substrate question

[fartkowski]

I was just wondering if certain substrates are better for certain species?
I pretty much use potting soil right now but everytime I mist I get these little white bugs.there is not too many of them and I have never seen them on the T itself but they still bother me.
so I was wondering if there is any kind of substrate that is better for the species that require higher humidity?
also I tried dry soil with a very large water dish for a blondi and she seemed to be ok
would this work just as well as misting?
thanks

chris

 

[william]

i use peat moss.you con buy a big bag for about $5.00.for my burrowers i add a little sand.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

I was just wondering if certain substrates are better for certain species?
I pretty much use potting soil right now but everytime I mist I get these little white bugs.there is not too many of them and I have never seen them on the T itself but they still bother me.
so I was wondering if there is any kind of substrate that is better for the species that require higher humidity?
also I tried dry soil with a very large water dish for a blondi and she seemed to be ok
would this work just as well as misting?
thanks

chris

The white bugs are most likely either mites or springtails. Some mites can be pretty nasty so I'd look out if I was unsure what kind they are.

Just moisten one corner of the tank, let it dry out then moisten another so that you don't soak the tank over time. Continuus moisture is what gives you mites unless you have some other nifty way of preventing them.

If you have an arboreal then you can switch the substrate to vermiculite or perlite. No risk of mites there but if the T ever ventures to the ground, most likely some pices of the sub will stick to the t's feet until the next cleaning. That's not a problem though.

As suggested in other threads though, I'd chose ventilation over moisture any day as long as the T get's to drink very often.

 

[Jonathan Rice]

I was just wondering if certain substrates are better for certain species?
I pretty much use potting soil right now but everytime I mist I get these little white bugs.there is not too many of them and I have never seen them on the T itself but they still bother me.
so I was wondering if there is any kind of substrate that is better for the species that require higher humidity?
also I tried dry soil with a very large water dish for a blondi and she seemed to be ok
would this work just as well as misting?
thanks

chris

I know several people who swear by this! Dry substrate with a large water dish. I'm trying it out right now with much success. I get springtails often with soft bed coco fiber. From what I've read and heard, they help maintain the overall cleanliness of the tank by eating t poop. Still can't shake the feeling of overall uneasiness though. I would reccommend fully sterilizing all new substrate you get. Either bake it or microwave it. Let us now how it all goes!

 

[Cirith Ungol]

I know several people who swear by this! Dry substrate with a large water dish. I'm trying it out right now with much success. I get springtails often with soft bed coco fiber. From what I've read and heard, they help maintain the overall cleanliness of the tank by eating t poop. Still can't shake the feeling of overall uneasiness though. I would reccommend fully sterilizing all new substrate you get. Either bake it or microwave it. Let us now how it all goes!

If you have springtails be happy!! They're super aggressive scrap eaters and you'll never have to clean the tank. I left some roach shells in with springtails, a week later they were gone. The only thing springtails really hate is light. They'll scramble and hide emediatly, trying to get underground.

I'm sure they procreate so fast that hardly any mites can keep up. An added bonus is - the only mites that ime are able to thrive in a springtail infested tank are predatory mites, and they're positive too obviously. Many people want them, not many have them.

What I'd be most worried by ofcourse is mould, but springtails are able to eat mould too to a great degree. I'd only check every now and then if you see some mites running arround in the tank. If they congregate towards scraps then maybe that's fine, if they run arround aimlessly, are relatively fast and have a golden/yellow tan, you might have predatory mites.

The bad mites my emp got infested with were actually extremely hard to spot due to their size. A springtail is a more of a tank in comparison. I only noticed them because the emp was scratching itself constantly. So if you want to look for baddies, look first on the soft parts of the T, the joints or arround the eyes, that's where I think they're most likely to be.

Ofcourse, if you keep your tank dry you won't have to think about any of the above. That's pretty easy too.

 

[Becky]

I use 100% coconut fibre/coir/eco earth for all of my spiders. All dif species

 

[bushbuster]

Ditto Becky, no problems here either.

 

[jmhendric]

I have used coco fiber and vermiculite and no problems with either