Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need ideas for a good monitor substrate. I need something relatively light for 48 sq ft (8'x3'x2'). I was initially going to go with 12 sq ft decomposed granite, 24 sq ft top soil and 12 sq ft sand, but that willbe very heavy for a setup in my house. I am going to use the 12 sq ft of decomposed granite I have, but am wondering if I should just fill the rest with light top soil or use something else. How good is cypress mulch or something light like that?

Thanks for your help

Jeff
Cypress mulch work well for some species.
What species are you going to keep?
Mike

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Mike's Monitors!

I have a Savannah Monitor. Its about 2.5 ft and 1.5 years old

Jeff
I have never kept a Savanna Monitor, I think dirt would work better for that species.

I do however have a suggestion for you, you can buy huge blocks of styrofoam to fill the majority of your trough and top it off with some dirt.
This would work well if your planing on building something like I made.

If you plan on using your trough in the traditional manor just use less dirt.
Mike
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Mike's Monitors!

Jeff,
Mike's got a point, a good idea, that you really should consider. FR even said something awhile back about not needing 2ft of substrate for a single monitor.

2ft of substrate is mostly for an egg-laying female. You could easily get by with 1ft or less. There are ways to utilize the substrate and half logs, short hide boxes, etc..., to where the monitor can enjoy being on dirt but doesn't need to burrow so deep.

I just don't want to se you get too hung up on something that's not going to make a whole lot of difference in your case.

Hang in there!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

We'll see how 1 foot of substrate goes. I just framed the tank last night, looks good. Gotta get the top and then put the dirt in and he's all set...for now

Getting close to complete, eh?

I think that's a good idea. You can always add more if you feel it's needed. It'll also give you more time to come up with a weight solution.

Later!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

So I got 12 sq ft of top soil from earthgro. Its natural and holds moisture well. I am doing a 3/1 ratio of top soil to decomposed granite. I filled 1 foot of the tank this weekend. The mixture looks good, but the top soil smells like ammonia. The ingredients on the bag said it contains one or more of soil, forrest material (?), sand and compost. Could it be the compost that is what I smell? Will it eventually fade? This is Top Soil, not the Garden Soil that they also manufacture. Also, will this be detrimental to the monitor when he digs burrows in this? I want to give it a week to air out, but my roommates are complaining about the smell. I will have a top ready, but I really don't want to contain the fumes, if they are harmful. I plan on having a vent in the cool side of the top and a screen insert attached to the acrylic top for the bank of 2-3 halogen lights. I am real interested in people's insight on this subject. Thanks & pics to be posted soon

Also, filling it half way I think will be good weight-wise. We'll see when I wet the dirt down.

The top soil may also contain composted cow manure and not list it in the ingredients. You might want to try adding peat moss (the ground peat not the sphagnum peat) to your mixture as it is quite acid in nature and may help counteract the ammonia smell by neutralizing it.

Will the ammonia smell eventually go away if continuously aerated, or will it need to be neutralized using peat moss? Would something stronger like Odo-Ban be more effective as well as still be safe?

A combination of adding peat and a little aeration of the soil should do it. I do not know what odo ban is I don't use commercial products like that. I am quite organic with plant and reptile type soil mixes. I also have never run into a situation with soil havung such a high ammonia content which makes wonder about the quality of that batch of soil. The ingredients may not have been composted properly prior to packaging. I often use almost pure composted cow manure with a little peat mixed in to help with texture-not for odor control-in my plant mixes(I grow lots of tropical fruit trees in addition to working with reptiles) and I never notice any signifigant ammonia odor so I kind of wonder about the quality of the soil batch you got. With my reptile enclosures I usually start with peat humus (the stuff from wal-mart is the best in this area but sometimes you still get bad batches from them.) and mix in other ingredients like peat moss and sand or oak leaves depending on what type of soil I am trying to achieve.

Thanks for the reply. I got this top soil from home depot. It was in the compost section and had some bags of manure compost sitting on it. I made sure to read the ingredients for chemicals and additives. I think this was the best soil I could get from HD. It is a very fine, but rich mixture. I mixed it with decomposed granite and when its wet, it burrows very well. I don't want to put my monitor in until the ammonia is all gone. After a day or two of rest, it smells like dirt. When I turn the dirt, I can feel the warmth coming from it and a little more ammonia. I will mix in the peat moss to neutralize it and then get the big guy in there! I think if I keep aerating the soil, I can eliminate the smell along wtih the moss. Thanks for all your help. I will be posting pics of the cage very soon.

Yo Jeff, I'm looking for a stock tank exsactly like that (3x2x8). Planning to build a 3x4x8 cage out of it. I saw it online for $170.00 w/o shipping. Where did you get yours? How much did you pay? O yea, I use dirt for my savy, and he LOVES it.

Se7en,

I had to go inland about an hour to a feed store. Just call around and if they dont have one that big, they can normally point you to a place that does. I paid $220 for it out the door. I am looking at 25% decomposed granite and 75% plain top soil. I think the total weight is 2400 lbs. I'll have to reinforce the floor if its a problem!

I live in San Francisco, so I don't know where to look for a stock tank that size. I'll probably have to drive out somewhere. Thanks for your help, and good luck on the cage.

Se7en,