What are your Favorite Substrates?

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I wonder how annoying it would be to buy all the components separately in bulk would be .
If I end up needing more than 2 bags a year I might try to do that tbh.

It would be interesting to know the exact mixture of stuff in that bag of soil . I’ve never used it but it’s pretty popular !!! topsoil gets heavy if I use it more then 40% -55 % with coco fiber. I quit using peat because if dried up if blows all over the place making a mess. coco fiber gets expensive. But it’s light enough I need it. It’s not pricey enough for me to avoid.

 

[Stu Macher]

I wonder how annoying it would be to buy all the components separately in bulk would be .
If I end up needing more than 2 bags a year I might try to do that tbh.

$3 for a 40lb bag. I just looked it up. Versus $30 for a 30lb bag. That adds up, especially when it comes to phormics and pamphos which i have a few of lol. Rehouse central

 

[goofyGoober99]

It would be interesting to know the exact mixture of stuff in that bag of soil . I’ve never used it but it’s pretty popular !!! topsoil gets heavy if I use it more then 40% -55 % with coco fiber. I quit using peat because if dried up if blows all over the place making a mess. coco fiber gets expensive. But it’s light enough I need it. It’s not pricey enough for me to avoid.

It says it's humus, peat, carbon, and sand on the bag but I have no clue what the ratios would be.

$3 for a 40lb bag. I just looked it up. Versus $30 for a 30lb bag. That adds up, especially when it comes to phormics and pamphos which i have a few of lol. Rehouse central

Yeah that's a pretty solid discount

 

[cold blood]

It says it's humus, peat, carbon, and sand on the bag but I have no clue what the ratios would be

maybe it just me, but I dont see how the ratios would even matter...ultimately, its dirt.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

It would be interesting to know the exact mixture of stuff in that bag of soil . I’ve never used it but it’s pretty popular !!! topsoil gets heavy if I use it more then 40% -55 % with coco fiber. I quit using peat because if dried up if blows all over the place making a mess. coco fiber gets expensive. But it’s light enough I need it. It’s not pricey enough for me to avoid.

It says it's humus, peat, carbon, and sand on the bag but I have no clue what the ratios would be.

Look up "soil composition test" on Google. Figuring out the ratios of the components (sand, silt, clay, organic matter) of a soil is super easy. It won't tell you what exactly the organic matter is though (peat, cocofiber, or "decomposed forest products" in the case of bagged topsoil).

maybe it just me, but I dont see how the ratios would even matter...ultimately, its dirt.

For the day-to-day care of a tarantula knowing the ratios doesn't matter at all, but for those who want to get an idea of the difference between bagged soils and natural soils and seeing the effects it has on tarantula behavior it helps a great deal. For example, here in Texas all of the tarantulas live in clay soil with very minimal organic matter. Using a simple soil composition test using a sample of dirt near an active burrow, we see the soil they prefer is more clay than anything else. The ratios of particles in the natural soil tarantulas prefer differs from even the bagged topsoils which is mostly organic matter and sand (at least the topsoil I buy is). It partially explains why tarantula burrows in captivity collapse while those in the wild do not. Other factors come into play as well, but the soil composition is a start.

What is also interesting to observe when if you were to use a soil heavy in clay in captivity is that captive tarantulas don't like burrowing in it. What makes it so interesting is that it reveals something like a cost-benefit decision being made by the tarantula. Using locally collected Aphonopelma hentzi, I set up a series of containers using soil more like their native soil to find out if I could see more natural looking burrows. The newly captive tarantulas hated soil heavy in clay, but all of the wild ones burrow in it exclusively. The only way a tarantula the size of A. hentzi could burrow in clay soils is when it is wet and moldable. In captivity, A. hentzi hate standing on wet soil, but dry clay soil is like concrete which they can't dig in. What appears to happen is that wild tarantulas will put up with wet soil in order to build a shelter to protect itself while in captivity they feel secure enough in an enclosure to not even try. That's the cost-benefit decision in action.

 

[Matt Man]

I do a mix. Soil, Coco Coir, Sphag, Peat and Vermiculite. So hard for me to vote. My Ts seem good, so I just keep doing the same