jungle mix junk

krystal

Arachnodite
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 18, 2002
Messages
381
i'm lazy, i'll admit it. i've been using jungle mix substrate as opposed to the peat moss/dirt mixture many swear by. anyhoo, i cleaned out my slings containers and replaced the substrate. seconds later, i witnessed hordes of mites crawling about the jar! i looked inside the jungle mix bag only to find such a huge infestation of mites, the dirt seemed as if it were breathing! (okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but still...) so i'm taking back the contaminated bag and immediately investing in peat moss and dirt.
 
Last edited:
M

minax

Guest
Hello Krystal! The potting soil , peat mix does work much better. It also seems to be much more resist. to fung. and mold problems.By the way , I saw you were wondering about altern. food source for your s'lings. One easy solution might be mealworms. Just buy some med. worms , Put them In a rubbermaid shoebox, add cheap branflakes and stand back! They will turn to beetles and about a month later you will have plenty of tiny mealworms! My L.parahybana loves them! Minax
 

skinheaddave

SkorpionSkin
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 15, 2002
Messages
4,341
Be warned. If you start breeding mealworms you can't just stop. I now have three large bins on the go -- granted they take very little effort, but that is still a lot of space dedicated to an "alternate" food source. ;)

Cheers,
Dave
 

belewfripp

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
344
Jungle Mix is nasty stuff. I've found that when used with high moisture species it attracts phorid flies like you wouldn't believe. I won't touch the stuff.
 

Kenny

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
293
I agree and I disagree..:)

Hi all:)

I have junglemix in all of my 4 containers and I have 3 arboel species and 1 terrestial.
I have one 1'+ versicolor and one 3/4'+ versicolor and one 3/4' a.avic.

2 things that mites and mold like a lot are very high "wetness" and bad, stale air in combination.

I , like I wrote in another post in here, never wet the substrate, only cage walls and ceiling.
The substrates in my 3 arboel cages are bonedry a matter of fact, ,never wet at all, but my humidity is fine in %.

I also have a fan blowing about 4 feet away towards the cages so there is allways wind blowing in there.

My Avics had done 2 succesful moltings and I haven't, (touch wood) seen any infestations and I am also very clean with my feeders, i.e. I treat my crickets the same way, cleaning, cleaning.

My friend that has a T ,burrowing species, had problem with bad infestations of mites and he didn't use junglemix.

My point is: Stay away from soaked substrate and bad air IMHO because that is the start source of problems no matter brand of substrate when it comes to infestations.

Kenny
 
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