how do you sterilize substrate?

[Kazmins T's]

Just wondering how to sterilize substrate

 

[Mike H.]

some people use cookie sheets and bake the substrate in the oven, no need for this IMO...

Regards, Mike

 

[GartenSpinnen]

I would either put it in the oven on a baking sheet as stated above or put it in the microwave for a few minutes. If it isnt substrate but instead something like driftwood i would boil it instead. Good luck...

 

[MindUtopia]

Yes, you can bake it in the oven or microwave as well. The oven tends to dry it out and the microwave tends to maintain the moisture level, so either works depending on what you need for a given T. After receiving several bags of potting mix that had flies in them, I always sterilize my substrate. It's a pain but better than having to change out bad substrate later.

 

[cacoseraph]

i only messed around with "sterilizing" for a bit in the beginning. now that i just sort of let things flow i have babies coming out my nose

one interesting thing to consider is that with a tabula rasa type environment the first organism on the seen that has basic food/water/temp requirements met will bloom and take over


edit:
also, have a care when microwaving certain kinds of substrate. i have made coconut fiber smolder via the microwave. pesky hotspots.

 

[Mr. Dom]

I NEVER sterilize my substrates!

I've never sterilized my substrate. I find that all the little bugs, gnats, springtails and other microorganisms help turn the soil and keep it clean. They scavenge food remains and decompose waste...I barely ever have to spot clean. Whereas if you use a sterile substrate, like coco-fibre or peat moss, the enclosure seems to get dirty much faster and frequent cleaning is needed.

Most of the mites people get in with their tarantulas aren't parasitic, just scavengers eating cricket remains. The problem is when the mites congegrate on the tarantula in larger numbers, usually around the joints...those mites are bad.

Living soils work well for captive environments because its how nature works outside. The only thing you should be worried about with soils is to make sure they don't contain pesticides or strong fertilizers.

 

[Thoth]

Stay away from the microwave, because of hot/cool spots so you never truly sterilize the substrate from a microbial view point (though you probably kill most larger critters).

Oven is best (bake at 250°F for 30 min minimum) but also smells and as Cacoseraph said the first organism to colonize the substrate will just take over without any competition (could be bad, could be good depending on the organism).

Personally if it is infested with gnats or other insect I just let it completely dry out and that usually takes care of them. To avoid mold, spot clean any remains quickly, and don't keep thing excessively humid/moist or increase ventilation. In that way you should be able to avoid mold growth, spot cleaning being the most important.

 

[Cerbera]

I also don't sterilise the sphagnum peat moss I use, and have never had any problems. Generally speaking, I have never found anything 'living' in bags of peat - or certainly not anything big enough to see... and like some posters above, I'd be tempted to leave the natural balance of things as they are in the soil, which heat treating would invariably disrupt.

 

[Brian S]

There is no need to sterilize the substrate. Remember that out in the wild a tarantula doesnt live in a sterile environment. I never have and never plan on doing so

 

[LeilaNami]

I don't sterilize either. If something starts developing I don't like, I change it. So far I haven't had that happen except once when a cricket laid her eggs and all those tiny tiny babies were gone before my T was harrassed.

 

[Joe Xavier]

ah... same thing happened to me... my cricket laid her eggs and her babies were swarming the whole terrarium...

I took Houdini out and in a couple of days, all the babies just died out.. leaving no trace...

I think the biggest threat in a terrarium are ants... unless there are ants in the terrarium, let nature run its course...

 

[TheNatural]

I used to sterilize at the begining, but I dont anymore, the only problems I ever had were with sterilized subs, just like cacoseraph said: "...the first organism on the seen that has basic food/water/temp requirements met will bloom and take over..."