Q's for people using Aspen bedding

I have an adult girl on Aspen bedding and let me tell you, it's been nothing but problems. It seems like every time I look in there she has some sticking out of her mouth.When I feed her, I lay the rabbit on a peice of newspaper so the shavings won't stick to it, but every time she pulls the rabbit off of the paper and gets bedding in her mouth. I'll look in there a couple of days later and it looks like she's chewing tobacco. The little pieces are between lip and gum on the bottom.
Sunday I fed her and she actually struck the rabbit, which was a first since I've owned her. She started to swallow it and had a mouth full of bedding, so she spit it out and wouldn't touch it. It took me awhile to get all of the bedding out of her mouth. She has a couple of sores that I dabbed with a Tea Tree oil product that seem to be getting better.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who's run into this. I'm thinking screw the Aspen, but I see alot of people using it and she likes it. When I use just newspaper she pushes against the walls and is tense all the time. I'm wondering what people are doing to avoid these problems???
I feed the little ones in a separate container, but that isn't an option with the 7 footer.

Thanks,

jason

[denny_rimes]

Hey Jason,

We used aspen for a couple years but switched to corrugated cardboard. The stuff comes in rolls that are 2' wide so they cut perfectly to fit Boaphile Plastics caging. We keep our boas in the house and were forever having to clean up the aspen shavings that fell out when we were in a cage for any reason. Although we never had any problems with ingestion, like you seem to be having. Perhaps if you switched your big ones to a different substrate and left the smaller ones on aspen you might be happier. I feel that especially for the smaller ones, aspen gives them that little extra bit of security because they can burrow if they want to.

Good luck, buddy!

Denny ;D

[JoePat]

I have a question for those who use bedding aspen and otherwise. Do you treat you bedding before you put it in and if so what with? I have read some things about soaking it in hot bleach water and then rinsing with warm water. Then I assume you dry it.
I would like to switch to a bedding like aspen especially for my ball who likes to get under the news paper and push it around but I am in the middle of a war against mites and DO NOT want to take any chance of getting them again.

[denny_rimes]

Hadn't heard of the bleach water treatment, but it sounds effective. We used Provent-a-mite to treat bedding.

Denny ;D

[ShannGo3]

Jason, I use news paper. Bit I also tear long strips of it and crumble it up, placing it all over the cage so she will have stuff to get under and hide. I know it will not hold in heat as well as aspen but if it is the feeling of security for your snake you are looking for that is very easy to clean up, news paper is great. As for hiding under it I just throw in some newspaper waded up! Shannon.

Denny, Where do you get the corrugated cardboard? Also do you have pictures of it? Is it better that newspaper? I really would like to see some. Thanks, Shannon

[denny_rimes]

At work right now, Shannon...shhhhhhhh We get the stuff from a local packaging supply company. It is very cost effective and extremely easy to use.

I'll post some pics of the cardboard when I get home tonight!

Denny ;D

[dberes]

If its what I'm thinking of, you can get corrugated cardboard from uline.com, papermart.com, or just about any other shipping supply company. As for aspen.... I use to use it, but my allergies were going crazy around it. And since I keep my boas in my office, the aspen had to go. I will probably give the corrugated cardboard a shot. I never had any problems with my larger boas getting aspen in their mouths, however I am sure its different from boa to boa..

Thanks guys!

The corrugated cardboard is a good idea. With that they still have some gription. I don't think she likes how smooth it is with just the newspaper. She is tense, and pushes against the sides.
I also like Shannons idea. hmmm...
Thanks for being so helpful folks.

Hey Joepat, I just stick my bag of bedding in the freezer for a couple of days. That kills any bugs/eggs and your not subjecting your animals to toxins like bleach.

jason