Quote:
Originally Posted by Cazador
I've never used aspen bedding, but it's attractive, has anti-microbial properties, and is fairly cheap. I think the main concern is that it sticks to moist foods and can be easily ingested. Perhaps someone who has used it for quite a while could offer better advice. If you choose, it, you might decide to feed them in another enclosure or offer their food in a bowl to minimize the amount of aspen that they might ingest.
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I use aspen bedding, and have for about three years. It does a nice job of being clean and easy to change... and between changes, I can scoop out a spot and replace just that spot. I tend to keep my snakes in huge aquaria, and I change the complete bedding once a month, with scoop and replace in the weeks between.
Now that I have had the ill luck of getting a snake almost eaten by a cage mate, I am always there for feeding time... and that means that I not only watch for accidents between the two snakes, but I also watch for aspen getting stuck to the food. I actually stand there and use a pair of fine pointed forceps, and will "pluck" a piece of offending shavings from the food while it is being ingested. At first, my snakes will drop the food and run... but eventually they get used to my interference, and as long as I move quickly and efficiently, they ignore me.
When I am not able to stand there and watch them feed, I use the kind of plastic boxes that one might use to transport a Boa or Python, and feed each snake in its own box, with no substrate at all... just the garter and the food, which is sometimes on the floor of the box, and sometimes on a dish, depending on the food item.
I just come back about a half hour later and return them to their tanks...