Substrate for Emps

Frostbyte

Arachnobaron
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Aug 31, 2002
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Just a fast question what is the best substrate for Emps? Ive been using a soil from plant stores . I take the soil and cook it to kill any mites, but this is getting to be a pain in the a$$ !

Thanks
 

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skinheaddave

SkorpionSkin
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You may very well have to stick with the pain in the @$$ situation. There are inorganic alternatives (such as vermiculite), but even these have occasionaly turned up with mites in them. Personally, I use pure peat for my H.spinifer and it seems fine.

Cheers,
Dave
 

Kugellager

ArachnoJester of the Ancient Ones
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I use 100% peat for my H.spinifers too...also with emps I had had in the past. They seem to be able to burrow fine in it and it holds up as long as it is moist but not wet. Basicly same as Dave. It allows the burrows to stay high in humidity even if the air in you enclosure occasionally dips lower.

John
; ' /

P.S. Oh also you can get HUGE bag of peat for $5-6 at any Home Depot or garden place.
 

skinheaddave

SkorpionSkin
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The other thing about peat is that it is pretty acidic which is a problem for some things, but is great for keeping down unwanted critters in your enclosure. Since scorpions don't care, it can be used to keep a more sterile enclosure than potting soil. That's my experience, anyways.

Cheers,
Dave
 

Kugellager

ArachnoJester of the Ancient Ones
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That is another good point that Dave brought up. I have yet to see mold growing in my H.spinifer tank and it is always moist and has low air circulation. I have seen mold in one of my desert substrate tanks(no peat) after I got alittle carried away with misting the corner one time.

John
; ' /
 

Kenny

Arachnoknight
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Aug 7, 2002
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I know I did copy-paste from other thread, but I thought it would kinda fit in here as well.:D





Hi..:)

My emp baby has built an incredible dungeon beneath this halfburied pot that I have.

I used coconut bark that I mixed with jungle mix and it seems that since coconut bark to some extent contains "square-ish" pieces that seem to work like "coloumns", support-beams,,, in between the softer junglemix that the emp dug out.
Creates a real "cozy" dungeon-system.
When I mist, I only aim at the hole at the bottom of the pot and the water pours down.

I also provide misting on the substrate.
The coconut maintain the moist pretty good.

I do have my fan running in front of all my cages though, and is to minimize any risk of mold and so far,,touch wood:),,, all my s'ling
cages has kept a very good level for about 2 months.
I don't mist the substrate though at all, I have kept misting on walls and ceiling and I use the humidifier in the room and that seem really to work good, I can boost the humidity in the room from overall 60 - 65 to 80+ in no time.:)


Kenny
 

Stugy

Arachnolord
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Apr 21, 2016
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649
Pink sand with Sicarius sounds fun tho. Or maybe rainbow sand! :artist:
 
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