Newspaper, humidity and hygeine

presspirate · 11-08-10, 01:38 PM

I print newspapers for a living, so I have a never ending suppl of free newspaper.So, it seems more economical to bed my larger snakes on paper. For those of you that do this, how do you keep your humidity up? Do you still mist? How often do you replace the paper? Up till now, I have been keeping my boas on cypress and my carpets and corns on aspen. Also, what are the pro's and cons? I can think of a couple pro's right off the top of my head. Cheaper and easier to spot clean.

Thanks in advance for your input!

mykee · 11-08-10, 01:47 PM

I will happily tell you how my humidity is with newspaper (I use unprinted newspaper stock) BUT everyone's house is different;
The relative humidity of my home is different from yours.
The airflow of my home is different from yours.
The barometric pressure of my home is different from yours.
The type of heat I use may be differnt from yours.
Air movement of my home is different from yours.
The elevation of my home is different from yours.
The size of my reptile room is different from yours.
The location of my reptile room is different from yours.
My bin holes are different from yours.
The setup of my room is differnt fro yours.
These are all factors that come into play.
In my room, in my house, in my city, my air movement, with my relative humidity, my elevation, my bins, my heating type, my bin holes, newspaper works for me.

presspirate · 11-08-10, 02:55 PM

What an interesting way to say: "Try it and see."

mykee · 11-08-10, 03:03 PM

LOL.....Newspaper has always worked well for me, but I've used a bunch of different substrates and I made them all work my modifying the bins' surroundings.
I find that newspaper allows for a cleaner look and is super easy to full clean (you can't really spot clean newspaper) and holds humidity well in my bins (~60-70%).
I've never really been a fan of this "spot-cleaning". Sounds like the bin always stays at various levels of dirty to me.

Ch^4 · 11-08-10, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mykee

I will happily tell you how my humidity is with newspaper (I use unprinted newspaper stock) BUT everyone's house is different;
The relative humidity of my home is different from yours.
The airflow of my home is different from yours.
The barometric pressure of my home is different from yours.
The type of heat I use may be differnt from yours.
Air movement of my home is different from yours.
The elevation of my home is different from yours.
The size of my reptile room is different from yours.
The location of my reptile room is different from yours.
My bin holes are different from yours.
The setup of my room is differnt fro yours.
These are all factors that come into play.
In my room, in my house, in my city, my air movement, with my relative humidity, my elevation, my bins, my heating type, my bin holes, newspaper works for me.

Well put! I was wondering the same thing and figured trial and error would be the best approach. My collection is growing and the need for simple substrate for cleaning purposes is growing as well. Thanks for the advice!

Digression: mykee, you have a wonderful website with a wealth of invaluable information....I spent a good amount of time viewing it this weekend (I was supposed to be working!).

presspirate · 11-08-10, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mykee

LOL.....Newspaper has always worked well for me, but I've used a bunch of different substrates and I made them all work my modifying the bins' surroundings.
I find that newspaper allows for a cleaner look and is super easy to full clean (you can't really spot clean newspaper) and holds humidity well in my bins (~60-70%).
I've never really been a fan of this "spot-cleaning". Sounds like the bin always stays at various levels of dirty to me.

I'll give it a shot with my carpets. Changing the paper every couple to three days does not sound like too much of a chore. As I said, I have a never ending supply. I will probably use unprinted as well, because I know what goes into those sheets when they are being printed. Thanks for your input! Much appreciated!

shaunyboy · 11-08-10, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by presspirate

I'll give it a shot with my carpets. Changing the paper every couple to three days does not sound like too much of a chore. As I said, I have a never ending supply. I will probably use unprinted as well, because I know what goes into those sheets when they are being printed. Thanks for your input! Much appreciated!

carpets dont have any specific humidity needs mate

over here in the uk they do just great with a water bowl up the cool end

all mine shed 100% complete and perfect everytime

cheers shaun

infernalis · 11-08-10, 06:45 PM

Shaun, your part of the world is well known for it's humidity mate.

We use radiant heat in our house, I love it. Does not dry the air at all.

Lucky having access to those remnants, I know most newspapers will change out the master rolls with plenty left on them, They don't like it when the presses run out making the paper.

One local paper I do IT work for always has rolls sitting around with 10-20+ feet of paper left on them.

presspirate · 11-08-10, 07:26 PM

We typically sell "End Rolls" depending on how much paper is left on the core. For between $5.00 and $15.00 Or, I can bring them home for free. I have used them for everything from shop towels, to compost, to fire starters, to ferret bedding, to packing material. Might as well try it for snakes.

And yeah, letting a roll run out on a press run is a bad thing.

infernalis · 11-08-10, 09:48 PM

The most fun part of being a computer/copier tech is seeing the inside of all the major industries.

A pass to walk the plant floor is part of the work.

Those presses are loud, and the folding machines are loud as heck too.

presspirate · 11-08-10, 10:03 PM

pirate press 005.jpg

pirate press 003.jpgNot sure how big the operation close to you is Wayne, but here is my beast. It's only single wide. We print two Daily newspapers, about 35-40 weekly papers, and several monthly publications. We were 3 shifts, but the third shift was laid off last February I run the second shift, hours are 7:30 to 4:00 am

presspirate · 11-08-10, 10:05 PM

One more. Twenty years in the industry. My ears aren't quite what they used to be.

infernalis · 11-08-10, 10:16 PM

It's about the same.

The concrete floors are extremely thick at the paper, those presses are heavy.

Lankyrob · 11-09-10, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

Shaun, your part of the world is well known for it's humidity mate.

The ambient humidity in our house is 40-50% dependant on the weather - so your right wayne, tho i do nothing to raise humidity for my JCP he has around 50% anyways.

mykee · 11-09-10, 09:55 AM

CH^4; thanks so much for the kind words about the website.
My wife adn I both take a great deal of pride in what we've done with it and the amount of information that we've made available. It's all about learning and helping out those that can use it.