"ECO EARTH" substrate for pythons

[cg]

I was wondering if anybody has used "Eco Earth" substrate. COmes in brick form and expands in water then dry out and put in.. Any comments would be great

thanx in advance

I gust use breeders choice so whats this ya buy it in a slab then ya put it in water and it crumbles up??

[Alexahnder]

It is designed for high humidity reptiles and amphibians. In my opinion peat moss works better and is cheaper.

[Simon_Archibald]

*^*

[cg]

Hi Brendan

You can get it at most shops that stock some reptile supplies. I got it for $10 for one brick or $20 for 3. One brick give close to 50mm easy cover over the bottom of 2ft tank. You put it in bucket of water and it all comes apart and then you dry it out for a few days in sunlight.

Alexahnder, I have a bredli so not exactly high humidity specific. I have dried it out thoroughly in sunlight first so hopefully there wont be much moisture in the substrate.

Cheers CG

[python_guy44]

I have had a bad experiance with "ECO EARTH". I did a thread on it a while back called "a substrate incident" or something like that. After I had added the subsrtate into the enclosure hundreds of ticks would all of a sudden pop up. After i fully treated the enclosure 2 times of having them twice i decided to go to a vet. We had came to the conclusion that the tick eggs layed dormant in the bricks and when given the right conditions they would hatch in there hundreds. I am now on newspaper and it works good.

[cg]

wow
that doesnt sound good python guy44
I have newspaper in at the moment until i dry the stuff out. I wanted something a bit more natural looking thats all so i thought i would try this. Of course the snake comes first at all times. I want the final enclosure to be a real feature in our lounge room. any other suggestions anyone ??

[olivaceus71]

Originally Posted by cg

wow
that doesnt sound good python guy44
I have newspaper in at the moment until i dry the stuff out. I wanted something a bit more natural looking thats all so i thought i would try this. Of course the snake comes first at all times. I want the final enclosure to be a real feature in our lounge room. any other suggestions anyone ??

Eco earth bricks are peat bricks if I remember correctly :wink:
To save yourself some dollars, go to woolworths or big w in the gardening section and the exact same thing cost around $2.00 per brick.
One of our local herp shops does this, repackages them in plastic and sells for $6.00, buyer beware
If you are worried about mites in them, just put in the oven for around half an hour
regards
meg
I use them for my mountain dragons/angleheads as a base substrate with sphagnum moss over top and haven't had probs with any parasites on them.

[cg]

Cool thanx meg

I take you havent had any problems with ticks then ?
Do you put the brick itself in the over before you put it in water ??
the only other thing i was worried about was my bredli ingesting some of it. I guess if i feed her in her branch the the rat wont get covered in it hence she wont take any in.

always looking for new suggestions.????

BTW meg
my cousin has two baby Sthn Angleheaded dragons. They are pretty cool and his enclosure is set up very natural and looks excellent. He uses this stuff and also some special soil and rocks.

thnx again

[olivaceus71]

Originally Posted by cg

Cool thanx meg

I take you havent had any problems with ticks then ?
Do you put the brick itself in the over before you put it in water ??
the only other thing i was worried about was my bredli ingesting some of it. I guess if i feed her in her branch the the rat wont get covered in it hence she wont take any in.


I would just take your bredli out to feed in a plastic container, saves getting substrate on feed and them maybe having the chance of becoming aggressive thinking that your hand is food everytime you put it in their enclosure (take my lovely olives for example, someone, pleeeeeeese)

As for heat treating the brick, I haven't done it as have not had a problem with them, but I would think put it in a container and pour over boiling water until it fully comes apart. Maybe if you just put it in big baking dishes when it is still a bit damp, would dry it out and not catch alight.

cheers
meg

always looking for new suggestions.????

BTW meg
my cousin has two baby Sthn Angleheaded dragons. They are pretty cool and his enclosure is set up very natural and looks excellent. He uses this stuff and also some special soil and rocks.

thnx again

[Whaa]

I have a few bricks of 'palm peat' which I got from the garden store for around $3 each I have yet to uses them but in my oppinion they seem very cheep clean and they look great.

[zoe]

here is a few pics of my guy's tank - we use polished rocks which i think looks pretty cool. got the idea off the guys at mentone reptile centre - makes for an awesome display tank when you get everything set up properly.
i know the pot plant looks a little silly right now...i'm plannin on getting a better pot soon!

[python_guy44]

Hey, after i took the bricks back and told them the boss had dinner with the guy incharge of importing them bricks from some other country and i got a full refund even thought u used 2 of the 3 bricks.
NOTE: this seems to have only happen to me (to my knowledge) and is probably the best subsrate for keeping moisture up. I have seen this particular pet shop use the bricks for bird eating spiders etc. with no ticks
I would suggest to stay clear as its not worth the risk