Question: Whats better for bedding sand or soil (no chemicals or fertilizers ofcourse)

[mandygurl]

I have moss in my tiger salamander's terrarium right now. But he likes tunneling into a potted plant i put in there, so i decided i should change his bedding. What would be better soil or sand?

 

[Lamb]

I'd say soil. In the wild you'd find them beneath a log directly in contact with the soil. A professor of mine kept an Ambystoma opacum in a terrarium with a mixture of potting soil and pummas, with bark to hide under.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Definitely soil. Those tigers really like to dig.

Try to find a potting soil that does not have perlite, vermiculite, or fertilizers added to it.

I use this brand in my vivariums, while it has perlite in it, it is actually soil and not composted peat and pine bark (except in the state of Georgia, USA) I float out most of the larger perlite with water and then let the stuff air dry a bit back into soil.

http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/p...proId=prod210004&itemId=cat60016&id=cat140002

 

[Gregh]

i'd go soil mixed with peat to make it very diggable, it'd hold moisture pretty well too.

But wait for someone more informed than I to tell you peat is safe.

 

[Jennewt]

i'd go soil mixed with peat to make it very diggable, it'd hold moisture pretty well too.

But wait for someone more informed than I to tell you peat is safe.

No, peat moss is acidic. Depending on the batch, it can be acidic enough to cause health problems/death. A better choice is coco-fiber (a.k.a. Bed-a-Beast, Eco-earth, etc).

 

[Jennewt]

Definitely soil. Those tigers really like to dig.

Try to find a potting soil that does not have perlite, vermiculite, or fertilizers added to it.

I use this brand in my vivariums, while it has perlite in it, it is actually soil and not composted peat and pine bark (except in the state of Georgia, USA) I float out most of the larger perlite with water and then let the stuff air dry a bit back into soil.

http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/p...proId=prod210004&itemId=cat60016&id=cat140002

I would worry about added fertilizers. The rinsing step may get rid of most of that too. How do you know it is soil? Actual soil is usually too heavy to use for potting plants, which is why peat or coir (a.k.a. coco-fiber) is usually used as the main ingredient.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I agree with you Jen, however, I have a bag of it here right now. Its good old fashioned dirt. Deep black, no wood or fiber fragments, packs into a perfect mud pie. I was shocked to actually find one that wasn't peat/sphagnum based like most bagged potting soils are. I will note there may be differences state to state on this brand as they are bagged locally for most locations.

 

[Jan]

Here is a recent thread discussing substrate for tigers that you may find beneficial:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60385&highlight=substrate+tiger

And an older thread:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51731&highlight=tiger+substrate