Eco Earth bricks or Cypress mulch?

Anybody know which is a better substrate? Obviously I do not want mites and want a substrate that is easy to maintain a constant humidity.
Any thoughts?

It depends on you and your setup. EcoEarth can get dusty when it starts to dry out. I like Cypress Mulch a lot and have used it in most of my cages for a long time. Now Im using a combo of EcoEarth, Cypress, and ReptiBark mixed to my desired liking. I do this as I keep naturalistic cages and it looks more natural.

I only buy Forest Floor mulch as it is clean and uniform compared to the cheap bulk variety.

Thank you for your input. BTW, how do you like your Blood Python?

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Originally Posted by queenelvis82

Anybody know which is a better substrate? Obviously I do not want mites and want a substrate that is easy to maintain a constant humidity.
Any thoughts?

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I've mentioned elsewhere that whilst Eco-Earth is great for holding moisture it did get everywhere ....on the viv sides and everywhere else when I had my BRB out . I solved the issue by having a thick , rooted layer of lush moss growing on top of the damp Eco- earth.

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Originally Posted by queenelvis82

Thank you for your input. BTW, how do you like your Blood Python?

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You mean my four Bloods? :D I have one big female around 6ft and 30 pounds. She is a big puppy dog most of the time. My other three are younger but have settled down nicely and are well mannered most of the time as well. I like the Bloods thick build and beautiful patterns.

I personally like aspen but if I had to choose between the 2 listed, I would use cypress mulch. I used Eco Earth for a year and that stuff is a freakin mess. Sticks to everything, gets dusty when dried, can mold despite people saying it cant. I've never used cypress mulch but I have heard people say they have gotten bags with wood mites in them. Some people will freeze the bags, spray them with PaM or bake them in the oven but like I said, I've never used the stuff. I stick with paper towels for QT and aspen for my their normal substrate.

I don't understand the dust issues folks are having with Eco Earth.

I've been using it for a few years and have never had a problem.

When you first "install", it is dusty, so all you do is hyper mist. Then pour water all around to pack it down and that's it!
Then do your maintenance humidity and it will stay like a packed clay.

It is awesome.

It's great for ease of regulating humidity as well.

And feeding time - no junk in the mouth!

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Originally Posted by Reinz

I don't understand the dust issues folks are having with Eco Earth.

I've been using it for a few years and have never had a problem.

When you first "install", it is dusty, so all you do is hyper mist. Then pour water all around to pack it down and that's it!
Then do your maintenance humidity and it will stay like a packed clay.

It is awesome.

It's great for ease of regulating humidity as well.

And feeding time - no junk in the mouth!

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Not the dust that's the problem, it's so messy and way too sticky!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reinz

I don't understand the dust issues folks are having with Eco Earth.

I've been using it for a few years and have never had a problem.

When you first "install", it is dusty, so all you do is hyper mist. Then pour water all around to pack it down and that's it!
Then do your maintenance humidity and it will stay like a packed clay.

It is awesome.

It's great for ease of regulating humidity as well.

And feeding time - no junk in the mouth!

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I had it packed down before and it actually grew mold. It was white like moth balls but harder and gooey. It also smelled kind of musty. I had to do a full sanitizing. It also started growing mold on the wood logs I had in there which I threw out. The problem for me was in winter, it is dry here so I would have to constantly spray it down. I personally don't have humidity issues anyways even using aspen so other than the humidity reason, Eco Earth has no real positives to it especially over cypress mulch except the cost I guess.

And the dust issue I had was if i let it dry out at all, I would have to completely soak it again since it seemed the stuff worked great as long as you didn't let it dry out at all, otherwise it seemed to take a ton more water to rehydrate it. Again for me aspen is better as I tend to completely change the bedding every 2 months or less anyways.

As for junk in the mouth, my red tail boa has eaten bits of aspen here and there even though I use a dish to feed her. She just poops it out I'm assuming as I have never seen a problem.

'Oh yes the mold....


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I agree about the Bloods. They are cool snakes. Sometime down the road I want to get one of those or a Boa Constrictor. Not for a while though. Still giving full attention to my girl:D

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Originally Posted by LivingwithBalls

'Oh yes the mold....


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I understand the problem if you and Sauza had mold.

That has not been an issue for me .

Afterthought:

odd, Sauza likes the Aspen and had mold with Eco/coconut.

I prefer Eco/coconut and had mold with Aspen.

I reckon maybe our room humidity/temps factors into this maybe???

Strange :confusd:

I'm thinking this mold issue is more due to type of enclosure and humidy level and how much they are moisture is getting into substrate, and airflow so many different ways it can form.. Been using eco earth for long time it's not really dusty.. I've mixed Eco and cypress in my glass enclosure I've used aspen didn't work for my humidity level. Now I just use Eco earth in my pvc enclosure first day I put it in the humidity is a bit high but settles out.

edit I don't use bricks I just get loose bagged stuff with only having 2 snakes in the t8 just don't see making a whole brick for it

That makes sense MT!

Probably. I was using a Pro-Line cage and those things hold humidity crazy. I could see it working in a glass tank. The Pro-Line sits at around 60% humidity with just a water bowl in there. Now with my glass tank, I had to put a top on it and cut a 1 inch bigger circle for the CHE dome and the xtra inch for air flow to achieve the 50-60% humidity I needed. In that case I could see Eco Earth helping with humidity. Also might have been the depth people keep the Eco Earth at. I kept around 3inches deep or slightly deeper so I guess if you keep it thin, it probably wont mold as easy. I don't know but I just run about 3 inches deep of aspen and my snakes love digging little "beds" into it and relaxing. To each their own.

Also its much easier to change aspen as I change my substrate every 1-2 months anyways.

Good points Sauzo. Yeah, I have a glass enclosure.

Also, I just noticed that I spelled your name wrong earlier, so sorry!