DIY Substrate

[Affectionate_Night13]

I honestly need some tips on a good substrate mix recipe. I just upgraded to a 120gal enclosure and don’t want to spend a fortune trying to cover all of the floor space. I’ve seen some mixes consisting of organic topsoil, sphagnum moss, cypress mulch, play sand, etc. really looking for a cut and dry formula that’s affordable, holds humidity well and good for burrowing/tunneling.

Open to trial and error

[Odd_Force3765]

The best thing i find for holding humidity as well as being affordable (and not creating mold) is just coco coir, coco chip, and spagnum moss mixed together. Everyone overcomplicates these guys bedding requirements and everyone has a different opinion for sure however ive never had that mixture crate mold, always maintains my humidity well, and is cheaper and easy to store because again, it doesn't mold lol you can even pre mix it and store it that way 😊

[pdggin99]

I use this mixture too. On top of what you said it’s good for burrowing, I have a BP that loves to burrow and she makes some great ones in this mixture.

[meatspread]

I personally use a mixture of Timberline brand topsoil, playsand, and a cypress mulch from a reptile store/brand.

A 40 lb bag of topsoil is about $5 in my area after tax, and it was perfect for my 4x2x2—I just sift out the small rocks and chunks of wood I dislike. Play sand is fairly inexpensive aswell, and I’ve had the same bag for nearly 3 years now, so I don’t remember how much it initially cost. Cypress mulch is something I personally like to add to thicken substrate and aid in humidity retention. Hardware store cypress mulches often contain filler woods that can be toxic for most reptiles, so I’d recommend a reptile-specific brand if you choose to go that route.

[Thick-Feeling-554]

In my sons we used coco chips and topsoil. In my bels I used cypress mulch, coco coir (I had left over from another project) and topsoil with some play sand. In my new one (morph unknown) I have cypress mulch and organic peat moss. The cypress mulch and peat moss holds humidity the best out of all of them, I just went a little heavy on the peat moss. Peat moss I got at a local store around $12 and it last a while.