Best substrate?

[Leonor]

Hello!
I am having hard time finding the coconut fiber substrate I used last time for my handsome guy... I bought it at a reptile show in Des Moines, Iowa. So, what are your favorite types for your tegus? I normally clean his enclosure from top to bottom before hibernation, and change the whole substrate... and he is getting ready to go dormant... Thanks for your input!!

 

[rantology]

Equal parts cypress mulch, peat moss, and top soil makes a good combination for me. All 3 are cheaply bought at hardware stores (make sure no chemicals or dyes). I do bioactive so I do not change it out though... because of that I also added horticultural charcoal, coco fiber and a long fibered sphagnum moss (and leaf litter)

 

[Leonor]

Equal parts cypress mulch, peat moss, and top soil makes a good combination for me. All 3 are cheaply bought at hardware stores (make sure no chemicals or dyes). I do bioactive so I do not change it out though... because of that I also added horticultural charcoal, coco fiber and a long fibered sphagnum moss (and leaf litter)

Tnaks so much for your response! How do you do bioactive?

 

[rantology]

Tnaks so much for your response! How do you do bioactive?

I don't change the substrate and instead rely on all my critters to keep it clean. I do spot clean those big ol tegu poops but everything else (bits of food he drops or bits of waste that I miss) goes to the microfauna. Have a few places for them to hide (like small bits of cork bark and plants and leaf litter) and just add them to the enclosure! I do small roaches, isopods, springtails, millipedes and nightcrawlers. I intentionally leave whatever Darrow doesn't eat in there for them (they end up making it into great compost/fertilizer for the plants)... They are doin' pretty well!