My skink likes Aspen but…

[Leigti]

The new enclosure for my northern BTS will be here next week :-) but I can’t decide what substrate use. The enclosure will be 6 feet long. I have tried Aspen, Coco Products, cypress mulch. His favorite seems to be the Aspen. He really likes to burrow, and just seems happier somehow on it then the other stuff. But there seems to be a debate as to whether that is good or not. I do plan on having a humid hide available at all times , on the warm and, with damp spaghnum moss in it. He does use the humid hide. He has not had any issues with shed. So I am open to suggestions as to what substrate I should use. I personally would prefer Aspen but I want to do what’s best for my skink.

[kingofnobbys]

I think course grade KRITTERS KRUMBLE mixed with natural leaf litter (non toxic plants only) is a very good bedding for an eastern or northern bluetongue.

https://www.petbarn.com.au/kritters-kru ... litres?p=1

I simply set out my front door onto my front path and collect twigs and fallen strips of bark and leaves deposited there by my mature 40 yr old blue gum and mix with kritters crumble for my easterns, and they adore the stuff. A few minutes with a kitchen bin bag and I have all the leaf litter I need for my two EBTs.

2 x 20L bags of Kritters Crumble and a bag of leaves is more than enough to give my two a nice deep bedding about 2 inches deep to burrow through and fossick through looking for bugs (2x vivs 4ft x 2ft),

[splashy07]

I do not know if that is available here in the states.
I used aspen for my Northerns for a few years, but after dealing with shedding issues and excessive sneezing (the lizards AND myself) switched over to repti-bark, cypress mulch or coco husk, or combination thereof. No more shedding issues, allergies, or sneezing lizards. This will be my third year breeding so I'm thinking they're happy.