Laying Bin Medium - An Experiment

Washed play sand is usually what's recommended to use in laying bins for gravid females, but I've preferred to use Ecoearth in the past for my veiled. She's laid in it without problem so I've always kept that in my laying bins since.

However, I've decided to start experimenting a bit with other laying media. After all, I've never been to any tropical rain forest where the soil consisted of pure sand.

So this time for my panther chameleon I decided to mix together one part washed play sand to about 5 parts top soil (the only soil I could find with NOTHING in it except just dirt).

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Mixing it together first and adding in water slowly to get it evenly damp.

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Still not quite wet enough, but you can see what it looks like.
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From my powers of deduction this seems like a more natural media, but we'll have to wait and see what the girls think of this.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Comments

I've used Super soil and play sand combo for about a year now. I agree it seems more natural and my females prefer it to just play sand.

I tried the Eco-Earth and my girls looked at me like I was crazy lol
 
Ok, glad to know someone else is using something similar. Do we know why sand is so heavily recommended? Where/why did it start?
 
Sand is recommended because its easy to come by and is less likely to be contaminated by unwanteds. If we say "use dirt" people will go out to the back yard with a shovel (which may be fine, but may also contain things you dont want). Also, a female who digs in sand isnt going to get as "dirty" as one who digs into dirt. Doesnt matter them perhaps, but We tend like our chameleons to look pretty.
I've used straight sand, sand mixed with soil, sand soil and peat mixed. so long as it is easy to dig into and hold a tunnel, the girls are unlikely to care.
 
That is true my girls are filthy lil pigs when they come up but it's nothing an extra lil misting wont cure lol.
 
Yea, my panther looked anything but pink when she came out from laying lol But it's alright, I always give them a long shower after they lay anyway, a little dirt isn't a problem.

I'm liking the soil because it's a little lighter than sand. My cages don't sit flush on a table, the plants are on a "grill" of bars over a slanted bottom for drainage, so I'm always concerned about having that much weight on a couple wood bars. The soil mix is quite a bit lighter, even when wet, so it worries me less. Which is a plus.
 

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