Alright so I went ahead and called both Zoomed and Zilla. Zoomed is more of the one that deals with soil and and whatever, but i didn't realize that.
So basically, I called them, asked, and she said that she knows that they are heat treated, but that wouldn't necessarily break down most, or any chemicals. She was not aware of any sort of digging done to make sure it's pesticide-free. I asked what part of the world they sourced their soil from, and she said I could send an email to customer support, which would go to her supervisor, and then her supervisor could answer when she gets back on monday (she wasn't there today).
So I called Zilla. The guy who answered started listing a few products and how they know/don't know about pesticides. Crushed walnut shells are from walnut farmers, and Zilla chem checks every few years. Coco husk is from coconut farms, and according to him (I ='m not sure how accurate this is) there aren't any pesticides for coconut trees and nothing else grows there. so idk.
But peat moss was the real kicker-- this guy grew up in the upper peninsula of MI. He said there were peat bogs everywhere up there. The local government, one or twice a year would spread pesticides to kill mosquitos. I'd assume this would be true of a lot of peat bogs all over. At the very least, he said their peat moss was from natural bogs. Bogs are lowlands. That means that when it rains, any chemicals anywhere nearby find their way into the bogs. And I'm sure you are aware how hard it is to remove chemicals once they get in somewhere. Basically impossible.
That said, There still is the fact that around where I live is agricultural (I know-- agriculture? New York? No way! But we live in the sticks ��) and the farmers use whatever the heck they feel like using to keep their crops growing. So maybe it isn't the best idea to get it from around here. The Zilla guy said I should try to find CERTIFIED organic topsoil. They get tested every year by the feds for chemicals. That sounds much better.
And yeah, organic doesn't mean "reptile safe", but it does help get rid of chemicals. The way that Scott's bag did it was really sneaky:
adds ORGANIC material to NATURAL SOIL!
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