New substance ....

[Daniel Carpenter]

Unlucky for me i have had a cricket lay eggs in my spiders unit ( Grammostola cala - Chilean Rose ) and me not notice them and so they have hached! So i now have to repace all the substance and the fittings. I just wondered what i should use as the new substance? Vermiculite on its own? Vermiculite mixed with soil? or soil on its own. Also how long should i soak the vermiculite in water for? This would relly help me cheers.

[Neil Richardson]

If you're going with vermiculite, i tended to mix it 50/50 with plain compost (no additives at all).

For a G.rosea (i believe G.cala is a synonym) i wouldn't bother adding any water at all to the mix, and let the specimen get all it's water from a shallow dish.


I keep all mine on 100% sterilised potting compost personally, i found vermiculite clumps too much and makes it hard for them to dig.

[Ian Metcalfe]

If you had just put a water dish in its enclosure and let the tank dry out you would have cleared up your crix problem in a couple of days. They are absolutley suicidal with a water dish , you would have had to empty it a couple of times a day to remove the body's

[Daniel Carpenter]

Thanks for the advice guys