Is it engineered wood fiber safety surfacing? Who was the vendor? Engineered wood fiber looks like mulch but is actually created and tested to meet certain ASTM standards, ensuring that it has a certain level of impact attenuation for falls, that it is ADA accessible, and that it's not flammable. Engineered wood fiber is tested to make sure that all the pieces of wood are of a similar size & shape-- that way they knit together after installation in such a way that there's so little air in between the pieces it won't even burn! It's this feature that also, in my understanding, makes it an unfriendly environment for our furry & scaly friends. None of the vendors KaBOOM! uses for engineered wood fiber has ever received a complaint about rodents or snakes. If you used a vendor we know, I'll be happy to help get you in touch with the right person there to ask them this question too! I hope this helps.
I don't think they will be attracted to it because if it is in use several times during the day, those critters will want to avoid burrowing in there...they like to be away from the beaten path as much as possible, so my guess is that no, it should not be a problem. It might be good to just have the recess aides (or parent volunteers if this is a neighborhood playground) check in any nooks and crannies though for the time being, because if you are trying to force them out of other locations, then they might unwittingly try to get on the playground...but I really do think that after the first recess/heavy play, they will hightail it out of there on their own!
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