I am looking for a better substrate for my little Panther Gecko...anyone use this stuff? Holds moister pretty good I hear. Also something for him to dig in?
I use Eco-Earth, its basically the same thing, but its made by Zoo Med. And some people claim it expands faster and holds humidity better, but I havent tried Bed-a-Beast.
Anyway, its great! My crested loves to curl up under it, its great for digging. Now I dont mean tunneling or burrowing, but critters sure love to hide under it. But geckos dont really do that anyway. It holds humidity fairly well, and it looks nice to boot. I like to put a layer of sphagnum moss on top in my geckos cage, it gives a little more cover and looks cool. If you use it, Id go about 4 inches deep.
Be careful where you store it though. It makes a BIG bucketful outta that little block. Itll probably last you quite a few cage cleanings. No matter where I store it in the garage, the bugs get into it. Although its only 5 bucks per block, so you can just chunk it or something.
I think it's pretty good stuff...I've kept young pythons on it successfully. However, I have seen it rot in places where, say, a water dish doesn't allow the substrate underneath to have any airflow. Make sure you let it air out for a couple of days, and stir it so it dries even more, before you stick your animals in it. I'm not talking bone-dry, but it holds moisture almost too well if you're not careful.
If you let it dry out for a couple of days it will get dry, the purpose of this stuff is to stay very wet to maintain humidity, granted if you have mold on it, then maybe its time to switch it out for a new batch.
