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Laura

I use old sheets/pillowcases in all but two of my cages (those have aspen shavings for a couple of wc Solomon Island ground boas but will eventually be switched to sheets/pillowcases as well).  The sheets are great for holding humidity, absorbant, appealing in looks, and make cleaning a snap.  I can change the substrate, wash/change the water and disinfect all 12 setups (2 small Vision cages, 1 medium Vision cage, 5 large Vision cages, and 4 Sterlite tubs) in about 3-4 hours where it used to take all day for 8 cages with aspen shavings.  The snakes seem to enjoy burrowing between the layers of sheets or under them, they don't get newsprint all over them or shavings beneath their scales so they look cleaner, and the cleanup is easy (shake solids into trash or commode and drop sheets into washer w/ hot water, detergent & bleach).
 
Neat Idea - I never would have thought of it! Do they mildew if they get wet? My Suris needs greater humidity than my others. Do you clean once a week or more often? (I walked away and can't remember what all your post said - my appologies) thanks for responding!!
best wishes,
laura
 
I actually got the sheet idea from this neat guy named Henry over on the KS boa forum a year or so ago.  He was telling everyone how easy it was for cleaning, etcetra, and once I tried it I've never switched back.  As for mildew, I've never had mine mildew and I do mist my cages but not daily.  If you mist on a daily basis, I would recommend washing the sheets once a week as a precaution against mildew/mold, though I've not had any problems myself.  I usually change the sheets once a week, give or take a few days.  For all my cages, it takes 3-4 hours.  I remove the sheets, wipe the cage down and clean & change the water bowls.  If I notice one of the snakes has defecated, I remove the sheets as soon as I see it, shake off the solids and pitch it in the washer with a little detergent and bleach.  I have just enough sets on hand to change out all of the cages at one time with maybe a couple of sheets lefft over.  I make sure I wash the soiled sheets as soon as I change them out (cuts down on any residual odors in the house and doesn't leave me in the lag having to wait for a sheet to wash/dry when I change a cage).  You can either use old ones around the house, buy sets that are discounted at places like Target or WalMart, or go to thrift stores/Goodwill stores/etc. (which is what I occassionally do), as well as snag them from relatives.  No-one in my family has old sheets laying around. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>  Hope this helps.

Dianne
 
Dianne,

That's an intriguing idea!  I imagine that there would be no problem feeding in the same container (assuming separately housed snakes) because there would be no substrate to ingest, right?  Have you found ANY downside to this yet?  What about the washing machine?  Are there any residual smells lurking about?  My wife would throw an absolute fit if I switched to this and it affected her precious washer! LOL

Thanks in advance -- Darin
 
Darin,

I have found absolutely NO downside to the sheets.  They retain moisture when sprayed well, providing a boost for humidity without them having to be soaked down.  When the snake defecates, the urates and feces can be easily dumped into the trash or commode and any liquid is absorbed into the material.  

The only thing I do when feeding in the enclosure with a couple of my more aggressive feeders is to push the sheet aside.  But generally speaking, I've not had any problems, I just believe in preventative medicine for those snakes that are sometimes more hungry than they are intelligent. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>  Moving the sheet is especially important with Burmese pythons as I have read of at least one case of a burm eating a bath towel it had been fed on.  It missed rabbit, hit the towel, began to swallow the towel anyway (it had rabbit scent on it) and took 2-3 people to work together to hold the snake's mouth open and pull the towel out.  That said, my best friend just got a new burm and set her up on the sheets.  She moved the sheets to one side of the cage and fed her on the cleared side with no problems.

As for the washer, the only odor I have found is when you are first washing the sheets.  The combination of hot water, bleach, and detergent does little to mask the initial odor when the cycle first starts.  However, the odor fades fairly quickly.  I usually allow the cycle to run almost to the point of draining the water and then stop the cycle and put it back to the begining to let the washer agitate the sheets for a longer amount of time before I let it drain and rinse.  I occassionally run the sheets through two cycles - the first cycle to clean the sheets - using hot water, bleach and detergent; the second cycle is usually just hot water and detergent to make sure the sheets smell clean and don't have too much of a residual bleach odor (for those time when there are heavier 'deposits&#39<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>.  With the drought conditions that have hung over my area for most of the past year, I haven't been using the 2 cycle method as often though in order to conserve water.   The washer never smells afterwards either way - most likely thanks to the bleach.  I have also only done a single normal cycle through when I was short on sheets or time and needed clean sheets NOW and never had any residual odor on the sheets or in the washer.  I'm pretty particular about the washer as well (I do not want to wash my clothes and have them smell like snake poop) and my other half has a very sensitive sense of smell and would never go for it either if the odor lingered so I think you'll be safe with your wife. <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>

Dianne
 
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