Saw dust as substrate

[thesnakeman]

Today as I watched my big male Couperi destroy his freshly cleaned, and neatly arranged cage, moving everything, including the paper, wrinkling it, poking his nose through it, crawling under it, which is supposed to cover the entire floor,.........I thought, there must be a better way. I hate paper. Period.

So I got to thinking about some kind of substrate. Lots of people use wood chips, and wood mulch, but absorbency is limited, and I would be concerned about a piece of wood that size passing through the digestive tract, or even getting caught up in a Drys teeth. But what about saw dust? Or wood pellets made from saw dust? I think Cypress would be the one, although I don't see why other woods couldn't be tried. Most saw mills would be glad to have someone haul away the saw dust. Has anyone ever tried saw dust, or wood pellets? Could there be any potential for problems in the digestive tract? Saw dust could be sterilized fairly easily in a soil sterilizer. What are your thoughts? Thanks,
T.

[Douglas Taylor]

Saw DUST will cause respiratory issues. Shavings are the way to go. I've never had an issue with wood shavings. I'd stick to aspen shavings if you have access to them.

I've recently seen wood stove pellets for sale that would probably be better than shavings. Absorbant but substantial enough to not get stuck to food. I just have to make sure it isn't hardwood before I work with it.

Ah the joys of indigos.

Doug T

[thesnakeman]

Yes, Iv'e seen the wood pellets from heat source. That's what gave me the idea. I currentlty have a rainbow boa on the stuff, just for experimentation. I'm reluctant to use it on the drys because it is made with a certain amount of petrolium product {OIL}. Not much, and it probably would never be an issuse, but I'd rather not chance it with my babies. And this stuff is made from oak. {hardwood} You can get food grade pellets for cooking, made with veggy oil.

I'd like to get some pellets made from aspen or cypress dust, using vegtable oil. If we could find a way to do that, I think it would be a good product. Why not hard wood? What type of wood are the pellets which are availeable out west made of? I would think you could find some made of aspen, since you are fairly close to aspen country. There should be aspen mills around. Did you know that an entire aspen grove, is really just one living organism, linked together by stolons, {roots}?


The thing about shavings is they worry me. I'm afraid of the possibility of injestion, and the subsequent complications. You say it's never been a problem for you. How many animals do you keep on it? How long have you been using it?? How much does it cost???

As far as the respitory problems associated with the use of saw dust, it would depend on the size of particles we are talking about I guess. If the size is small enough to suspend in air, then yes,... it would be a problem. However, the size of the individual particles is determined by the type of blade that made them. If I can find a source that makes the right size particles, from the right kind of wood,.... I have even pondered using a soil sterlizer with sand. But that stuff is heavy, and not all that absorbent.
T.