I've been keeping up with this soil thing for a while now. I've been wanting to make a sand/bed-a-beast mix as a better substrate, but I had a couple bags of nice soil I found at Big Job Lots (I think that was the name of the store). Great stuff...no addatives.
Anyway, I decided to give the soil thing a try. I dumped two bags into Fantus's home and started mixing. I love this stuff. It was only like 2 small bags of dirt which is about 2 gallons worth, but man did it fill up the terrarium. Those two bags plus 60 pounds of sand gave me LOTS of substrate to work with. Probably tripled or quadrupled the amount that only the bag of sand gave me. I was able to build hills, build up ground layers around his cement reptile cave, etc. I rearranged a few things, added a plant and more rocks, etc. Looks very aesthetically pleasing.
Well once Fantus was reintroduced, he FLIPPED OUT! He was loving it. He explored all over, sniffed around, sunned himself, walked around more...AND started eating like a real champ (I've NEVER seen his eat this much)!
I posted a ways below that he was still trying to brumate despite the high temps. But now he's awake and seems real happy.
I am so psyched.
Is it possible he was depressed at his drab surroundings? Would that explain his excess sleeping?
The substrate color also matches his color perfectly. Do you think its a feeling of safety (now that he's more camoflaged) that woke him up?
My baby Ornates are young so they are on paper towles for now and my pair of Saharan are coming in thursday. 
