Best substrate??

[Nmarie]

Is there anything better to hold high humidity and moisture without mold and fungus all the time?? Coco fiber is not working

 

[viper69]

Check out what poison dart frog owners do at dendroboard

sounds to me you may have issues with ventilation but who knows with your post

 

[SpookySpooder]

Is there anything better to hold high humidity and moisture without mold and fungus all the time?? Coco fiber is not working

Pure cocofiber is prone to molding when kept wet. I personally use a mix of reptisoil, coco husk, sphagnum moss, and sand and have not had a mold outbreak yet.

Below is the recipe I used for inspiration. It isn't exactly the same ingredients/measurements but close enough for you to get the idea.

On the Topic of Substrate​

The standard substrate mixture I use is the following mix by volume:

• 2 parts Zoo Med Reptisoil
• 2 parts dry, loose Zoo Med Eco Earth
• 1 part dry sphagnum moss
• 1 part vermiculite

I have found this mixture to retain moisture extremely well as well as being able to compact tightly and support extensive burrowing with no risk of collapse when compact. I use this substrate almost exclusively and I’ll mix up large amounts of this to store in plastic storage totes. Unless otherwise noted, I will use this substrate mix in all the enclosure setups in this list of methods.

Like Viper mentioned, mold can also be a result of too much moisture and inadequate air exchange from a lack of ventilation

 

[Stu Macher]

Reptisoil has been working very well for me. I'd recommend that over anything else. If you're rich you can buy biodude terra anna, and guaranteed you won't have any mold issues. But seconding what Viper said, ventilation could be the source of your problems. Over watering your enclosure with little ventilation is a recipe for mold, fruit flies, mites. No substrate can really stop that from happening if that's the case.

What species are you keeping?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Coco fiber, only molds if used for damp substrate. Topsoil is a good alternative. Unfortunately I got a bag that has sticks to need filtered out and I have no screen for it.

 

[fcat]

I like reptisoil. It can be difficult to rehydrate, and sometimes you'll see flower pot fungus outbreaks when you do. I've never been brave enough to buy something not marketed for animals.

It compacts well (which will help it hold moisture) but you do need to have ventilation regardless.

 

[Nmarie]

Ventilation is fine its almost too much with some guys, I mix vermiculite with the coco. I have over 90 diff species and a variety of 10 others. The top will get dry and the bomb is where it usually acts up but I will definitely try that recipe with some!

 

[Dayners666]

Is there anything better to hold high humidity and moisture without mold and fungus all the time?? Coco fiber is not working

Reptisoil and springtails

 

[SpookySpooder]

I like reptisoil. It can be difficult to rehydrate, and sometimes you'll see flower pot fungus outbreaks when you do. I've never been brave enough to buy something not marketed for animals.

You'll be fine. I've been using garden materials for years now. I'll literally pull moss and topsoil out of old pots when I'm repotting and use the "cleaner" stuff to mix in with the reptilsoil after I solarize/bake it

 

[Poffypoffa]

I usually use Terra Aranea, but due to a late order I recently did a bunch of enclosures with ReptiSoil. I like it quite a bit, particularly for sling enclosures. It seems to naturally compact much firmer than Terra Aranea, and I'm not convinced that's ideal. But on the upside it's far easier to hydrate than Terra Aranea. I find that if I let the Terra Aranea dry out it's extremely hydrophobic, and I don't have that problem with ReptiSoil. With the Aranea you need to make a hole with tongs or a paintbrush handle and hydrate it very slowly, even mixing the water with the dirt a little, to get it rehydrated. Aranea is also far chunkier. Bio Dude seemingly does this to avoid pockets of methane gas, in his description of how his substrates work, and perhaps that's a theoretical issue with something like ReptiSoil. But, the cabon chunks are so huge that for anything but adult spiders I pull most of them out.

I have had zero mold problems with either so far.

 

[jrh3]

I use reptisoil mixed with eco earth .

 

[gabrieldezzi]

Is there anything better to hold high humidity and moisture without mold and fungus all the time?? Coco fiber is not working

My experience with coco-fiber is it worked quite well in my enclosures that aren't really that moist (i.e my chalcodes or OBT enclosures), however for my Pamphobetus species, this is the second time I've had to do a complete substrate change due to excess fungal growth. I've been looking into new soils as well and it seems Reptisoil is a pretty good alternative.