Baking day!!!
- Thread starter Karen(pebbles)
- Start date
Yummy lol
lol, doesn't smell yummy
This half of "we" doesn't do that...What is it?
I was hoping for a little 4/20 kinda baking theme
sorry, forgot to mention, my first time baking coco fibre and orchid bark.
I am 76 years old, my older sister operated a large turtle and tortoise rescue for almost 30 years and is still involved heavily, I ran my own special needs rescue for a number of years also...and I have never, ever, would never, ever and don't never, ever put damn substrate in the freakin oven!
And for you at over 50 and yet you willingly do it??? WHY?
I have 5 wooden tort tables in the house, each with fine grade orchid bark. But in the great lumber state of Oregon, I cannot get orchid bark. So I have made it a habitat to spot clean them often, I stir up the substrate frequently and used to get some orchid bark when I visited my sis, (thank god for her) but mostly it's the same substrate in my tort tables for at LEAST 15 years. They have box turtles in them now and are mostly wet, but there's no smell or anything. All of my chelonia spend the daytime in outside pens, but in the winter they are inside 24/7. I still have found no reason to bake the substrate, and I wouldn't want to kill the Springtails in the soil. They eat poop, old food and other decayed material and keep the soil in good stead. @ZenHerper can give a very detailed explanation of them, I am a simple thinker, so I just know I've never needed to, and wouldn't ever do that.
I have to leave soon, but I took these couple of pictures so you can see...
nice substrate
I also have 4 glass aquariums in that room, one with smaller box turtles and great substrate
ZenHerper
Well-Known Member
Springtails are delightful! People pay a lot of good money to have them sent in the mail for their vivs.
Springtails: tiny terrestrial crustaceans that ride in with your purchased substrate.
They are quite beneficial, eating detritus, mold, and the like. Their excretion is slightly alkaline, preventing substrate from becoming too acidic for reptile skin/shells.
A fresh batch gets crazy-overpopulated until its reproduction gets calibrated by the amount of food they can find in your enclosure. Calibration can take a few weeks. Buying new substrate will start the cycle all over again (fresh eggs riding in with new bio matter, or they will get in from a population already living in your house). Substrate without them can become too acidic and sour, needing to be replaced entirely. Rinse, repeat.
You can get rid of a number of them overnight by putting a few shallow water plates in the habitat when you turn out the lights. They prefer to be more active at night, but for some reason springtails cannot tell they are hopping onto water in the dark and they will drown.
Otherwise they are non-harmful, and as the top layer of your substrate dries somewhat, they will naturally move down and stay predominantly in the damper layers at the bottom of the habitat.
Springtails: tiny terrestrial crustaceans that ride in with your purchased substrate.
They are quite beneficial, eating detritus, mold, and the like. Their excretion is slightly alkaline, preventing substrate from becoming too acidic for reptile skin/shells.
A fresh batch gets crazy-overpopulated until its reproduction gets calibrated by the amount of food they can find in your enclosure. Calibration can take a few weeks. Buying new substrate will start the cycle all over again (fresh eggs riding in with new bio matter, or they will get in from a population already living in your house). Substrate without them can become too acidic and sour, needing to be replaced entirely. Rinse, repeat.
You can get rid of a number of them overnight by putting a few shallow water plates in the habitat when you turn out the lights. They prefer to be more active at night, but for some reason springtails cannot tell they are hopping onto water in the dark and they will drown.
Otherwise they are non-harmful, and as the top layer of your substrate dries somewhat, they will naturally move down and stay predominantly in the damper layers at the bottom of the habitat.
I resemble that remark, but in my defense it was winter! At least I didn't get the zebra springtails since they were crazy expensive although so cool!!!!
TeamZissou
Well-Known Member
Springtails are great, but fungus gnats are not. Baking the substrate can save months of annoyance trying to reduce the fungus gnats with sticky traps.
ZenHerper
Well-Known Member
Isopods!!! The larger, more evolved version of springtails, sort of. lol
*terrestrial shrimp fist bump*
Zebras shouldn't cost that much for a starter culture...check eb*y for people selling them where you live. Isopods are USDA regulated now, so illegal for interstate travel unless both parties are USDA licensed (which I hear is not hard, just paperwork). This time of year, it's pretty easy to find local sellers on the innerweb malls.
I lurve me some isopods!
Exactly what TeamZissou said. Baking substrate before using will hold off those nasty gnats that will go any place not just the enclosure.
I never got spring tails in my substrate, those I wouldn't mind.
The baking or boiling, freezing doesn't work as long, holds the gnats off for about a year depending.
I did it every time I had to bring in new substrate.
I never got spring tails in my substrate, those I wouldn't mind.
The baking or boiling, freezing doesn't work as long, holds the gnats off for about a year depending.
I did it every time I had to bring in new substrate.
Baking or boiling substrate holds of the annoying gnats for about a year with good spot cleaning.
ZenHerper
Well-Known Member
I get gnats in potted plants, but not in vivs.
i'm so confused, i joined the forum in may, i've had my tort since april and everything EVERYTHING i've done so far is from the advice of members on here INCLUDING baking the substrate, these tiny little "springtails" were crawling on the OUTSIDE of my vivarium, if they are not such a problem as you say, and if the numbers will decline in time then maybe this is a lesson learned, i'm STILL learning and just trying to do what is best for my tort, thankyou al for your advice.
You can do either way. Most people don't like the bugs in their house. The bugs are not really that beneficial to the tortoise as much as the substrate. Baking or boiling the substrate holds off the bugs for about a year. The gnats are the biggest pain as they get all over the house.
Boil or Bake or Not, neither is wrong.
i'll be happy if it holds them off for just a couple of months, this is the first time i've experienced it, maybe next time i'll be more patient and hold off with the baking, but i have grandchildren and as much as they enjoy my tort, they're not partial to the little bugs, like i said, another lesson learned.
harrythetortoise
Well-Known Member
What's at the very bottom? Looks like tofu (I'm pretty sure it's not lol).
Can we just take a minute to acknowledge how clean your oven is!
I'm feeling deprived at this point ? but maybe I shouldn't say that.?The only bugs I've had is tiny and I mean a few tiny little black bugs on Sapphire's food tile. I wash them off almost every morning. Also I was feeling guilty about not changing out the substrate very often. Come to find out I probably don't have to all that often. My last change went to good use though. I used it as a mulch in a place that filled in a rut in our yard. You live and learn here ?
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