hey guys im using orchid bark at the mo bu the only problem is my royal wont feed outside the viv so she is always eating inside . i have heard that aspen is the best substrate why is this? and any ideas how much it costs cheers
Aspen is pretty good. Its absorbant and easy to spot mess on, the snake can tunnel in it (not that many royals do this though) and its pretty much available anywhere. Its about £3-4 a kg I think (but cheaper if bough in bulk).
Aspen is widely used in the US because it is cheap, soft, light colored (easy to spot messes), and does not cause impactation (if the snake ever gets it inside its mouth). Although majority of breeders use it, it's not really the best for royals because it doesn't hold humidity too well. I use twice-milled cypress for my royals which has almost the same texture as aspen. It is a darker wood though, so the urates are visible but the solid stuff is not as obvious. I've been having humidity problems the past months which caused me to switch from aspen to cypress. I feed my snakes in a separate substrate-free tank though.
Snake owner since Oct 2008, so yeah, I'm no expert. 0.1.0 pastel royal 1.0.0 spider royal 0.1.0 albino royal 1.0.0 bumblebee royal 1.0.0 yellowbelly royal 0.0.1 wild-type royal 1.0.0 normal western hognose
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Posted - 09/01/2009 : 22:52:26
