Oops! No excavator sand available!

[Tim Benzedrine]

Picked up a desert hairy scorpion. I did not see excavator sand available. So, is there a substitute substrate I could devise? I have access to potting soil (but will need to check for the presence of additives) or top soil, (though I'd prefer potting soil so I would not need a 40 poung of the stuff. It's cheap, but I don't have a handy place to store it where I feel it would not somehow become contaminated. Outbuilding has gasoline fueled equipment and I fear toxins might leach into the soil via fumes.
I also have coco-fibre and play sand. Also have a bag of that vita sand junk that a guy gave me because it came with a kit and he did not need it, which I accepted, but know that it is not a good choice, so it is ruled out.
I need to get the scorp rehoused soonish, so ordering some is not really that viable of an option. Is there a good way to utilize what I have on hand to make a suitable substrate.
My bad, for some reason I thought that excavator sand was something that is repurposed for substrate rather than something created for the pet substrate purpose and so thought I'd find the stuff at a home supply store.
Usually I think things through better, but I sort of dropped the ball this time.

 

[FrDoc]

Topsoil. It’s less than three bucks, and works like a charm for your needs (I use it for my H. pallidus). What you have left over, roll the open end of the bag up, place that end down so the weight of the bag keeps it sealed, and leave it outside next to your shed, or house. However, I opine you’re way overthinking the contamination risk.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

You are probably right in regard to over-thinking. Although I have noticed certain items having a mild gasoline smell. But no matter on that, I discovered that I had not stored the play sand in the outbuilding and have it in a non-foreign materials place. So, I zip out and get a 40 pound bag of topsoil. I saw it for $1.60 at the store. At that price, I could just use the remainder for fill-dirt somewhere and buy more as needed. Cut it with some sand, (or would that even be necessary?), partially bury a largish chunk of cork bark and create a starter burrow and call it good for the day. I'm unsure if the scorp will tunnel well in that, they cannot reinforce the walls with silk like tarantulas do, after all. But without the clay, I can't see any other avenue. I welcome further advice, of course, or criticism. Like I said, I usually look into what I am going to need beforehand, and have done some research on the species, I just slipped up considering the substrate.

I just hope the topsoil is good and dry at the time of purchase, I've run onto bags of the stuff that were pretty sodden, probably depends on where it has been stored. The bags are plastic, so I imagine condensation within is the culprit.
Shoot, I'll fire up a heat gun and blow dry what I need if I have to! Unless I am overthinking the need for dry substrate. A lot of what I have read at numerous sources would indicate that my concerns may be at least a little valid.

I guess I'll see. thanks! Out I go for topsoil!

Fast-forward in time with some editing. Got the topsoil. It was pretty trashed up with pieces of wood and pebbles, and as I predicted, a bit on the damp side, but not terribly so. And I used a heat gun to dry it, a really tedious process.
I did a bit of rudimentary set-up, mixing some sand and eco-earth into the topsoil with no real formula in mind, sunk a cork round into the substrate in the hopes of creating a tunnel-like hide and introduced the scorp without incident. I will look towards improving it further, but here is the situation currently...



I was a bit surprised when after putting the scorp in the enclosure, I offered a cricket and it ate it. It had only been ten minutes after disturbing it in the container in which I bought it bought in I thought maybe it would ignore the offering. It had clambered into the water-dish I had planned on filling with water. The cricket got between the dish and the back wall of the tank and the scorp reached down and plucked up the cricket. and proceeded to sit in the bowl and munch the unlucky cricket. It did not look like it necessarily need fed, but seeing if it would accept it struck me as a good way to see if it was settling in. I just had not expected it to do so quite as readily as it did though.





It it is still pretty warm in the house during the day, but nights are getting cooler. Not a big concern now, but with colder weather, daytime temperatures may become sub-optimal. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Research I'd done here at AB in previous threads indicate that winter temps can run from the mid-60's on into the 70's in winter and high 70's to low 80's are okay during summer season, so that should not be too difficult.

I've been watching it begin to make a burrow, totally ignoring the fake one, naturally. Fascinating to me, but it also gives me a little concern, because the darned thing chose to make the burrow beneath the stone water dish that is shown above am a little worried about a collapse because I'm not sure how adept it may be from escaping such a blunder. But I'll have to worry about that tomorrow. At least it is exhibiting natural behavior, I guess.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I also noticed a mound of substrate at the mouth of the cork round the next morning which would indicate that "Potter" at least gave it a try. Can't tell if it is in there or under the bowl, though. It was out when I got up, but went into hiding after I turned on the lights but I didn't notice where it went.

I think I will enjoy this new addition, though I had been hesitant due to their reputation of having difficult moults in captivity. I once had a S. mesaensis, but had a stroke of bad luck with it, one that I or anyone else here knew the actual cause for and it did not make it. Another reason I have abstained from arid scorps until now. So far I have done well with the tropical species, Asian forest scorpions, and decided to take another swing at one of the arid ones.

 

[Pepper]

I see that you've resolved your situation, but I'm posting this in case others searching for info come across this thread (slim chance i know )
I think you mean excavator clay, which is (part of) what i have my Hadrurus arizonensis (Desert Hairy) in. I read after i bought it that you could just use well-broken up regular (non-toxic) art clay, cut it with sand, add water to firm it up, and let dry. Maybe save some money.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

That may be an idea to remember for future reference. It appears that the scorp has been doing some more digging in the cork round. Of course it can only dig as far as I filled the round.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Small update. I placed a nano dome-light with a ceramic heater in it over one end of the enclosure to create a warmer area. I'm no expert at sexing, but I'm thinking it is a female, by the length of the teeth on the pectines...I could be dead wrong, of course.