Why is sand harmful for T's ?

[Sevenrats]

I was used coco peat but it conglutinate; so can you more detail explain what exactly potting spoil mean?
P.S. last message photos are great, terrarium looks effectively

Potting soil is the plant soil. The kind that gardners use to grow plants in pots. It is usually very dark and full of nutrients. It is also very clean soil.

 

[Skuromis]

whatever you want it to be!

Hummm? Corn flakes?
However, nice tank for Bob :clap:

 

[shrnz]

Potting soil is the plant soil. The kind that gardners use to grow plants in pots. It is usually very dark and full of nutrients. It is also very clean soil.

it is good that in substrate are nutrients and so on?

 

[Venom]

It seems a lot of people here object to the use of sand. I personally don't see a problem with it, providing you use it appropriately. It certainly isn't the ideal substrate for tropical species, esp. burrowing types, but as others have said I really don't see a problem with using it, at least in mixture, for desert T's. They don't need the moisture retention, and most scrub species live on top of the dirt instead of burrowing anyway ( and even the dry-lands burrowers, like Eucratoscelus sp. are still able to hold a burrow intact in bone-dry sandy soil!).

When my greenbottle grows up a bit, I have a 5 gal tank with a mix of dry peat moss and sand that it will be moving into. The spider will completely silk the place up, so the amount of free sand particles available to "irritate" the T would be greatly limited. Plus, I don't really think desert/ scrub T's are "irritated" by sand. They live in it 24/7 in the wild, and seem to well enough there! Besides, as many people here have observed, if a T doesn't like a substrate, it often just completely silks it over, which pretty much solves the "problem"!

 

[GailC]

I love the sand/loam mix, it looks great. Is bob a G.rosea? I've never seen one dig a burrow before.

 

[elyanalyous]

has anyone considered the hardness of sand vs. dirt? sand does not compact as nicely as dirt, and therefore wouldn't it be bad if a t was to be climbing and fall?

my rosie was on sand when i got her, but she wasn't happy at all, and the sand was stuck all over her when i first got her. i decided to change her substrate, but it was the middle of winter, so i had to use what was available in store. i ended up using worm castings (worm poop), which is strile and holds moisture really well under the surface. my rosie was happy with this, so thats what i keep her on. and i also used it with my A.geniculata who tunneled in it really fast, and the tunnel never collapsed, so is this a viable substrate to use?

 

[Ronj]

I am happy to report that based on my suggestion the local PetLand has now changed all of their substrate from sand to peat. The substrate for their T's was sand and the water was a soaked sponge. When i first brought this up I was told it was temporary as they had just moved some of their animals around. Two weeks later I met the manager and he was very happy that I took the time to explain why and immediately had an employee change the substrate. I'm thinking discount, but the poor person that had to change out the substrate in the cobalt's cage may not agree!

 

[Ewok]

I agree sand would not work well for holding humidity and would not hold up a burrow well, but saying sand is bad because it gets stuck in the book lungs does not make since to me as peatmoss has fine particles that can get stuck in a the lungs too. For instance I saw my cobalt crawling around before witha small piece of peat sticking out one of it's lungs, it must of fell off or was kicked as the tarantula is fine. Also potting soil or topsoil also has some sand in it and other particles that could get stuck.

 

[Ronj]

I agree sand would not work well for holding humidity and would not hold up a burrow well, but saying sand is bad because it gets stuck in the book lungs does not make since to me as peatmoss has fine particles that can get stuck in a the lungs too. For instance I saw my cobalt crawling around before witha small piece of peat sticking out one of it's lungs, it must of fell off or was kicked as the tarantula is fine. Also potting soil or topsoil also has some sand in it and other particles that could get stuck.

I'm going to guess here but sand is more abrasive. When you and I look at sand we see a very small particle. To a tarantula sand particles must be bigger. OK, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about it but sometimes common sense must lead the way??? :?