Some Coir pH Issues

[Jsal]

A few weeks ago, I bought a coir brick for a long-toed salamander that I inherited. I mixed it with lots of topsoil and some sand, and the salamander has been burrowing in it a lot.

Unfortunately, it seems I was a little careless. Upon reading the label just now, I found out that while the coir doesn't have any dangerous chemicals, peat, et cetera, it does claim to have, in the words of the packaging, "Neutral to slightly acidic pH: 5.5-6.5".

I'm a beginner caudate enthusiast, so I'm not sure as to the safe range of pH for ambystoids. However, I think putting "Neutral" in the same sentence as "5.5-6.5" is a bit of a stretch, and now I'm concerned about the salamander's ion balance.

From my time spent on Google (especially this forum), I was under the impression that coir is a universally safe substrate for mole (and other) salamanders. Again, though, this coir's label seems to indicate otherwise.

Is it advisable to start over with all my substrate, or is the possibility of sub-neutral pH just not as crucial as I initially thought...?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Jennewt]

Slightly acidic is OK, although 5.5 does sound like it's a bit beyond what's recommended. Mixing it with topsoil may even it out.

If you have a pH test kit, you can soak some substrate overnight and measure the pH of the liquid.

 

[Jsal]

Thank you very much for your reply! I'm glad that all the topsoil in there should help (I put in almost 10 gallons' worth ). I might be able to have some time tomorrow to get a pH test kit. Is it true that some stores will do the test for free?