Moist Coco Fiber-Fastest Way to Dry

[CakeLore]

I made a bit of a short sighted decision which landed my G. pulchripes in an enclosure in which the coco fiber is a bit too damp for her liking. It's been a few days and the top inch or so seems to have dried but there's a solid 4-5" on fiber below that which is a darker brown shade and a bit moist. She appears to be unhappy with this and has spent the majority of her time on the glass near the ceiling which is not a sign of a happy spider. I have another brick drying because I'd like to add some additional height to the substrate and I'd like to get this sorted out asap. Has anyone discovered a really fast way to dry this stuff? I'd use the oven but I'm home from university for the month and the parents wouldn't bee too keen on that. I was thinking having a few hairdryers on it in a tub but I'm worried this will a. have me sitting there for hours and b. blow the dry stuff all over the place. I'd hoped it'd dry faster but the dry layer on top seems to lock in the moisture for the rest of the enclosure. It's also supposed to be rainy and cloudy here all week so natural sun drying isn't an option either. :/

tl;dr Fastest way to dry coco fiber without on oven or the sun?

 

[edgeofthefreak]

I had recent built a bigger enclosure for my B. albopilosum with the exact same problem. The coco fiber was just too moist, but I wanted to be able to shape the substrate. Apparently I went too far with the moisture. My little girl doesn't need the new enclosure, so I left it out for a few days, but I noticed that it wasn't drying very fast. In fact, the top layer had dried just enough to lock in the rest of the sub. Even leaving it in the sun didn't help, because the sun moves. I needed something faster!

I happen to have heat lamps from my chameleon days... I rebuilt the enclosure, using new (less moist already) substrate and left it under the heat lamp for 2 days. It's perfect now, with the very bottom layer having a bit of moisture, and the top is bone-dry and shaped nicely for digging.

tl;dr can you take your G. pulchripes for about 2 days and place the enclosure under a good heat source?

 

[CakeLore]

I had recent built a bigger enclosure for my B. albopilosum with the exact same problem. The coco fiber was just too moist, but I wanted to be able to shape the substrate. Apparently I went too far with the moisture. My little girl doesn't need the new enclosure, so I left it out for a few days, but I noticed that it wasn't drying very fast. In fact, the top layer had dried just enough to lock in the rest of the sub. Even leaving it in the sun didn't help, because the sun moves. I needed something faster!

I happen to have heat lamps from my chameleon days... I rebuilt the enclosure, using new (less moist already) substrate and left it under the heat lamp for 2 days. It's perfect now, with the very bottom layer having a bit of moisture, and the top is bone-dry and shaped nicely for digging.

tl;dr can you take your G. pulchripes for about 2 days and place the enclosure under a good heat source?

Actually my dad lent me a work light that gets pretty damned hot! I have the additional brick loosely covered with foil to trap the heat from it drying in the basement. I don't really have any dry substrate for her, though. :/ I do have a deli cup she fits in quite snugly but I'm wary about leaving her in there for two days. Is that too long? The work light is really hot though (hotter than I'd imagine you'd use for any animal) so maybe it'll dry faster.

 

[edgeofthefreak]

Two days shouldn't be too bad. Just cover the deli and maybe she'll think she's in a cave?

The light I have is pretty intensely hot. And I had it over a plastic enclosure. Hopefully you can place your light source really close to the enclosure you have to dry it out. Any moist substrate I have is kept in a plastic bag, and I shake it every few days... eventually it's VERY dry, but it takes a few weeks.

 

[MarkmD]

I put my cocofiber in large KKs and Tupperware (tubs), I squeeze out most of all the remaining water, then put them on my window, it also takes two days to completely dry.

 

[Smokehound714]

you can dry it in minutes by spreading it out in a thin layer, and drying it in the sun.

This will have the added benefit of eradicating any mites present in the substrate.

But as you said, its forecast to be rainy.


Whatever the case, spread it in a thin layer, and just let it air dry.

 

[edgeofthefreak]

you can dry it in minutes by spreading it out in a thin layer, and drying it in the sun.
This will have the added benefit of eradicating any mites present in the substrate.
But as you said, its forecast to be rainy.

Whatever the case, spread it in a thin layer, and just let it air dry.

In my case, I wanted the substrate to be wet enough to sculpt out some contours, but it ended up being too wet. As dry sub, I wasn't able to shape anything. Hands down, the best method is to lay it out flat on several cookie sheets, or wide boxes.
Oddly, my enclosure grew a slight bit of mold while trying to "sun dry" it. The heat lamp let me keep the shape, but dry it out super quick.

...our hobby get weirdly technical about the strangest of details!

 

[Stan Schultz]

I made a bit of a short sighted decision which landed my G. pulchripes in an enclosure in which the coco fiber is a bit too damp for her liking. ... Has anyone discovered a really fast way to dry this stuff? ...

Have you read Substrate?

 

[CakeLore]

Okay so much to her chagrin I've moved her into a temporary enclosure and I have a work light in the terrarium. Every hour or so I mix up the substrate to bring the moist parts to the top. How dry is dry enough? Should the substrate for arid species be bone dry or is a little moisture okay?

 

[viper69]

You could bake it if you have access to an over, or you could even microwave it. I let mine dry out over time, poking holes to allow maximum airflow

 

[Stan Schultz]

Okay so much to her chagrin I've moved her into a temporary enclosure and I have a work light in the terrarium. Every hour or so I mix up the substrate to bring the moist parts to the top. How dry is dry enough? Should the substrate for arid species be bone dry or is a little moisture okay?

Dry to the touch. Baking or microwaving isn't necessary, and can pose a fire hazard. Those of us who've been in the hobby a while have learned to prepare a surplus of coco fiber or peat in advance and allow it to dry out by whatever method works best for us (being careful of course not to burn the house down or let the cat use it as a cat pan!) Then we store it away dry in a more or less sealed container. Why sealed? To prevent one of our smoking friends from accidentally flicking cigaret ashes or butts into it and causing a fire. To prevent spontaneous combustion from causing a fire. See for instance:

[url]http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2007/07/20/moss-fires.html[/url]

[url]http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/10/03/18775416.html[/url]

[url]http://www.ehow.com/about_6636417_combustible-peat-moss_.html[/url]

[url]http://www.ehow.com/about_6630070_dangers-combustion-wet-peat-moss_.html[/url]

Although I have never actually seen any references to shredded coconut husk spontaneously combusting, I can see no good reason why it couldn't. Best to be careful, no?


MAKE SURE YOUR LITTLE 8-LEGGED PYRO UNDERSTANDS THAT SMOKING IN THE CAGE OR WITHIN 15 METERS OF THE BACKUP PEAT STORE IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN!

 

[Wadew]

And some of use do not even use the stuff! I would use "live Earth" or the black dirt found under leaf litter from a wooded area.

Wade

 

[Kazaam]

I usually dry it with my flamethrower and nuke it afterwards just to make sure there aren't any harmless organisms in it.

 

[Duss321]

Put it in a garbage bag and use a heatgun. Set the heatgun on high and blow the coco fiber dry. Dont use the heatgun to long otherwise the plastib bag might melt or tear. Just shuffle the coco fiber and use the heatgun in short bursts. So shuffle, heatgun, shuffle, heatgun, shuffle, heatgun etc.

At least thats what i would try if i want to dry the substrate fast. Although i do recomend drying it in the sun.

For people who don't know: a heatgun is like a hairdryer only it can get to 300 degrees celcius. You can get them cheap of ebay.