Reusing Vermiculite

While I have a bag of vermiculite waiting to go into egg tubs, I still have the vermiculite from this past season that I used for corn eggs. Is there a way to sanitize the vermiculite to reuse for eggs this season? Or is it better to just use new stuff and trash the old after every season?

Has it been used to incubate eggs? If so I would trash it. Used vermiculite holds mold and bacteria. Or is it still in the bag that was opened? In that case I would definitely use it as long as it was stored in a dry place.

I don't believe used vermiculite could be sterilized for re-use. I would imagine boiling it would only break it down. And you wouldn't want to treat it with a chemical because that could have ill effects on eggs.

How about the left overs of a bag from last year? the bag is resealed and sat in a dry place since.

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Originally Posted by Subdriven

How about the left overs of a bag from last year? the bag is resealed and sat in a dry place since.

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I would definitely use it in that case since dust and moisture would be kept out of the bag.

If it was stored in a damp location or outside I probably wouldn't, just to be on the safe side.

I know of a few breeders that keep the incubating material from the previous season in the egg boxes when they remove the hatchlings. They then reuse the boxes for the following season. I have even heard of them doing this for as many as four seasons. While I have not tried this yet, I kept all of my incubation boxes from last year still "loaded", and will attempt my first recycling program this year.

With that said, I did scoop out any medium that got soiled from the babies, or anything that looked a bit moldy. I also stored my boxes in the incubator whch is very dry, and thus all of my medium has dried out completely since the hatching season. When it is time to start incubating again, all I have to do is: Just Add Water.

p.s. I buy the big bags of vermiculite and perlite. While I generally go through at least one bag of vermiculite every year, the perlite generally lasts me up to three seasons. Thus, I do store my unused medium for a while, and still have used it for the last 5 years with no issues.

I hope that helps,

I just checked on a 25L bag it was 14$ (cad). Why bother it is a compostable material and isn't very costly? I am sure it could be washed and sterilized (baking it or microwaving you would have to check the times) but by the time you spend the cash and energy to do so you would have a new bag. I have never bread snakes (yet next season) But I know my breeder I deal with tosses it out.

I do have unused vermiculite from last season I am going to use but I was just wondering if anyone had used the same vermiculite for more than one season. The vermiculite from last season has dried out since being used (it is still in the egg tub). My little bag of vermiculite was only around $1-2 since I only purchased a small bag (would probably fill about 3-4 egg tubs) I have enough unused vermiculite from last season to last me another 2 egg tubs, but I was just curious before I went and purchased more.

Where are you all buying the vermiculite. I think I paid $5-10 for a 10 lb bag...

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather spend the $4 on a new bag of vermiculite than to go through all the hassle of trying to sanitize old stuff.