I have been using it (EcoEarth 3Pk $8.49 locally) for corns and leopard geckos for a couple years and have had good results. I have had better results in maintaining humidity levels with it than with Aspen for the most part, but others' experience may vary....The corns (7) dive under first off after the changing, every one, every time. Without fail. They swim in the stuff. The hides are the remnants of a feeble belief that they prefer to hide under something just their size to feel secure; they want to feel completely _enclosed_and practically live in this stuff. Except for a certain sunbathing pink eyed albino (coral snow) who just doesn't seem to get the whole "nocturnal" thing and who will be mentioned again later. They are all behaving like they feel secure, and seem pretty happy go lucky in general, so I assume it is all working out just fine as far as they are concerned. I keep the terraria misted for the corns every couple days after the coir begins to dry out (usually about 2-3 weeks), the geckos(2) are well misted weekly or as needed (room humidity averages 65, ambient temp 76). The wood cages are heated inside with a T-Rex Cobra In Cage pad (great heat pads) with a $10 lamp dimmer from the hardware store and a probe digital aquarium thermometer spot checked with an IR beam thermometer. Glass and Plastics get appropriate Zoo-Med UTH's outside under not attached, on foil covered cardboard) and the substrate is thick over the hot side. A digital probe on the glass is weighted down (suction cups don't work so well under the coir!), and usually that works fine, but lamp dimmers are used where needed. Temps are spot checked daily, morning and night. The soil will dry out if you let it go, or in the case of the leopard geckos and in the wooden cages a ceramic heat emitter is used to boost the ambient to 87-90, or a 15w incandescent to boost corns daytime to 85-87. The dry out causes the corns to sneeze, and the geckos will have trouble with toe sheds so you'll have to watch for any signs of that. We have had 1 incident with a piece of coir being lodged under an eye requiring a vet visit. Not a new change of substrate, about 8 days, and the substrate was still good and robust - about perfect moisture content - and there is no clue as to the how of the thing. All turned out fine, no damage done. His Largeness is a mischievous fellow; full of trouble for the asking....(yup, him again). In general, with daily spot cleaning the coir is good for about 6 weeks. I have a small shop-vac, and it saves me a ton of work. I just scoop the bulk, it goes to compost (non-food destined) and vacuum up the remainder. The bleaching is the most time consuming part of the process, but there's always more work to fill the time.
I use American Wood Fibers Premium Bedding (
http://www.awf.com/ag_bedding.htm) for a pair of Ball Pythons and a recently rescued Polish Bunny, and a pair of the a: luckiest or b: least tasty to a BP mice on Earth. It's great and about $9 a bale locally. Triple screened, kiln dried, sterile and dust free. My herparium is carpeted (no nap, just a cheap, flat, gray office type) and there's no problem sweeping it up. Feed and Tack stores carry it too so it's available around and about. I do not, however, recommend either product for the cat. Don't ask; it's a long, slightly messy, story. I'm sticking with the Feline Pine shavings from now on.
Hmm, maybe TMI? Well, it's long past midnight here on the Left Coast, and the Mad Rambler has had his way..... All told: Cornsnake-diving Fu, Leopard Gecko-Godzilla-wades-thru-Tokyo Fu, 9 Naked Beasts, 1 S.I. Prehensile Tailed Skink hanging-amidst-the-pothos Fu. 1 jaded feline. 2 Thumbs up. Joe Bob says "Check it out!".
