Best substrate?

[chibi]

Anyone have suggestion on best substrate to use? I used that silly colored calci-sand from the gift shop for the longest time and it was fine, but now i used T-Rex calcium sand and its really fine and smells, and it has grown MOLD, I do not like it at all and need to switch! Any suggestions or links to brands would be appreciated. The local petsmart has very limited selection so I will likely need to order online. (they have t-rex calcium sand which I dont want.. and one other colored kind.)

[J mouse]

I use "Premium Repti Bark" from PetsMart, it is fir bark and it doesn't grow mold. I had sand grow mold once, it killed one of my hermies. :(

[chibi]

repti bark huh? is that okay for them to dig in and all that?

[J mouse]

Sure, it is great to dig in. But if you have a really small hermit crab they might have trouble.

[Babyblue]

The most popular choice seems to be simple playsand (you can get a large bag from places like Home Depot) or EcoEarth or similar products. EE is a soft dirt like substrate that hermies love to dig into, and also can be kept moist to keep up the humidity.

[Daethian]

Repti bark isn't a great substrate, there is a risk of it actually drying out the hermies.

Play sand is a great substrate and its cheap and easy to clean. Under 5 bucks for a 25lb bag. It serves all your hermies needs.

I like eco earth also but for a kid (I'm not sure how old you are) it can be a bit messy and hard to mix up properly.

if you visit my hermit crab blog I have a care article on there that compares all the commonly used substrates
www.foreverpurple.com/blog/crab_blog.php

[Daethian]

Okay I went and checked.
Jmouse the stuff you are using is NOT hermie safe. Someone from HCA actually wrote to Zoomed and asked them to change the packaging.

Any bark made from a coniferous tree (pine,fir) can be toxic to hermit crabs.
There is another bark made from coconut fibers that is okay to use.

[J mouse]

Oh my Gosh! :eek: Thank you for the information! I had no idea. The package said it was hermie safe. I'll get that coconut stuff.

[Daethian]

No problem.... its not your fault. Its hard to shop for pet friendly items when the manufacturers aren't even sure what they are doing!

[chibi]

Im 20 actually ;) thanks for the info. I was thinking playsand, but I am turned-off by buying a huge gigantor bag of it. Do they sell it in smaller bags by chance? And I wonder if they even carry it this time of year here. They might have sand for throwing in the ice on the sidewalk LOL but Im not sure that its the same!

[Daethian]

That sand is not the same. I don't think there are smaller sizes of it. Maybe try the eco earth then. You can buy it in hockey puck disks called hermit crab dirt or in bricks sold for reptiles. Its all the same.

If you use that here is a tip: go easy with the water when first mixing. The directions may call for more water than actually needed. I first mixed mine and it was like SLOP... very gross LOL its supposed to be sort of damp but fluffy and light.

[CF Tristan]

When I first used FB I just put the brick in a plastic box...when I came back about five mnutes later it had almost tripled in height! O_o It shocked me. :-D

I always used sand before, but I just recently switched to Forest Bedding...we'll see which they like better.