Petco Aspen Bedding?

Originally Posted by Mr.Atrox

Home depot or lowes, super cheap, you can also get nice bags of rock for aquarium gravel at around 4 bucks for 50 lbs. Just rinse it very very well. Here are some links:


http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...atalogId=10053


http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...atalogId=10053


http://www.lowes.com/pl_Bagged+Rock_...0051&langId=-1

Both links to mulch are either blends, or they contain dyes, and should not be used. And watch what kind of rock you use in an aquarium. Landscape rocks are often mixes and contain rocks with minerals that are water soluble and can have effects on the water pH, harming fish, interfere with the nitrogen cycle, and make filtration ineffective.

There are some unsafe rocks out there but the colorado river rock that is used in landscaping is the same stuff that petco uses etc. etc. Its just a larger grade. Thanks for the catch on the dyed and blended mulch, They do have undyed and un blended mulch, just read the bag before you buy. A 25lb pound of gravel at petco will cost you 25 bucks, a 50lb gag at lowes or home depot will cost you less than 4. When you are dealing with several tanks, it makes it cost prohibitive to go with anything else.

I work at Petco and recommend the Petco aspen for snakes (it's even what we use in the store). I believe the only difference in the rodent aspen and reptile aspen is the cut.. The reptile aspen is definitely more fine and maybe a little more gentle on the snake... but the regular aspen in the small animals section is just as good for them.

On a side note... has anyone used carefresh with their snakes? I've seen them shipped with it sometimes, but the carefresh bags so it's for snakes as well...

Does anyone feed on the finer cut aspen? I feed all my snakes in the enclosure and have been thinking about switching from newspaper.

Originally Posted by Focal X

Does anyone feed on the finer cut aspen? I feed all my snakes in the enclosure and have been thinking about switching from newspaper.

i do, and have no problems.

Bradley,
Wow, she/he is a sweet looking snake!!!!!

Sorry hit reply before I finished my question.

How is the aspen at keeping the humidity? V/R Paige

The last bag of Petco aspen I purchased is different. The cut is a little smaller, the smell has completely changed and the bag says its made from reclaimed housing industry material. The jury is out on this one....

Jim MacDonald aka pythonjim

All aspen is aromatic oil free. It's pine and cedar that has the harmful oils.

I use newspaper for all my established snakes, and I tend to use aspen for the new snakes.

Just an update, when this thread started I was thinking of switching to aspen. I've tried both types since then, finer cut aspen from another store and the larger cut shavings from petco.

The finer cut stuff is great. It's a little harder to clean up off the floor but tends to stay in the enclosure more. After the snakes have been on it for a few nights, it becomes compact and flat. This is great when finding feces and urates but offers no additional "cover" for the snake. It seems to hold humidity better.

The larger cut shavings tends to stay alot fluffier. My breeding females tend to build larger and more covered "nests" when they lay. It holds humidity fairly well, however, it breathes better than the finer cut and as a result loses humidity just a tad faster. Another disadvantage, it's harder to locate waste and since it's looser, it gets dragged out of the cage easier.