Vermiculite

[Chameleon Caretaker]

So are local Lowes quit selling vermiculite because it has asbestos in it.
I was wondering if there is any other vermiculite on the market that is asbestos free...? I really don't want to switch to perlite any suggestions...

 

[Syn]

Oh wow, if it has asbestos in it, does that mean it's harmful to our chameleons?

Sorry for the hijack but I have other females in the house (crested geckos) so I don't want to kill them!

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

I'm not sure Syn I'm hopeing other members chime in...
I know you love to research things this would be a great one since so many of us use vermiculite.

 

[kinyonga]

http://www.vermiculite.org/pdf/vina.pdf
http://www.schundler.com/verm-asb.htm
http://www.schundler.com/epa-rpt.htm
http://www.vermiculite.org/pdf/vhse.pdf

 

[jojackson]

I never heard of asbestos in vermiculite!

You might give spaghum moss a try instead, Ive had great success over years with it, have it 'down pat' and wouldnt use anything else now.

 

[Syn]

I googled it, found that only the rare ore body had asbestos, it's not in ALL vermiculite, but it's in some of the bigger ones.

 

[SoCaliSon]

I think the links Kinyonga posted explain it pretty well.

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

http://www.vermiculite.org/pdf/vina.pdf
http://www.schundler.com/verm-asb.htm
http://www.schundler.com/epa-rpt.htm
http://www.vermiculite.org/pdf/vhse.pdf

Thank you for the links very informative. Now I need to find a store that sells vermiculite...

 

[bigcappa]

I know a few people that use Hatchrite, and you dont even have to add water....
LLReptile sells it for $9 for 2 pounds
Hatchrite from LLReptile

 

[Julirs]

LLL also sells chunky vermiculite in large bags for a reasonable price.

 

[SoCaliSon]

I know a few people that use Hatchrite, and you dont even have to add water....
LLReptile sells it for $9 for 2 pounds
Hatchrite from LLReptile

Yeah.... You don't have to add water to hatchrite... If you don't wan't your chams to hatch! I lost an entire clutch of eggs, because I followed the instructions on the bag, and couldn't find any other info that said anything different. I know what it says on the bag... but it does not contain enough moisture for the incubation of chameleon eggs. There are several threads on the forum that discuss this now.

Now the question is... Is paying $8 + shipping for a 2lb bag of hatchrite because you don't have to add water... even though you DO, really worth it? or do you pay $25 for 25lb bag of Vermiculite that is prepared the same and will last you forever?

This is an easy one IMO.