BossRoss
Arachnosquire
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- Sep 18, 2014
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Where and how do you buy your substrate? Do you go to a LPS and buy the bags/compressed bricks? Or do you have alternative methods? How do you store larger amounts of substrate?
Tubs of Subs
- Thread starter BossRoss
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I buy huge bales of peat from a gardening/hardware store, and store it in a plastic garbage can in the garage. I also buy compressed coir there when available, which is a fraction of the pet brand price.
Poec54
Arachnoemperor
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Bagged top soil from Home Depot, $1.50 for 40 lbs (cheap stuff, no fertilizer added). It's the only thing I use for my collection. It'll be moist to some degree. If it's too moist for the spider, I'll pour some into a cardboard box and let it dry.
Medusa
Arachnoknight
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- Mar 4, 2014
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I use the same soil for my plants as I do for my enclosures, a combination of materials (no fertilizers!) that work well for almost all. If I have a plant or spider that needs something different, I add a small amount at that time. I keep it in a covered garbage can outside.
Spinster
Arachnosquire
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- Mar 29, 2012
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I use a blend of coir ("eco-earth"), sphagnum, and organic potting or top soil (doesn't have added chemicals, just manure). I buy the coir and moss in pressed bricks and reconstitute/store each separately in cat litter buckets. I customize the blend based on species and habitat requirements. If I need dry substrate, I spread it out on a sweater dryer screen overnight before using.
Poec54
Arachnoemperor
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Manure isn't a good idea for spiders. It releases ammonia as it breaks down, besides the bacteria issues.
You started a dying T thread, may be connected to the manure in your substrate.
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- Aug 14, 2005
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I get my substrate from the woods just under the leaf litter where it is most alive! This works best for me and I never have mold problems unless I have flooded the substrate simulating rainy season. I will then do a quick change with some fresh dirt.
-Wade
-Wade
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PanzoN88
Arachnodemon
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- Sep 15, 2014
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I buy my substrate from any place that sells the kind i am looking for.
Mike41793
Arachnoknight
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- Apr 14, 2013
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I use Scotts organic top soil, I believe it's called. Mix of top soil and peat. Add some sphagnum moss and perlite for texture and color. Nothing fancy. It's like $5-8 for a 3 cubic foot bag I think.
Poec54
Arachnoemperor
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Well, I think this has pretty well cleared it up for all of us.
MagicalLobster
Arachnosquire
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- Dec 2, 2012
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That's outrageous. I have been wasting money. Thank you.
BossRoss
Arachnosquire
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- Sep 18, 2014
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This was the point of this thread. :wink:
I was buying peat from my T supplier weather it was a LPS or a breeder and the cheapest I managed to get was 25 ZAR for 1.5kg. The most expensive I ever paid was 45 ZAR for 0.5kg (those were the early days). I was also pointed in the direction of a nursery(place where they sell plants for any foreigners) and I now pay 13ZAR for a peat brick which makes about 5kg.
I also managed to find a huge prick of coco husk(measures 30cm x 30xm for 100ZAR- I dont have the space to wet the entire block so I have cut off pieces as need be)
I should also mention I have 75 litre tubs filled with sub(one with peat and the other coco husk) ready to go just in case I have another T buying splurge...
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Were do u get good cheap bricks of coco fiber???
Akai
Arachnobaron
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- Jul 23, 2012
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You can get them at any local garden center or big box one like Lowes or Home Depot though we are headed into the winter season the selection might not be there but you can definitely find it online.
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My local home depot employees didn't know what coco fiber was,...I should apply there, easy job ?don't know much... your hired.