Nookole
New Member
Has anyone used the Reptile Prime brand with their tortoises?
Did you watch the video? I've never used coco coir before, so I don't know if it's legit or not. Maybe as someone who uses the zoomed stuff could tell if it's legit.IMHO. It just looks like repackaged and re-processed coco coir and seemingly more expensive...
Take a look at these.... https://www.chewy.com/zoo-med-eco-earth-compressed-coconut/dp/123767?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Zoo Med&utm_term=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzY7pjLTN4AIVlJOzCh3nmgKoEAQYBCABEgK8jPD_BwE
I don't like coco coir because of the strings, and looking at the picture of the Reptile Prime, it has way more strings than regular coco coir. I would never use it.
What is listed in the ingredients? That is the only way to know whether or not its safe.
I've been making cages and maintaining reptiles since the 70's. In all those years I've tried just about everything, and watched many customers, friends and family try lots of things. I also have a lot of vet friends, and that gives me insight into what goes wrong or right with people's pets.
In all those years, nothing works better than fine grade orchid bark. I use it for all ages of almost all species. I like damp, hand-packed, regular coco coir under hatchling CA DTs, and hatchling Testudo, but fine grade orchid bark for everything else. Stars, sulcatas, leopards, radiata... All get orchid bark. Of all the compromises and all the good and bad points of every substrate, it is the safest, least problematic, easiest, cheapest, and best thing I've found. I'm open to trying something new and learning, but it doesn't look like Bryan is selling anything new or anything I need.
What is listed in the ingredients? That is the only way to know whether or not its safe.
I've been making cages and maintaining reptiles since the 70's. In all those years I've tried just about everything, and watched many customers, friends and family try lots of things. I also have a lot of vet friends, and that gives me insight into what goes wrong or right with people's pets.
In all those years, nothing works better than fine grade orchid bark. I use it for all ages of almost all species. I like damp, hand-packed, regular coco coir under hatchling CA DTs, and hatchling Testudo, but fine grade orchid bark for everything else. Stars, sulcatas, leopards, radiata... All get orchid bark. Of all the compromises and all the good and bad points of every substrate, it is the safest, least problematic, easiest, cheapest, and best thing I've found. I'm open to trying something new and learning, but it doesn't look like Bryan is selling anything new or anything I need.
I get it at local garden centers. OSH has it, some Home Depots have it some of the time, but an actual garden center is your best bet. I pay about $12 for a 2 cu. ft. bag.Where do you get the fine grade orchid bark? What brand is it? I’m always afraid to try stuff from places like Home Depot etc. because I don’t know if it is safe for reptiles.
Zoo med forest floor is cypress mulch right? In my experience it's not that great for holding moisture...I have to add different mosses and coir. I will be switching to orchid bark soon. I really like the orchid moss.I’ve used that Repti Bark and I feel like it holds zero moisture?[emoji51]
I prefer coir and ZooMed Forest floor. At least that combo feels damp like it’s retaining some moisture.
I have experience with Reptile Prime, and for snakes it is the best substrate I have used thus far. It's hard to describe the way it differs from eco earth and other similar substrates on the market, but the biggest difference is the lack of dust and the way it absorbs water without turning into muck. For the snakes, I find it is worth the money and will continue to use it for as long as it is available.
For tortoises, I have always just used Cypress mulch or topsoil (or sometimes eco earth with fresh hatchlings), but I am considering switching to Orchid bark if I can find a reasonably priced supplier. It doesn't appear to be readily available locally, but I like what I hear about it compared to Cypress mulch.
I was thinking of layering the substrate with topsoil, reptile prime/coco coir, and then put orchid bark on the top. From everything I'm reading, orchid bark seems to be great. It has more upsides and less downsides than cypress.
That seems like an interesting application and probably worth experimenting with. I plan on trying orchid bark on its own, but I've done soil/sand/mulch/coco coir combos in the past and they weren't bad. I used deep topsoil with egg laying females, but found that soil on its own in thin layers (less than 6") tended to dry out and get dusty very quickly. For those setups with less substrate the mulch has worked well, but orchid bark seems like it could potentially be a better solution.