Is Aspen bedding a good substrate?

[ConcinusMan]

OK, mr. math, so how is it that you still think it's expensive for you? I think it's quite reasonably priced the way I got it online, for what it is. I just think if you want something natural looking, you can't beat coconut fiber and/or reptile bark. Peat moss, at least what I get around here is only slightly cheaper and it's garbage as far as I'm concerned. The coconut fiber is a bit more expensive but a better value. Of course, value is just an opinion. I don't give a damn how cheap peat is, I don't want to use it, tried it, it's crap and so the low cost doesn't matter if it's not what you need or want.

I must have screwed up somewhere, talking about two different substrates. I went back and checked my purchase. It was $4.79 for a 8 (dry) US quart bag (that's roughly 8.8 of your liters) for reptile bark.

Coconut fiber bricks, 3 pack which expand to create 24 liters of substrate, cost me $9.85. (pet store charges around $18) Shipping costs are hardly significant enough to be worth mentioning.

Math gives me headache. I'll let you figure it out. I still think there might be a problem with your currency conversion because, while it's not cheapest substrate I can get, it's certainly not expensive to me. I'm not rich by any means but I still don't think that it was unreasonably priced.

[Stefan-A]

OK, mr. math, so how is it that you still think it's expensive for you? I think it's quite reasonably priced the way I got it online, for what it is.

How do you think it's reasonably priced? Don't you have a forest industry? I'm just saying, considering the quantities of bark produced as a byproduct of the forest industry, it should be significantly cheaper than it is.

I just think if you want something natural looking, you can't beat coconut fiber and/or reptile bark.

None of the substrates look natural. Peat, bark, aspen chips, paper towels, ultimately they all look wrong.

Grab a camera, go to where you find garters and take photos of the ground in a few dozen random places. If I were to look for a genuinely natural looking substrate for example for Vipera berus in this country, and exluding areas where there is significant undergrowth, the ground would most likely either be sandy soil covered by pine needles, or humus covered by leaf litter.

Math gives me headache. I'll let you figure it out. I still think there might be a problem with your currency conversion because, while it's not cheapest substrate I can get, it's certainly not expensive to me. I'm not rich by any means but I still don't think that it was unreasonably priced.

CBA and no there isn't.