Aspen bedding..

[Trimeresurus]

Worse product on the market! Gets stuck in there mouths, one of mine ended up with canker from it n one of my womas shat out a solid poo of compressed aspen, n it ends up in water bowl all time

If you let a snake eat enough of any substrate it would cause problems though, and that substrate must have been in his mouth for some time to cause a problem like that.


I only have positive things to say about it, it smells nice, absorbs odor and and any mess the snakes make really well. That being said I don't feed on it, I only keep my smaller snakes on it, and I feed them all in separate tubs for this reason. On one of the bags of this stuff I had, it did have a warning about feeding on it, saying it can cause problems if they eat too much, but my bigger bag of it has no warning - weird.

 

[wokka]

One advanage of hemp is that the processing doesnt leave sharp ends like aspen. I assume that being an annual the plants contruction is not as woody. It seems almost springy and is very absorbant. In trials we have done it seems to last at least twice as long as kiln dried shavings when used for rat substrate.

 

[wranga]

i use shredded bark that i buy from the garden section at kmart. $5 for a 40lt bag. been using it for over 5yrs without any problems

 

[Skeptic]

One advanage of hemp is that the processing doesnt leave sharp ends like aspen. I assume that being an annual the plants contruction is not as woody. It seems almost springy and is very absorbant. In trials we have done it seems to last at least twice as long as kiln dried shavings when used for rat substrate.

Where do you buy it in bulk from?

 

[Amazing Amazon]

The Zoo Med Aspen is great but leave all the other bark looking aspen for your garden! It is cheap rubbish that every man and their dog is trying to sell.

 

[wokka]

Where do you buy it in bulk from?

I buy it in a 10m3 truckload via Paynes Landscaping Supplies. I bagged a bit up for the SOFAR expo for people to try but without pretty pictures on the bag it didnt seem to move. I think unique pets were talking about selling it on their web site,but they seem to have dissappeared.

 

[Becca-Marie]

I bought zoo med aspen today (and a snake hook lol) will see how we go

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[zulu]

Newspaper is the go and the reptiles like to hide under it where it conserves heat.
Aspen looks better for the keeper to look at ,makes corn snakes feel at home.

 

[buffcoat]

All of my reptiles are on it except my BRB, she's on coco husk.

I buy big 50lb bags at reptile shows for $20. Almost no dust, shredded so it packs nicely and its great for the "diggers" my woma, hognoses', corn and kings.

As others have said, it absorbs and smells good. Makes for easy spot cleaning.

I've found in "store bought" bags it can be a bit dusty towards the bottom and I've ran into wood mites.

The one I use is Harlan Tekland shredded aspen, FYI.

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[bohdi13]

I buy it in a 10m3 truckload via Paynes Landscaping Supplies. I bagged a bit up for the SOFAR expo for people to try but without pretty pictures on the bag it didnt seem to move. I think unique pets were talking about selling it on their web site,but they seem to have dissappeared.

do you think most landscaping supplies wil stock aspen in large quantities? was it like the hay stuff or little diced chips.

 

[buffcoat]

do you think most landscaping supplies wil stock aspen in large quantities? was it like the hay stuff or little diced chips.

Over here, folks will go to their farming supply store and buy aspen bedding.

I'd say as long as its not pine or cedar bedding, and has no chemical additives in it, then it would be fine for reptiles.

Until I moved my boa into her 4x2x2 viv, I went to Lowes (Bunnings) and bought bags of plain mulch free of pine and cedar. It was like $4 a bag. Nice big chunks, held humidity and was a snap to clean. Oh and way cheaper than reptibark.



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[wokka]

do you think most landscaping supplies wil stock aspen in large quantities? was it like the hay stuff or little diced chips.

No landscaping yards in Australia would stock bulk Aspen. It is a product from North America, a little like aussie wattle, it is a fast growing tree and the aspen bedding is a by-product from milling it. No Aspen is produced in Australia so any used here comes at a huge environmental cost particularly the transport.
The alternative produced in Australia is hemp which is a by-product of the hemp fibre industry which is just starting here. Hemp is used for clothing and in building as a binder in say hempcrete as an alternative to concrete. The hemp industry aims to reduce environmetal impact of the traditional products it is replacing.

 

[andynic07]

No landscaping yards in Australia would stock bulk Aspen. It is a product from North America, a little like aussie wattle, it is a fast growing tree and the aspen bedding is a by-product from milling it. No Aspen is produced in Australia so any used here comes at a huge environmental cost particularly the transport.
The alternative produced in Australia is hemp which is a by-product of the hemp fibre industry which is just starting here. Hemp is used for clothing and in building as a binder in say hempcrete as an alternative to concrete. The hemp industry aims to reduce environmetal impact of the traditional products it is replacing.

I have tried hemp , it is really good but not readily available yet and it smells a little.

 

[Tobe404]

Why not just use coco/coir-peat?
Unless you don't like the look/smell of it for whatever reason.
About 5 bucks for 3 bricks from Bunnings.
1 Brick does all my Herps/Scorpions.
Never had any problems with them ingesting it either. Desn't do them any harm.

 

[abnrmal91]

Worse product on the market! Gets stuck in there mouths, one of mine ended up with canker from it n one of my womas shat out a solid poo of compressed aspen, n it ends up in water bowl all time

I have been using aspen in 6 enclosures for 9 months or so with no problem I feed them on it with no issues.

Couple of questions.
1. What food item did you feed the snake?
2. Was the food item dry, damp or dripping wet?
3. Did you watch the snake as they ate, did aspen stick to the food item?
4. Did you see the snake attempting to eat the aspen where the food item may have touched it? (I know of people who have had BHP start eating newspaper once a rabbit touched it).
5. Where abouts are your water bowls located in the enclosure and how high is the rim of the bowl?

 

[wokka]

Why not just use coco/coir-peat?
Unless you don't like the look/smell of it for whatever reason.
About 5 bucks for 3 bricks from Bunnings.
1 Brick does all my Herps/Scorpions.
Never had any problems with them ingesting it either. Desn't do them any harm.

What is the environmental cost of coco-peat?
Where does it come from?

 

[andynic07]

What is the environmental cost of coco-peat?
Where does it come from?

I think it is usually a by product of other coconut products.

 

[Skeptic]

The stuff from bunnings is from Sri Lanka. Australia used to produce coconuts for coconut oil but that stopped in the 70's.

 

[Stingray01]

Who in there right mind wants a substrate you can't feed on.
It's all fair and well to say common sense would tell you.. But how are you to know untill you try

Just comes back down to common sense. In what way would it work? I'm just not seeing it.
For everything else such as the cleaning part then yeah it's great. Although allowing your snake to consume anything other than its food just confuses me.

 

[wokka]

The stuff from bunnings is from Sri Lanka. Australia used to produce coconuts for coconut oil but that stopped in the 70's.

Is that the stuff they grow on what used to be rainforest country that was previously only used for a few orangutangs? Environmental cost? What's that?