New Substrate

I found a new substrate in my pet store today that I have not seen before. Its jungle mix by zilla and its a combination of fir and sphagnum peat moss. It feels and looks kind of like the coco fiber stuff but its heavier and wetter. It looks like it would be perfect for emps so i grabbed two bags.

What do you guys think? It says its ideal for tropical and forest habitats. I'm no expert but this stuff seems awesome.

I don't think the Fir mulch is any good. Try to avoid any sort of aromatic wood like fir, pine, cypress, or cedar. It can be poisonous for them.

Its not mulch its aged douglas fir bark its very fine like the cocofiber and doesnt smell. If its fine for frogs and all kinds of lizards wouldn it be ok for emps? It's also mixed with peat moss.

Been keeping my Asian forest on it since last december. The dude loves burrowing through it.

This stuff, right?

Yeah thats what i bought is that bad for emps cause of the fir?

To each his own good sir

Im just worried cause street trash mentioned fir is bad and i think ive read it before. Anyone else know if this substrate is ok for emps or not? Just want to be triple sure before i put them in it.

If you're worried, then I wouldnt do it

I Read to stay away from aromatic woods. I like to play it safe personally, but as The Krautmeister says, "To each his own."


If it doesn't smell it's probably alright...

Yeah same I am gonna try and sell it on craigslist. I bought two packs of eco earth coco fiber blocks instead. Pain to wet and dry them but cheap and I need a lot for my tank.

They sell the eco earth in loose bags too just fyi. A lot easier to deal with than the blocks (unless you are doing a lot of tanks and have a 5 gallon bucket

junosama wrote:

Pain to wet and dry them but cheap and I need a lot for my tank.

Why would you want to dry it if it's for an emp tank??

I didnt dry it totally its still pretty damp i just didnt want it soaking wet.

Is it bad to use tap water for those eco earth bricks? I forgot about using the chlorine free water when i mixed it.

The stuff is pretty dry right now i wont be adding the scorps for a while, hopefully it will be ok. Ill be sure to obviously use the chlorine free water for misting to get the humidity back up once they are in.

I normally pour boiled water (while still in high temp) onto the bricks.
Helps to soften it faster..

I've been offering water straight from the tap to all my scorpions all these years.. whether by misting or topping up of their water dish.. so far no side effects etc.

GS wrote:

I've been offering water straight from the tap to all my scorpions all these years.. whether by misting or topping up of their water dish.. so far no side effects etc.

+1 just my Hets' substrate and glass has got noticeable amounts of limestone, but it's not critical.

I'm lazy when in comes to preparing the substrate though. I just take the hottest possible tap water (around 75-80 celcius in my case) and pour it on the bricks. If I have left over substrate, I just leave it to airdry under the A/C for 2 weeks or so, turning it once in a day or so.