BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I've got TONS of 'shredded' aspen for my snakes, but its rather small shreds.

So as per the care sheet I thought about switching to something else, considered repti-bark until I count countless reports of wood mites and other bugs in the bark, so I decided against that.

Forest bark is $50 a bag around here, so that's a no go.

Now I am looking at Carefresh basic, blah!! now I am reading reports that its far too dry on humidity and can cause RI issues..

Sigh,

I use shaved aspen. I read somewhere that carefresh can constrict toes

We have 2 Northern BTS. We use shaved aspen in the warmer months, when humidity is higher, and Repti-bark from Nov.- March when it is very dry here in the Northeast. I prefer the aspen, not so much dust, but it is too hard on the skink bellies in the winter.

Anyone ever have any problems with shredded aspen?
I would prefer to use that as I have 2 years worth of it already

I personally use recycled paper cat litter pellets~

I just switched from Repti-bark to recycled paper pellets and love it. I got a far larger bag for much cheaper than Repti-bark.

Karen wrote:I just switched from Repti-bark to recycled paper pellets and love it. I got a far larger bag for much cheaper than Repti-bark.

Hmm, but isn't Carefresh basically paper pellets too?
I found several BTS forums stating it sucks up too much moisture and makes it far too dry, and also causes RI issues..

Having a tough time deciding what to use here.

neurotic88 wrote:

Karen wrote:I just switched from Repti-bark to recycled paper pellets and love it. I got a far larger bag for much cheaper than Repti-bark.

Hmm, but isn't Carefresh basically paper pellets too?

Not at all.

Most people use either Cypress mulch for indonesian species or Aspen shavings for Australian species.

Carefresh seems to be a lot fluffier from what I remember; the pellets I use are very compressed. I've been keeping an eye on the humidity after switching and it doesn't seem to be very different from the Repti-bark in that regard. There isn't really a right answer to substrates, so I would just try out a few different options and see what works best in your climate for your BTS.

I'm using Aspen- And I hate it. It looks nice- but it's SO dry and causes belly issues. I'm planning to go buy some Eco Earth, and I'll tell everyone how that goes. I think it will be great, and I'm getting some for my snake as well

i use sand for some,newspaper for some or even sugar cane mulch and artificial grass

neurotic88 wrote:Anyone ever have any problems with shredded aspen?
I would prefer to use that as I have 2 years worth of it already

Aspen has a humidity issue associated with it. I kept Coomassie on aspen for the first year or so I had him with no problems. I noticed this past winter that his belly was getting really dry (you can actually feel a difference) so I figured it was time to change it up. He already had a huge water dish and my husband wanted to change over to cyprus mulch (as far as I can tell for no other reason than he is constantly messing around with the reptile enclosures because he can). The cyprus does hold humidity better (I usually mist him once or twice a week). I will also say that I think I would have kept him on aspen if it wasn't so dry in our apartment. The winter months have almost no moisture in the air here.

neurotic88 wrote:...I found several BTS forums stating it sucks up too much moisture and makes it far too dry, and also causes RI issues...

I'm just curious about what BTS forums you found. I am only aware of two. If there are more, I would love to know about them!

I made a mix of aspen shavings and rept bark, works fine

maybe the kingsnake.com skink forum jeff?

Jeff wrote:

neurotic88 wrote:...I found several BTS forums stating it sucks up too much moisture and makes it far too dry, and also causes RI issues...

I'm just curious about what BTS forums you found. I am only aware of two. If there are more, I would love to know about them!

The quote was

"Carefresh is a really bad substrate for reptiles because it dried out the cage the cage too much causing bad stuck shed. When I used carefresh for my snake I notice the water evaporate much faster than normal. And carefresh is really dusty and has beens shown to cause respiratory infection in prehensile tail skink in less than 24 hrs. I used aspen for my BTS. It's much better and cheaper."

Found on http://www.forums.repashy.com

It just made me not wanna try carefresh anymore, so I thought I would ask.

I think I will end up going with cypress mulch

I don't have an opinion on carefresh because I have never used it. I was just hoping there were other bts forums I didn't know about since you said you saw it on several bts forums.

I'm really liking Cypress Mulch for my Bluey. I've heard it's hard to find outside CA though.. I included a picture below.

I've used Bark in the past for other reptiles, not a big fan; If you're worried about pests/bake/nuke/freeze your substrate and it will kill any intruders

that looks great sfbluetongue,wish we had acess to that over in aus

I use Carefresh. It can be packed down or fluffed up, allowing the skinks to hide in it. I also have large pieces of flat granite and cork bark.