Question: Coconut fibre substrate

[K9skennel]

I have a brick of it and it says to soak it in water for 30 mins before putting it in the tank.
Is that tap water or cured water?
If i want to retain quite a bit of moisture, do i need to wring it out or can i put it in wet?

thanks

K9

 

[Otterwoman]

I only used it once, but I would use water treated for chlorine and chloramines, and yes, you must wring it out, or it'll be too moist. Well, of course, it depends how much water you use in the first place, how much you'll end up having to wring out.
Then depending on the species you'll be using it for, you must decide exactly how moist you want it. Different species have different moisture requirements.

 

[K9skennel]

i'll be using it for my currently aquatic but morphing Tiger. I would think he would prefer it on the moister side, but please, correct me if i'm wrong.
I would also think it would be easier to dig in and hide if its wet.

 

[Jan]

i'll be using it for my currently aquatic but morphing Tiger. I would think he would prefer it on the moister side, but please, correct me if i'm wrong.
I would also think it would be easier to dig in and hide if its wet.

If using a commercial product like Bed-A-Beast or Eco Earth, the directions are to add 4 quarts of water. I use 3.5 - 4 quarts in a 5 gallon bucket and let it stand for a couple of hours, the mix it well and break up the chunks to a fine consistency. When reconstituting the block, I use chemically dechloraminated/dechlorinated water. I do not wring this out for my tigers and I use a depth of ~4 inches....sometimes mixed with organic topsoil After a few weeks when it begins to dry out, I mist one end of the tank as needed to maintain a moisture gradient within the enclosure. I have been using the coco-fiber blocks for ~ 15 years and find that they work well for my tigers.

I spot clean every few days and completely change the substrate every 6 weeks. Many keepers change out substrate at longer intervals e.g., every 3 -6 months.

 

[Jennewt]

If the tiger's gills are completely gone, there is no need to keep it on the wet side. Keeping the substrate too wet can predispose to infection problems. (Though obviously, having it too dry is also risky from the standpoint of drying out.) As long as you are also providing a water dish, I wouldn't try to make it extra-wet.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I swear by coir products. Personally I do not use them straight out of the package for anything but certain toads I keep. For my tigers and other terrestrial Ambystomids, I mix the expanded "brick" coir as follows: I use a mix of two parts coir, 1 part caudate friendly soil, and one part worm castings from my vermiculture bin. I find this mix holds moisture well and is "digger" friendly for the speices (like tigers) that prefer to live in burrows and tunnels. Occasionally I throw in a handful of sand in when I mix some up for my tigers.