Hard to find vermiculite... anything about hatchrite?

For the life of me I cannot find vermiculite, I have searched everywhere! Walmart, Home Depot, Home Hardware, local garden centers, Lowes, Canadian Tire... nothing. (If anyone is in the Calgary AB area and know where to get it, please let me know even online ordering?). But for now, because I cannot find it, anyone know anything about Hatchrite? I know it has probably been talked about a lot, so if there is another forum you could direct me to? It is pretty expensive but from the things I have heard about it, it kind of makes me scared to use it. Things like drying out the eggs, killing whole clutches, and even too high of humidity. Can someone give me a really good review about the stuff please? And also, if there is any other stuff I could use that people have been successful with? I would greatly appreciate it.

Hatch rite is VERY expensive and nothing more than some perlite and while it is supposed to contain the right amount of water you will need to add some to it.

You can find straight perlite at feed stores, nurseries, home depot, same goes for vermiculite.

And online http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/p...soil-additives

I've been using Hatchrite for 7 or 8 years now and never had a problem. It's just perlite mixed with some water-retaining gel. I've never had to add any water except for this year. And that's only because the bag was opened two years ago and I'm skeptical it had enough moisture. I added about 2 tablespoons of water and it seems fine about half way through the incubation period.

Another place online is here. http://www.uline.com/BL_3801/Vermicu...ds=Vermiculite

I use hatchrite, work just fine but I always add additional water too. Keep in mind too that most of the bags of vermiculite and perlite will not likely be easily labeled as such, so you may need to ask or read the fine print on the bags.

I found it funny when I called home depot and asked if they carried vermiculite and the guy asked me if that was some type of flower....

It seems pretty expensive to buy vermiculite online, makes more sense to get hatchrite at that shipping price.

Try Big Apple Herp also for vermiculite.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_86642-78212-...tt=vermiculite

My Lowes has it in store, this might help you

Go substrateless. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...bstrates/page2

I think a lot of places pulled vermiculite off of their shelves when it was discovered that virtually all of it in North America contained a high amount of asbestos (which is a carcinogen) Vermiculite is a mineral that has been expanded with heat, it doesn't by itself contain any asbestos but the mine that formerly produced all vermiculite in North America was found to be contaminated with asbestos so sellers have needed to find other sources of the mineral, I'm sure it hasn't been easy finding a steady supplier. However you can usually find it online at gardening supply websites.