Substrate question-CalciSand?

Sevenrats

Arachnobaron
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I recently obtained three adult tarantulas. Two rosies and a B. smithi. I have had tarantulas for 10 years and have always kept them on coconut fiber in various degrees of wetness depending on the species. Lately I have started mixing in some tumbled aquarium stones for the drier ones because it makes it more stable. It's a nice natural look too.

These spiders came in their enclosures. Nicely decorated 10 gal aquariums. One of the rosies is on artificial grass carpet which the previous owner(who has had T's for 15 years and really was knowledgable) said was the only thing it liked. The other two are on Calci-Sand. I have never heard of anyone using calci-sand for tarantulas. These have been on this stuff for years. They look great. The B. smithi was a 2 inch juvi when she got it and now it's HUGE.

Any opinions about this. Do I change them to coconut fiber and gravel (my preference) or keep them on Calci-Sand?
 

ballpython2

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I recently obtained three adult tarantulas. Two rosies and a B. smithi. I have had tarantulas for 10 years and have always kept them on coconut fiber in various degrees of wetness depending on the species. Lately I have started mixing in some tumbled aquarium stones for the drier ones because it makes it more stable. It's a nice natural look too.

These spiders came in their enclosures. Nicely decorated 10 gal aquariums. One of the rosies is on artificial grass carpet which the previous owner(who has had T's for 15 years and really was knowledgable) said was the only thing it liked. The other two are on Calci-Sand. I have never heard of anyone using calci-sand for tarantulas. These have been on this stuff for years. They look great. The B. smithi was a 2 inch juvi when she got it and now it's HUGE.

Any opinions about this. Do I change them to coconut fiber and gravel (my preference) or keep them on Calci-Sand?

Your T's should be pn peat moss or the cocofiber thing. they should never be on sand at all because that is actually for lizards I think. and artificial grasss carpet I think is astroturf. and if it is then that's really bad because they can't burrow if they wanted to. so yes please change that. And even though a tarantula looks great on the bad substrate it maybe on doesn't mean it should be on it...because they'd never be on artificial grass carpet out in the wild so they shouldn't be on it in capitivity. imo I have about 10+ tarantulas and they are all on peat moss and do very well on it.
 

Sevenrats

Arachnobaron
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I should have said that I already have 9 other T's and keep them on Coconut fiber. Also the astroturf stuff doesn't really bug me so much for a rosie because they like it so dry and almost never burrow anyway especially if they have a good hide. I thought that the calcium sand might get in their book lungs.
 

kyrga

Arachnobaron
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I should have said that I already have 9 other T's and keep them on Coconut fiber. Also the astroturf stuff doesn't really bug me so much for a rosie because they like it so dry and almost never burrow anyway especially if they have a good hide. I thought that the calcium sand might get in their book lungs.
My rosie burrows like crazy.
 

GailC

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I've had 5 rosies in the last year or so, all of them burrowed to some degree. I'd change the substrate, its safer and they will get used to it.
One of my rosies was kept on sand before I got her, she never burrowed until I put her on deep peat. Her color has also improved (no sand dust) and she isn't as ragged looking.
 

Sevenrats

Arachnobaron
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My rosie has a ceramic mug already half buried in the substrate and she goes down in there for privacy. She never burrowed in 10 years. She moved substrate around, buried her water dish, but never dug a burrow. My A. seemani and my OBT dug to straight to China!

I'm going to change them to Coco fiber and gravel mix. I started mixing in smooth aquarium gravel with the Coco and it works great especially if you need to keep it dry. It all holds together better and the T's get better footing on the stones.
 

Mushroom Spore

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they should never be on sand at all because that is actually for lizards I think.
If by "for" you mean "kills large amounts of pets every year because it's a scam and clogs up in their insides, causing a slow and horrible death," then yes, calci-sand is for lizards. Ask any vet; even a search of the Not So Spineless forum will get you some posts from vets on the topic. Scary stuff. :eek:
 

Midnightrdr456

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yeah never use calci sand. Sure its "safe" to ingest because its not poisonous but it eventually just clogs them all up.
 

juggalo69

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my local petco has a diaplay tank that is some kind of moldable sand you mix it with water and you can mold it like clay and I guess it dries pretty hard because they had a nice cave burrow set up with it.
I that the stuff your talking about?
If so I'm glad I read this because I've been toying with the idea of switching some of my tanks to that.
 

Thoth

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my local petco has a diaplay tank that is some kind of moldable sand you mix it with water and you can mold it like clay and I guess it dries pretty hard because they had a nice cave burrow set up with it.
I that the stuff your talking about?
If so I'm glad I read this because I've been toying with the idea of switching some of my tanks to that.
No that stuff is reltively new, though it is by the same company and the packages look similiar. It is basically clay mixed in with sand and a couple of other ingredients.

Once it dries I think it would be too hard for a t to burrow in if it wishes to change things around, thoughit may work with some desert scorpion species, used to digging into hard substrate.
 

Drachenjager

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who ever invented calci sand should be staked out over a fire ant bed
 

JungleGuts

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coco fiber is the best choice out there, with some peat mixed in
 

LeilaNami

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my local petco has a diaplay tank that is some kind of moldable sand you mix it with water and you can mold it like clay and I guess it dries pretty hard because they had a nice cave burrow set up with it.
I that the stuff your talking about?
If so I'm glad I read this because I've been toying with the idea of switching some of my tanks to that.
That's called Excavator. It's a clay based substrate that becomes moldable when wet. It's really awesome for burrowing lizards that like slightly dryer climate. Amevas do wonders with it. It's cool stuff. The only thing I like calci-sand for is mixing it in with coconut fiber for the hermit crabs to replicate the coastal soil.
 
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