Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hiya hiya I am curious on how to go about "curing" dirt from outside for use in reptile enclosures? How do you remove any pests, fungus, etc,..? Also I live in a new development area in NC so not much top soil all Carolina clay messy stuff, I did manage to find a mound of top soil mixed in with ALOT of rotting tree trunks that just crumble and mix really nicely with the dirt, would this be good to use? Much appreciated !

Thanks,
Geoffrey A.

Well, you are going to need to sterilize the soil if that is what you are choosing. Best way, I think, is to put it in a container that can be heated and place it in the oven at 250 degrees F. Leave it there for about twenty minutes or thereabout. That aughta take care of any bugs and such. As for putting it in the cage... it may get messy... fast.

Thanks, I did some searching on sterilizing soil found a couple of good gardening websites and found out what to do. I might just try mixing several readily available substrates (chemi free, etc,..) and eventually achieve the burrow holding soil. Bed a beast I think holds good after letting it expand with the water, packing a little and letting it dry out. Thanks again. It would take a very long time to get the amount I will need if I did use dirt from outside using the oven or steam methods.

Tahnks,
Geoffrey A.

Over Robyn from pro exotics has been spreading the virtues of burrowing soil substrates, and has basically perfectly outlined how to achieve the best, strongest, burrowing substrate. I believe it's something like 50% topsoil, 25% sand, and 25% vermiculite. I'm definately going to look into it this summer, though I'm not quite sure I'm completely sold. Mainly just the mess factor and it seems like it might be a pain to keep clean. I would think for anything smaller than what proexotics uses (go to their website or ask Robyn for some pics or something), it might be hard to keep from bacterial build up in the soil without changing it out every month or two. If you have a large enclosure though, where the animal is not forced to walk over/sleep on/etc. the area that had been "eliminated" on, it seems like a nice, natural solution. I have relatively small enclosures for my reptiles right now, so I think I'll stick with the old "dry as a bone" (as robyn calls them) substrates until I can get bigger cages made, which will hopefully be this summer.

What kind of reptile(s) are you keeping anyways?

ryan

Well currently I have only one reptile a beautiful 11in Mali uromastyx who I just love to death. Had her for 4 years I had to get her, she was at PetSmart in a 10gal tank with reptibark and it was so humid condensation had formed on the sides or they had just overly mist the cages. She had only been being fed on crix. When I asked to see her the guy who was helping me lift her hide log she was surrounded by crix and was very immaciated poor little girl. I have dealt with many reptiles from anoles to crocodilians for over 12 years. I had plans on becoming a private breeder but due to an unforseen family emergency I had to sell off my entire stock minus the uro. I am starting the processes again but was looking into using readily available materials to use because I never looked into it when I was first starting out. I always used the old school substrate - newspaper, bark, shavings, bird seed, and so on. I want to setup more natural looking vivs because I realized how much more beautiful (natural looking) the reps are when in this setup style. Granted harder work but the reptiles I will be housing, will be happier and healthier, and that seems worth it. Sorry for ranting on.

Thanks,
Geoff

Use one of those big disposable turkey pans to heat the dirt up in. Just watch out carrying it, they can fold in half with a lot of weight in them