Anyone else have this problem with peat?

[Chris_Skeleton]

I have peat in most of my T's enclosures, and the real problem I have is that the peat won't absorb water. I try to keep the substrate moist in my 2 Avic, 2 H. lividum, 2 P. irminia, and 4 native trapdoor enclosures, but I end up with this problem. I pour some water, or mist, and it just pools up at the top. If it does sink in, it ends up being hours later.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you get your peat moist?

 

[kanito107]

Well I use coconu fibre on all my enclosures and it works great with my avics and they'r all healthy
But what I can say about peat is that, I use it for my plants with perlite and I can't say I have this problem, it soaks up problem really well,
Do you just have straight peat ?

 

[Thegloryfades]

It seems like peat takes forever to absorb unless it's already slightly damp

 

[fartkowski]

I always pre soak my peat.

 

[Hobo]

Yeah happens to me too. Also shrinks much more than coco coir. You pretty much have to keep it constantly moist or it will dry out and become a solid, dry mass.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I just stab the substrate a bunch of times with something long to aerate it. The water will sink down and eventually hydrate it again.

 

[Moltar]

I just stab the substrate a bunch of times with something long to aerate it. The water will sink down and eventually hydrate it again.

I do this as well. Generally I use a large bamboo kabob skewer (one of my fave T tools) and drill a few holes down into the soil, then I pour water into those holes and let it absorb. Eventually it gets soaked up. Also I've found that if you mist the surface first, the wet top layer initiates some capillary action and water absorbs into the top layer better when you pour it in.

All of this hassle is, for me, completely worth the trade off of virtually no mold problems. Also, adding natural sand and small particle vermiculite helps quite a bit.