ball python bedding specific question.

[jesters22]

i no aspen and other bedding's are preferred. but at the moment i am not able to get to a petstore.. would shredded newspaper be a ok bedding till i get aspen? my only thoughts is it might or could interfere with the breathing?

any incite would b appreciated.

 

[Selket]

Newspaper is one of the top preferred bedding types. Its right up there with aspen. You don't even need to shred it.

 

[jesters22]

i no full newspaper is a good substrate. my only concern was when i shreded it and grabbed a clump and droped it. their was almost like a cloud of "dust" type material. and i thought it might not b that good for the snake to injest as it moves about the tank..

 

[David_F]

It shouldn't be a problem. Not my first choice (I'd just use sheets of news paper) but I don't think it would hurt the snake. If you're really worried about it just put the shredded paper in a mesh bag and shake it out until the dust is gone.

Any pics of your BP?

 

[rasputin]

The shredded newspaper is fine as a temporary substrate. Don't worry about it too much.

When you get the money or whateve together, what I recommend and use for most of my animals is coconut husk from Creature Travelers. The owner of the company Daryl, has been quite generous to me. I recently had the opportunity to go into a really bad local pet shop and redo all the reptile and invert enclosures because the owner of shop in question was out of town - I still had a tone of leftover samples so I brought them in as opposed to using the garbage he had in the shop. For the ball pythons I used a mix of both the "fine, soft chips" and the "course, soft blend" and it instantly triggered a response from the otherwise inactive ball pythons - they were interested in their water and ate (they were dehydrated and malnurished when I found them). This mix also triggered the most perfect shedding I've seen in the 18yrs I've worked with reptiles.

Here's the link to the products page of his site: http://naturesubstrate.org/products.htm

I'm sure everyone has their own schtick for how they keep their herps but I've been able to do a ton with all the blends of coco fiber Daryl offers and highly recommend it for bother herpers and invert keepers as the possibilities are endless and it's relatively cheap.