When it comes to caring for your slithery companion, comfort and safety should always be top priorities. One of the most overlooked yet cruc
Want to make your snake feel like royalty? Learn how to choose the perfect snake bedding that ensures comfort, cleanliness, and a natural habitat. From moisture control to odor reduction, the right snake bedding can improve your pet’s health and happiness. This guide covers the best options for different snake species and offers expert tips to create a cozy, safe enclosure your reptile will love. Give your snake the royal treatment it deserves!
You will need the best substrate for a corn snake. But, since there are several excellent options (Aspen, Cypress Mulch, Lignocel, Reptichip, etc.), which should you buy? Is it necessary or should you use something free that you have at home already, like paper towels or newspaper? We’ve detailed what makes …
What are the best corn snake bedding options? https://www.snakesforpets.com/corn-snake-substrate-options/
A comparison of two coco husk beddings, because I thought they might be useful to at least a few people:
On the left is Grow!t/Reptichip, and on the right is CaribSea Coco Soft Coarse Chip.
Both are actually about the same color when they’re wet to the same degree. The Grow!t was soaking in a bucket overnight while the Coco Soft was in a bag in a closet, so there’s a difference in color here.
The main actual differences: Grow!t contains a lot more fiber and much smaller chips. It’s soft and fluffy. Coco Soft contains very little fiber and much larger chips. Bear in mind this is the bottom of a bag, so there’s more small chips in this picture than if I’d dumped in a new bag. The largest chips are a few inches in diameter/length, and average around 1″ in at least one dimension.
What’s that mean? Grow!t is more gentle on delicate scales, and may be easier for some snakes to burrow in. That said, my corn snake digs through it like it’s nothing. Some snakes may prefer lighter particles. Coarse Coco Soft, however, is great for bulldozers like my short tail to construct ditches out of, and (why I use it, really) the bigger, rougher chunks are fantastic for snakes who like to shed using their substrate as aid. My short tail doesn’t really understand how to shed on a log, so he has a heap of big chips in the middle of his viv to roll through and dig holes in and the Grow!t lines his hides so he has softer areas too and. . .
The differences from a keeper’s perspective: Grow!t and CaribSea’s stuff cost the same, but I get six times the volume out of a block of Grow!t than a bag of CaribSea. CaribSea is loose, Grow!t comes in a compressed block. The block takes up less storage space, too, than a full bag of chips. However, if you mix up more than you need, you gotta find somewhere to sock it. If you take out too much CaribSea, you can just dump it back in the bag.
Verdict: most people looking for a moisture-retaining, diggable substrate (who don’t mind the staining very wet coco husk can leave on snakes) probably will be happy with Grow!t, provided you have a thing to store extra in. If your snake isn’t shedding superbly on it though, try the coarse chips. Personally, I’m trying a 1/3 CaribSea to 2/3 Grow!t with my short tail, hoping it will be economically better for me but still work for him. I don’t mind having to store the bag because I have two other big bags of substrate and four smaller ones anyway because I have some sort of substrate hoarding problem, apparently.
Congrats for reading so much about some chunked up coconut husk. You have validated me.
hi there, i had a question on pine bedding. is kiln dried pine okay? its completely dried, no oils or anything that can harm the snakes.
I’ve heard that some people use it, but personally I wouldn’t. I feel if the substrate were to get wet it would re-moisturize the dried oils in the wood chips. Better safe than sorry :)
Snake tower cleaned and re bedded (3x2 cages yay)! all the snakes are very happy with their new bedding! Rupert (the anery corn) is already making a mess of course!
I lurv my animals and always do my best to give them everything I can <3 and next week is a reptile show so with hope! some cool new toys, and some more food! i actually went through a little over 200 mice this year.... wowzers!
So real fast, I have 5 snakes, and I've been snake keeping for 10 years (wow! i feel old now...)
Snake bedding review under cut!
BUT I always hear back and forth on what to do about snake bedding! And after today, hohoho things have changed!
I recently baby sat a hognose snake for a friend and loved how his sanichip bedding absorbed poo as fast as it did! and boom! dried up. Here in MD where it gets pretty humid and some of my snakes (corns, nelsons milk and japanese ratsnake) have very very watery colubrid poops, combined created a mold paradise, and as a snake owner we all now that long lost snake poop in the bottom of the cage that got lost can quickly turn into a monster if we arnt careful.
So i finally got my snake bedding in (after I was shipped the wrong bedding BUT then given a free 30lbs bag of aspen shavings, woopie!) and cleaned the cages and dumped some in, and boy.. already.. the dust is SO LOW!
Ive never had snake bedding with such little dust, it blew my mind! Normally Im cleaning my nostrils of wood chips for the rest of the evening or forced to wear a mask even though the product is fabled as "clean and dust free"
So! along with some pics! my recommendation of Sani-chips! My brand is harlan teklad and i ordered it off pet 360 along with some dogfood so my shipping was free! At 9$ for 20lbs I was sold and with the texture and absorption already proven (thanks for pooping right away pablo) I def recommend!
Bedding I have used before, rated! (1 being the best!)
