Why heat treat?

Okay, maybe a little misleading. I know why you would heat treat your soil prior to putting it in the enclosure but is it really necessary. I use organic topsoil and coco fibre with my T's and do not heat treat. Just wondering what others have to say on this, heat treat or not necessary?

I personally don't think there is any need to heat treat any packaged substrate. They should be free of potentially harmful microorganisms and fungal spores will find their way in no matter what you do. I would only heat treat if I was taking soil directly from natural sources. Is there any other reason to heat treat substrate?

I've been keeping exotic pets for more years then I like to admit, lol. Granted I'm rather new to T's my approach has always been the same, a naturalistic one, in that I like to replicate the animals natural habitat as much as possible. I tend to look at the microorganisms found in soil as naturally occurring so I don't get as worried as I would with say pesticides or growth agents, things like that. I know there are those that will say the organisms in the soil I purchase in Canada don't come from the areas my T's are from. I get all that, this is just my two cents, and why we have forums like this to share opinions. Hope to hear other ones on this topic though.

When using sphagum moss I heat treat, but not for the bricks of coco coir.

A couple of reasons. Im not familiar at all with the gathering, packaging and distribution practise of natural soils. Im a cynic at heart and dont necessarily trust what Im not familar with, besides that, I count my own personal experience over the opinions of others. I know you guys are speaking from experience, but just as every other aspect of the hobby, Ill take your experience and opinion and mold it to fit my needs and abilities if I feel its in the best interest of my inverts. Just because something works for someone else, doesnt mean it will work for me.

Its also a great way to quickly dry out sub if needed.

All that being said, the evidence is building and eventually Ill stop baking substrate, but only when Im comfortable with it.

Lexx said:

I've been keeping exotic pets for more years then I like to admit, lol. Granted I'm rather new to T's my approach has always been the same, a naturalistic one, in that I like to replicate the animals natural habitat as much as possible. I tend to look at the microorganisms found in soil as naturally occurring so I don't get as worried as I would with say pesticides or growth agents, things like that. I know there are those that will say the organisms in the soil I purchase in Canada don't come from the areas my T's are from. I get all that, this is just my two cents, and why we have forums like this to share opinions. Hope to hear other ones on this topic though.

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This is my approach also. These things are tougher than a lot of people give them credit for. Most are probably killed due to over caring for them.

I posted this recently on one of the UK's forums but the subject seems to have an interest here also.

I have used coir for many years but have now decided to change all of my tubs/tanks over to something slightly more natural so I took a trip down to the local B&Q (Home depot in the US ?) today and had a spend up on some alternative substrates for my T's.
I bought 50L of basket compost, 35L of sterilised topsoil and 25L of seed compost for the princely sum of £11.96 which I thought wasnt bad for 110 litres of substrate.
I prefer to use topsoil as a substrate but as it is so heavy, I mix compost with it to lighten the weight slightly. I got the seed compost only because I like substrate to have 'bitsa' in it. (bits of this and bits of that )
There was an opened bag of the seed compost in the garden section and after having a feel of it I decided it would be a good addition to the topsoil/compost mix as it was quite sandy/gritty which would be good for drainage and it also had lots of other little bits in it.
I've mixed it up at a ratio of 4 parts compost, 2 parts top soil and 1 part seed compost which feels 'just right' to me. My next step is to get a few bag/buckets of composted soil from the local woods so that i can 'seed' the new substrate mix with some microfauna and other small bugs.
I WANT the little bugs and organisms that everyone seems to dislike so much for no valid reason that I can see.

Since I made the above post I've been busy re-potting some slings (approx 400) about 20 juvs and a few adults all now on the 'natural' substrate straight from the bag(s) with the added bits, lumps and whatever bugs came in with the 'dirt' .

No need to heat treat unless the substrate you're using isn't fresh/ exposed for a while. Otherwise pop it in the microwave for 7-10 min. then leave it for a day in the freezer. That usually kills whatever in the substrate like mites/eggs whatnot.

Lots of good advice and opinions in this thread +1 to everyone! I used to use soil and the such and did the whole microwave thing for years but now I use bricked plantation soil and mix in a little coco fiber. I find it barely molds even under 90% humidity but then again I also have good ventilation, which helps

Isn't plantation soil coconut coir (coco fiber)?

I thought plantation soil and coco fibre was the same as well, not 100% sure though. Love all the great feedback as well, hope to hear more great tips and ideas. Cheers to all.

i'll happily go to our local woods and grab tonnes of soil, bark, live and dead branches, leaf litter, rock....pretty much anything and use that,
as peteruk said...i like all the bugs.....they are actually very helpful in a viv but imo theres no point heat treating,as some mites can survive insanly high temps and some even nuclear blast so throwing them in the micro wave for a few mins aint gonna do them any real damage and the freezing tech is also pointless as 90% of mite species can live dormant in sub-zero temps for many years.

From my personal experience, I usually heat treat my substrate. The reason being, was because of a horrible incident due to the improper sanitization of the eco-earth (coconut coir, plantation soil, whatever it's called) that I bought from a local pet store. A few weeks after I bought that substrate, the majority of my T's became ill. As in ill, I mean DKS and it ended up killing a lot of my T's. This is all just my own preference though :biggrin:. Either way, I'm still not sure though, if the improper sanitization was a fault on my side, or the companies.

I see no need to heat treat. I have never had an issue from not doing it. Just saying.

I follow the same protocol as I did for aquaria: set up the enclosure in advance to let the bacteria in the substrate balance with the local environment. Hopefully this will help to minimize stress when a new T is introduced. It always worked for fish!

I ordered a B. vagans last week; she arrives tomorrow. A couple of days ago I mixed coir, potting soil and vermiculite with some water and put it in her enclosure. Last night I checked and it was too moist for my liking, so I stirred up the substrate and put the enclosure in front of a fan overnight. I checked and mixed again this morning, tamped the substrate down with a potato masher, no more fan, should be perfect tomorrow!