Thread: Looking for large quantities of aspen shavings

Hi, and welcome. Try Brymays . They grow plantations of poplar for Redheads matches.

,just wondering why Aspen or Poplar?
and if there are any Australian equivalents?

Rowie,

Thankyou so much for that lead. I'll Google that mob and see where it goes. I am aware of many abandoned matchstic Poplar plantations on mid-North Coast. I understand that most of the industry shifted to India leaving many growers flat.

Underfoot, the problem with most forms of shreded or shavings of timber for reptile bedding is the irritants and toxins contained. The 'bedding' ends up in the snake's water bowl, and if it is conifer or Euc based, the resulting 'soup' is bad news for the snake. Maybe there are other non-toxic timber byproducts, but the aspen is the tried and proven one that is enormously popular in USA. I'm thinking that since aspen is same genus as poplar, that similar qualities will exist...

Best wishes,
John

So normal old raddiatta pine no good? Is supposed to have anti bacterial qualities. But I guess that could mean anti snake too.

Tea Lady,

Yes, you're right, conifers are good at protecting themselves from invertebrates AND vertebrates, though some animals get around that (e.g. porcupines eat the stuff).

Have hit a brick wall with Brymay Forestry. I suspect they went belly-up with the rest of the matchstick industry. Hope someone can give me a further lead for either Brymay or any other milling that is done with poplar trees.

Regards
John

Often poplar is used for those plantation blinds. So maybe someone who makes those would be able to supply shavings for your beasties. This is a google search for "poplar shutters Gosford"

Another wood that is used for this is Palownia - you might find that it is suitable for reptiles.

You could try Tumut Shire. The poplar plantations there went about 20 years ago, but there are many planted on the town common and elsewhere. The shire may prune or fell them and mulch them - not sure, but worth a try.

Sounds like a job for a bodger.......isn't there someone running a greenwoodworking school in NSW?

Have followed quite a few leads, but bottom line appears to be that there is absolutely no use being made of the abandoned poplar plantations, from Victoria to southern Qld. The 'poplar' timber blinds that are 'popular' in Australia appear to be all imported from China, and the matchstick industry has relocated to India. You wood-workers ought to figure out a market for the timber - and if you do, keep me in mind for the resulting sawdust and shavings!

Best wishes all, and thanks for the help. Am now moving to other ideas for the solution to this challenge - e.g. importing containers of shredded aspen wood from US.

John