Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The post below about choices has been very educational - thanks to all who posted.

I read in that post about the use of soil in hides. As my Florida prepares for brumation, I was wondering about putting soil in his hides. Is it bought sterile? Do you bake it to make it sterile?

Any thoughts about the use of soil would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Ray

I would say that the Florida sand would be perfect. Take a shovel to your back yard. Nothing is sterile if its open to the air anyway, and there are probably thousands of beneficial bacteria already in the dirt outside, that will help to breakdown organic wastes. You could bake it in the oven, but if you kill everything then there is nothing left to fight off the colonization of whatever can grow there fastest, or provide less competition for whatever organisms survive the baking (you never will kill everything unless you autoclave, I have done both and don't see a difference).
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"Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Charlie Papazian

We have some woods next to our property. I'll dig up a shovel or two. Thanks!

I would be very cautious. Pathogens (such as snake hookworm etc.) could be lurking in it that may require future vet treatment.

If you really want to use soil (opposed to, say, coconut fiber) I would suggest buying a bag of it. Sure - it may have some reptile pathogens as well, but it probably has been sitting long enough that most if not all that were in it have died.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

If your really concerned you could put the dirt in a screened funnel and shine a lite on it with the funnel leading to a killjar and find out what critters really are in there that can potentially hurt your snake. The bugs will dig down to escape the light and enter the jar.
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"Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!" Charlie Papazian

Except things like hookworm eggs aren't visible to the naked eye.

I'm probably being pedantic, but I would (and do) use coconut fiber for animals that really want soil (such as my alligator lizards) - it's just safer IMHO that digging up dirt.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

I've never used coconut fiber. I might look into it. Do you use it for substrate in an entire setup, or just the hides?

For the alligator lizards - the entire setup.

I add moss around the water dish and have damp moss in one hide (humidity chamber) - as alligator lizards seem to have problems shedding their tail skin w/o a humidity chamber.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

I also use coconut fiber for the nesting boxes of my kings. It holds moisture really well.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

Thanks! I'm going to pick some up today