Shredded Redwood

[slideaboot]

So, I've been using shredded redwood as a substrate for my new extreme and everything seems to be going smoothly, in that respect. A guy I buy feeders from was telling me, today, that redwood is bad for reptiles. Is that true? Does anybody know anything about this? It'd be a shame since it's the only substrate that I can buy in bulk here in California that doesn't cost 40 or 50 dollars per bag.

 

[Beazer]

For a similar price you can get bags of cypress. Try to locate "boas and balls" on kingsnake.com. I havent heard of anybody trying redwood though :/.

 

[tora]

I know cypress is a pain to find in cali, but redwood sounds like a good option. I hear any wood aside from pine is fine so long as it's not treated or has pesticides or anything weird in it.

 

[chelvis]

I used redwood for a bit but then the small concerned me. Sure enough after a month or so Bosco started to snezzing so i switched to coconut husk (i bit more expensive but anything to avoid vet bills). Now i don't know if its the dust or what but as i was removing the red wood mulch i noticed the top was really dusty and the bottom was getting moldy, i tunred that stuff all the time and it never did the trick. I'd say change it out and try somthing different.

Ya cypress is impossible to find in Cali sadly.

 

[Guest]

What's wrong with just plain old orchid bark? I bought a HUGE bag at home depot for $8 bucks.

I use a few inches of coconut bedding/top soil/peet moss mix (in a 1:1:1 ratio) and top it with a couple inches of orchid bark and it's worked great for my other lizards. And so far it's working just as well with my new giant tegu.

 

[chelvis]

I can never find orchid bark in larger bags then a few quarts. When i try and fill a 6x2 cage with a foot of bark i can never get a bag big enough, lol. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with orchid bark.

 

[slideaboot]

Yeah, I can't find orchid bark in those huge bags either--just the smaller ones that Chelvis is talking about.

 

[Guest]

That's weird that you can't find the big bags up there. While I live in Davis, two hours south of Butte County and can find it at every Home Depot I go to. There's even an Ace across the street from my job that sells HUGE bags for $14.

Drive down to Sacramento, you'll get them!

 

[slideaboot]

Good point....might have to do that.

 

[chelvis]

LOL Davis wow i just graduated from there and worked at the Davis Ace there. Crazy small world. If your talking 8 quarts as huge than yes. But i never saw anything that is the 32+ quart bags, if we did it was orcird sould and that had so many bugs in it that i just rather not deal with it. I think it was the blackgold that we sold there.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm a projectionist at the theater across the street from Davis Ace. lol Small world indeed.

I'm pretty sure they have bags bigger than 8qts there, but now that I think about it I might be getting it mixed up with some soil. Haven't had to go there in a while.

But the Home Depots in the area have the big bags. Natomas, Woodland do.

When did you graduate?

 

[chelvis]

Back in June of 09 i was at Ace untill the July of that summer. My college roomate use to work at that theater from early 07 to the mid of 08.

Ya the homedepots out there always had shreaded redwood and i stopped going to the one in Natomas is too close to petsmart i can get into some serious trouble in there. lol.

 

[Guest]

That's crazy. What was your room mates name? I likely new him/her.

 

[slideaboot]

See, substrates make the world go round!!!

 

[Guest]

See, substrates make the world go round!!!

Indeed.

Think of what other wondrous things would happen if they actually start selling *&%$-ing cypress mulch in California!

I mean is it really that hard to load a bunch of mulch on to a truck and drive it over here? C'mon!

 

[slideaboot]

Seriously! Do you know how frustrated I get when I see people's pictures of their cages and they've got cypress? And THEN, I have to get mad at myself for being jealous of somebody because they have a better substrate than I do! SUBSTRATE!!! I should NOT care this much about minced up wood, ya know? HAH!

 

[chelvis]

LOL wow it is crazy, right now im in Arkansas where cypress mulch is $2 a bag. Very tempting to buy a few bags and bringing them back with me.

oh and her name is Catie S by the way.

 

[Guest]

Oh, yeah, Catie. Yeah, I knew her! If I remember she had a female friend who came by a couple times in an Ace vest. I think she brought in a sick hedgehog once. That was probably you, wasn't it? Crazy small world...


Yeah, my parents visit Georgia, Tennesee, and Florida all the time. At least every six months. They alwasy ship my wife and I back a TON of 'gourmet' dog food and treats from this shop that makes their own from scratch. Next time I should tell them, "Screw the dog chow, send me some big *ss bags of cypress! . . . Oh, if you're in Florida, pick me up a Tegu from one Bobby Hill in Panama City!"

 

[chelvis]

Ya i text catie and she says she remember u. Ya that was me with the hedgehog, it was catie's pet and she wanted me to bring her in to say hi to everyone. Yep the kid in the ACE vest was me, i use to drop by alot hoping for a slurpee and what not, lol.

I would tell them skip the gourmet dog food and treats dogs are most of the time happy eatting trash, lol i know my two do. But i really dont get why we don't get cypress mulch out west. guess it just cheeper to have pine and redwood.

Sorry to hi jack the tread.