# wood chips what to look out for



## martin day (May 18, 2006)

id like to get some wood chips or shaveings but i dont want to pay the price my local reptile shop sells them for id like to get some from a hardware store as they are normally cheaper for a big bag what do i need to avoid and does anyone recommend any?
thanks
martin


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

you have to avoid dust.......


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## NNY (Feb 2, 2006)

I get a 25kg bag from my local rep shop for £25. lasts me about 6 months and thats for 6 vivs.


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

you got a 25kg bag of dust for £25 :lol:


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## NNY (Feb 2, 2006)

No not dust... wood chips :lol: :lol: Its quite fine too so is good for burrowing.


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## martin day (May 18, 2006)

so can i use a normall bag of wood chip from a garden centre or does it have to be treated to use for reptiles?


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

woodchip is bad for impaction  should only use on biggish reptiles in my own personal opinion. I watched my mums new beardie swallow one earlier instead of a cricket and took all of it out straight away. Bran is good. i get it for £1 a kilo frm pet shop and doesnt impact.


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## NNY (Feb 2, 2006)

Ok should have pointed out. I only use woodchips on the snakes. They all feed out of the viv so there is no impaction problems there. My frill is on play sand but i might move to the bran. I haven't had a problem with the play sand so far.


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

have u tried the bran yet? i was so happy at how cheap it is! I like it very much and it looks nice and natural for a low cost. lovely stuff. i dont have to panic when Don drags things out of his food dish anymore.


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## NNY (Feb 2, 2006)

No i havent yet but i handfeed most of the food to Giz.. he usually eats out of my hand.. and if any bugs are left in the viv they are either eaten off the walls or are flying moths so eaten out the air.


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

want to hand feed Don vito?  :lol:


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## Guest (May 26, 2006)

The main thing to watch out for when buying wood chip is that you do not get PINE.Pine is harmful to reptiles.I always use aspen for my snakes as it is excellent for burrowing with it being shredded.My snakes are feed out of the viv also.


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## Simon (May 10, 2005)

I have found some wood-chips to be totally infested. Be careful.

My Cham is on kitchen roll at the moment, as i dont trust the stuff that I bought a little while ago. Whilst spot-cleaning I found about 100 bugs scattered around the substrated.


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## NNY (Feb 2, 2006)

I actually found that when i first got Lysia... but i was using carefresh at the time. I changed substrate and checked Lysia over and no signs of mites.. so i was very lucky.


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## Simon (May 10, 2005)

Likewise... I am trying to find an alternative at the moment.


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

My favourite is bran at the moment. Have had absolutly no problems with it with both my gecko and my monitor and my mum uses kitchen roll. Both are cheap and affordable.


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## NNY (Feb 2, 2006)

Well when the woodchips im getting me are costing £50 a year substrate isnt that expensive. Its just personal preference and what youfeel safe giving your reptiles.


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## Deadbait (Apr 9, 2005)

i keep all my snakes on kitchen roll, its cheap, easy to clean out and i dont have to worry about them eating it. if you get one of the fancy thick padded ones for a quid more it lasts a lot longer. plus you can also use it to clean out with.
my substrate used to cost me a fortune, but using good old kitchen roll i spend no more than £20 a year max on 6 vivs.


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## eeji (Feb 22, 2006)

Greenphase said:


> The main thing to watch out for when buying wood chip is that you do not get PINE.Pine is harmful to reptiles.I always use aspen for my snakes as it is excellent for burrowing with it being shredded.My snakes are feed out of the viv also.


same with cedar chips too - toxic to reps


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## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

I bought a 100 litre bag of bark chippings for a fiver.
I have used it along with slat chippings for our beardies most recently, regretting it already though as I did find an ant in the viv the other day and also the bits are quite big...which is good in a way but spot cleaning is a bugger...go to scoop out the crap and cos some of the chips are so large they fall off the scoop...or the scoop wont scoop it...being having to use toilet roll [hand-job..]
anyway, not dusty though.
Im really wishing I had just gone somewhere that had what i was originally after being playsand.
Bran seemslike a great idea...save me a fortune in wheatabix i keep crunching up for the mealworms too...
havent seen it about anywhere though.


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## Yoshi (May 28, 2006)

try aspen it works in my snake cages and worked for my sav


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