Excavator Clay substitute?

[Walker253]

Is there a substitute at a hardware store or somewhere else for Excavator Clay? The ZooMed clay, even on Amazon, gets pretty pricey. I'm mixing it 1:3 with Play Sand and really need a cheaper option.

 

[Scorpionluva]

Not sure if there is a good alternative as excavator clay is the best thing to mix to help build strong tunnels.
What specie/species are you using it for ?

 

[Walker253]

H arizonensis. I am trying to use a 20L. I having a problem with enough depth. Weight would be an issue too. I was looking at an alternate mix of sand and top soil. Just playing around with mixes. I want to try 1.2 or 2.2. I'm currently keeping 3.3.1, but they're all separate. A good friend did 1.2 and they are still going. He attributes the success to deep substrate.

 

[Scorpionluva]

I had success keeping several 2.2 groups in 20 gal extra longs that were custom made with shallow substrate and lots of hides. I loved using that set up since it made it alot easier to actually view this species regularly which is 1 of the best parts about hadrurus - is seeing how active they are when they cant burrow.
I dont think i would trust a communal set-up with deep substrate cause If a fight would break out down deep in a burrow its not going to end up well that way and you cant go digging down to try and stop them. If your good friend is already currently using a deep setup - then he would be best to help ya get it going right. Keep us posted love communal set-ups with hadrurus

 

[Walker253]

I see your point on the shallower set up with many hides vs a deep substrate set up. Honestly having a glass tank filled with 100+ lbs of substrate is not something I really want to deal with either.

Funny thing about my buddy, he just got a new girlfriend and is in his early 20's. Love is in the air. All his answers lately are short and he's not that easy to get ahold of with the other factor of living 2 hours away. Let's just say he's occupied.

When you kept your setups, did you find one sex fighting more vs the other? My friend never added a 2nd male because he was concerned with fighting.

 

[Scorpionluva]

Yeah the tanks i had were same height and width as a 10 gal but were twice as long as a 10 gal and i couldnt imagine doing a deep setup with them. They woulda broke for sure with all that weight.
Ahh yes young love will forget it has friends anymore lol sorry to hear he wasnt more help for ya

The only fights i witnessed were males but basically just pushing matches and a bunch of threat poses. Once in a great while theyd sting each other but the male and females did that to each other during mating almost everytime too. Scary the 1st couple times seeing it happen but all ended well with no casulties

 

[viper69]

H arizonensis. I am trying to use a 20L. I having a problem with enough depth. Weight would be an issue too. I was looking at an alternate mix of sand and top soil. Just playing around with mixes. I want to try 1.2 or 2.2. I'm currently keeping 3.3.1, but they're all separate. A good friend did 1.2 and they are still going. He attributes the success to deep substrate.

I've posted many moons ago research from scientists that examined burrow formation changes as a function of substrate composition in a scorp species. They did not use Ex. Clay.