Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering if "Scotts Top Soil" would be an OK bedding. It's all organic.
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

I don't know. Personally I wouldn't. That's just me. I know it's cheap, “natural” and organic, but I don't think it was intended in being used for a terrarium substrate. They do however have this stuff in certain petstores you can buy that is somewhat like topsoil and has coconut fibers in it. It's like a 4" x 8" dry compacted brick that expands. It took two of them to fill my 55 gallon terrarium 2" deep and they were $3.99 a brick. Wgenever the snakes did business I cleaned the spot out where they urinated and poohed. WherecI saw the calcium balls I took paper towel and got one big clump to make sure I got most of the urine out of the substrate.

i love that stuff. i buy those blocks in 3 packs for 9.99.
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JEM from sunny AZ.

3.25 Normals
3.10 Pastels
1.0 Super Pastels(Thanks Dan Wolfe for the best looking Super male I have ever seen)
2.7 Normal Spiders
1.1 Spiders 100% het Ghost(thanks Mark Petros)
0.2 Spiders 66% het Ghost(Thanks Steve Beamer)
1.3 Orange/Butterscotch Ghosts(BallPython777 Mark Petros)
0.6 100% het Orange Ghosts
0.3 66% het Orange Ghosts(should prove this year)
0.1 Pastel Ghost
1.0 Citrus Ghost(courtesy of Josh Hutto)
0.1 Super Pastel 100% het Ghost
2.3 Albinos
1.1 Caramel Albinos
0.1 100% het Caramel Albino
0.4 100% het for Albino
0.5 66% het for Albino(should prove this year)
0.7 Yellow Bellies
1.0 Pastel Yellow Belly
1.2 Ivories
1.2 100% het for Clowns(Mark Petros)
1.6 Cinnamons(Thanks Stan Ruppel)
1.0 Pied
1.4 100% het for Pied(Josh Hutto and Paul the Pied Peddler)
0.5 66% het for Pied(should prove out next year with my visual male Pied)
1.5 Mojaves
0.1 Pastave het Ghost
1.1 Beautiful Black Pastels(thanks Gulf Coast Reptiles)
1.2 BumbleBees(thanks for the AWESOME Bees Marc Bailey)
1.1 Pewters(Myself and Scott Priester of Brookside Reptiles)
0.1 Chocolates(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.3 Lessers(Josh Hutto)
3.2 Fire's(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.2 High White Calico's(Thanks Brent from BRB)
1.1 SpotNoses(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.1 Enchi's (Me and Josh Hutto, Thanks again Josh)
1.0 Pinstripe
0.1 Pinstripe 100% het for Ghost
0.1 Lemon Blast
1.0 Vanilla Ghost(Thanks again GCR for all the great snakes)
0.1 Super Vanilla Ghost(Awesome Chris and Shelia from GCR)
0.1 Vanilla Yellow Belly
0.1 Vanilla(Another one from Josh Hutto,I must have all your snakes now...lol.) Thanks my friend, Jay
1.1 Stillwater Hypo Bull snakes(Brad Chambers)
0.0.1 Great looking Brown and Tan Desert Bull Snake)
0.0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.1 Argentinian Black and White Tegus
1.0 Gotti Pitbull (Tank)
2.0 Beautiful Bengals (Stryker and Cynbad)
14 Tarantulas
Last but most Important 2.2 Children

Yeah. I believe there is actually like 5lb brick of that stuff for $19.99. I loved it as well. It keeps its moistness really well and it is easy to clean. You don't have to dump it all out. Just clean out the pooh, calcium balls and clean out the area around the calcium balls and you are good to go.

i would'nt. yes, it's natural, but keeping snakes indoors is not so natural. i did soil substrates with a gorgeous amazon basin once. it became quite sick. multiple vet treatments lasted for months and they (and myself) could not figure it out. in the end, it turned out to be a fungal infection in the lung. a painful, sad, death. that came from the soil.

I'm sorry to hear that..
Well thank you for your input, lesson learned.
I just had some extra and I thought it would be nice for the snake, but I guess not.
I knew you guys would know whats best.
I appreciate it, thanks!

- Josh
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

Hey Paul, I use the ground up coconut stuff in blocks for my Tegu's but newspaper in my ball cages. Would you like to venture a guess as to whether or not it is a reasonably good thing for the lizards. They love to stay buried in it for the most part. I think its ok for them but I am more than open to opinions and advice on it. Thanks for anyones input. Jay
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JEM from sunny AZ.

3.25 Normals
3.10 Pastels
1.0 Super Pastels(Thanks Dan Wolfe for the best looking Super male I have ever seen)
2.7 Normal Spiders
1.1 Spiders 100% het Ghost(thanks Mark Petros)
0.2 Spiders 66% het Ghost(Thanks Steve Beamer)
1.3 Orange/Butterscotch Ghosts(BallPython777 Mark Petros)
0.6 100% het Orange Ghosts
0.3 66% het Orange Ghosts(should prove this year)
0.1 Pastel Ghost
1.0 Citrus Ghost(courtesy of Josh Hutto)
0.1 Super Pastel 100% het Ghost
2.3 Albinos
1.1 Caramel Albinos
0.1 100% het Caramel Albino
0.4 100% het for Albino
0.5 66% het for Albino(should prove this year)
0.7 Yellow Bellies
1.0 Pastel Yellow Belly
1.2 Ivories
1.2 100% het for Clowns(Mark Petros)
1.6 Cinnamons(Thanks Stan Ruppel)
1.0 Pied
1.4 100% het for Pied(Josh Hutto and Paul the Pied Peddler)
0.5 66% het for Pied(should prove out next year with my visual male Pied)
1.5 Mojaves
0.1 Pastave het Ghost
1.1 Beautiful Black Pastels(thanks Gulf Coast Reptiles)
1.2 BumbleBees(thanks for the AWESOME Bees Marc Bailey)
1.1 Pewters(Myself and Scott Priester of Brookside Reptiles)
0.1 Chocolates(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.3 Lessers(Josh Hutto)
3.2 Fire's(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.2 High White Calico's(Thanks Brent from BRB)
1.1 SpotNoses(Thanks Brandon of Priceless Pythons)
1.1 Enchi's (Me and Josh Hutto, Thanks again Josh)
1.0 Pinstripe
0.1 Pinstripe 100% het for Ghost
0.1 Lemon Blast
1.0 Vanilla Ghost(Thanks again GCR for all the great snakes)
0.1 Super Vanilla Ghost(Awesome Chris and Shelia from GCR)
0.1 Vanilla Yellow Belly
0.1 Vanilla(Another one from Josh Hutto,I must have all your snakes now...lol.) Thanks my friend, Jay
1.1 Stillwater Hypo Bull snakes(Brad Chambers)
0.0.1 Great looking Brown and Tan Desert Bull Snake)
0.0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.1 Argentinian Black and White Tegus
1.0 Gotti Pitbull (Tank)
2.0 Beautiful Bengals (Stryker and Cynbad)
14 Tarantulas
Last but most Important 2.2 Children

Well, I used the coconut brick stuff for my BP's and it worked just fine. I never had a problem with it. Except for a little got in their mouths while feeding no problems though.

i've never used it myself jay, but have read positive results about it. i only keep balls now and am all about the ease of newspaper.