Substrates

This topic has probably been covered several times before, but I haven't found any recent posts about it. Also, I think it's good to cover this topic every so often as there does tend to be new substrates available every so often. What do you all use - any particular substrates that are better for certain species?

The reason I ask is that I've massively downsized my collection and now want to move away from newspaper and go for something a little more aesthetically pleasing. The substrate I'm swaying most towards is beech chips. I was considering aspen, but I found before that it occasionally got stuck between the snakes' scales and also occasionally got stuck in my fingers when lifting snakes out lol.

If there is a recent topic on this that I've missed, admins/mods feel free to delete this :-)

I personally use aspen and my snakes do great on it, i'm not very fond of beech chips myself. I fond that orchid bark makes a very nice forest floor look but sometimes can carry a few hidden beasties

Yeah I've always had bad experiences with orchard bark, so tend to steer clear of it now.

Hi Chris
We use Cosibed for our corns as its very absorbant and cuts down a lot on smell, its a natural bedding for horses and we also use it for our Black and white tegus. For the royals we use beech chips and the hog noses aspen as they really like to burrow. So far we haven't had any problems with either.
Cheers
John

Cosibed could well be worth a look then.

where do you buy the cosibed John ??

I use Hempcore , I think its the same as Cosibed . Its made from the hemp plant for horse bedding .
Great stuff been using it for years .
It also digestable .

I get a bale (hay size) for £6.50 .

Buddy wrote:where do you buy the cosibed John ??

Equestrian Farm feeds in Lisburn, only thing is that last week when I was down they told me they were stopping stocking it. looks like I will have to find another stockist (probably another equestrian one)
Cheers
John

Rezin8er wrote:I use Hempcore , I think its the same as Cosibed . Its made from the hemp plant for horse bedding .
Great stuff been using it for years .
It also digestable .

I get a bale (hay size) for £6.50 .

Yes I am sure its very similar as the Cosibed is also made from the hemp plant. Where do you get it Nikki?
cheers
John

I'd like to know where you get it too. Would definitely buy a bale to try it.

I used eco earth for one of my boas for the first time it looked great and the boa can burrow down the only problem is he is now going through a bad shed,i wonder if this is the problem?Anyway i will now be using aspen from now on ive never had a problem with it.

snakeboyadam2k8 wrote:

Rezin8er wrote:I use Hempcore , I think its the same as Cosibed . Its made from the hemp plant for horse bedding .
Great stuff been using it for years .
It also digestable .

I get a bale (hay size) for £6.50 .

Yes I am sure its very similar as the Cosibed is also made from the hemp plant. Where do you get it Nikki?
cheers
John

Big Dogg wrote:I'd like to know where you get it too. Would definitely buy a bale to try it.

Blairs farm supplies up in Straid .

Ah I know it well. Not far from me. Happy days :-D

Newspaper!!

I use Newspaper in my RUBs Tony, but like something a little more attractive in my vivs lol.

Got some hemcore today. The kind they stock has a little citronella added to it, so I was nearly not gonna leave it. However, I had a quick look online and it seems a lot of others have used this with no issue. I take it this is the same stuff you use Nikki, as I got it from Blair's in Straid. Though it was £9 + VAT (£10.80 total). Mind you, it's still a bargain for the amount of it you get :-D