to his enclosure and I thought he was going to bite me a couple time. He was like this the whole time the repti-bark was in the enclosure.

After about a week of this, I changed him back to aspen. The aggression and hissing stopped over night and he went back to his normal self.

All his enclosure condition were perfect, there was no changes other then the repti-bark so I have no other explanation other than he doesn't like repti-bark for what ever reason. Maybe the stronger smell or harder to burrow in.