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Advice on Cypress Mulch

danthebugman

danthebugman

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I've been keeping Ball Pythons for a few years now and have never experienced any shed issues. You can probably guess where this is going...:yesnod:...I'm now having shed issues. My male pastel had some minor issues a few weeks ago and two days ago one of my female normals had her's come off in about a dozen pieces (for the second straight time). I use Sterilite tubs, the humidity levels haven't changed (still 60% plus even with the a/c on), she has a water bowl she can soak in, I mist them every few days when they're in blue. I dunno. I use newspaper as a substrate, mostly cause I get the Sunday paper for free :D, but I've used it for a while now and have only now begun to see a problem with shedding (and my other snakes shed fine). I've been toying with using cypress mulch in the female's tub to see if that helps things, but was curious about where people get theirs from?? I was going to go pick up a bag from Home Depot, but a friend mentioned it may contain bugs. Not a big deal to me, I can fix that :thumbsup:. It's so much cheaper than the stuff from the pet store though. Anyway advice/thoughts are appreciated...
 
Try to find 100% cypress mulch otherwise, it could contain shredded bits of anything/everything else along with the cypress. I once bought a bag of cypress mulch from walmart (yeah, I know) and it had wood chips with blue paint on them. :ack2:
 
Have you thought about sphagnum moss in a hide with a hole in it for her to go into, or even an overnight "spa treatment" in the moss filled container?

I was advised to use Cypress mulch when I first started keeping snakes, and I did for a while...perhaps it was the type i was using or the brand but...I felt it was very dusty, and had a sediment on the bottom of the enclosure when I used it. I stopped a while back.

I use a variety of things but the sphagnum moss works wonders for a shedder, and you can give them free access in and out or soak them overnight in it. I was having issues with a few ATB's and it has totally resolved with this. I make sure there is about 1/3 of the container filled with water then place the sphagnum moss in it, I add enough to make sure the snake has something to support them a bit in the water then...toss lightly and add snake ... (okay I'm joking you don't have to toss it...)

It works wonders for my BP's and other snakes!
 
Thanks for the advice. The stuff I was looking at in Home Depot looked pretty decent, but I just wanted to see what other people's experiences were. I have thought about sphagnum moss, but I feel cypress would do just as good for what I'm needing and is cheaper. As far as dust, the only substrate I have used (and I have used a lot) that has been completely dust free has been newspaper.
 
Dan, i would agree even spagnum moss has dust and the dust from that is usually caused by mold. I use cypres a lot for problem feeders if they will not eat on newspaper i put them on cypres and 9 times out of ten they will resume feeding. Good luck. you can get cypres on kingsnake classified if you can not find it local
 
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