Repti-bark?

eegore · Postby **eegore** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 1:40 pm

In an effort to remove the sand substrate from my habitat as quick as possible I have come across Repti-bark. Anyone ever heard of/used this? I know Cypress and Aspen are the preferred but short of a giant bag of Cypress at Home Depot (which I thought might have poisons) I cant find.
Also, I have seen several coconut options. Coconut husk, coco bark, etc. Thoughts on coconut.

Also, just a thought: it is interesting :chin:

to me that the husbandry of these animals basically says recreate nature as much as possible and these are desert creatures...so why not sand? I know why not, but just an epiphany.

xxmonitorlizardxx · Postby **xxmonitorlizardxx** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:33 pm

They aren't desert creatures, or at least IJ's arne't. They are tropical rainforest animals. The coco hust and repti-bark work. In some cases repti-bark has had mites.

Postby **Jeff** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:48 pm

Every substrate has positives and negatives. That goes for cypress, aspen repti-bark coconut products, and even sand. The trick is to figure out what works best for your animal where you live. The only things that substrate really affect in my opinion are: Humidity, ease of cleaning, respitory function, ingestability, and appearance. Almost anything will work, you just need to prioritize what you care about the most and pick the substrate that fits the best.

Sorry, I know that doesn't really answer your question at all.

eegore · Postby **eegore** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:24 pm

So coconut is "safe". I hadn't read anything about NOT using it. Just trying to cover my bases. I thought coconut bark would be good as it comes in small "chunks" not suitable for ingesting and has very little tiny stuff to get in eyes/mouths.

eegore · Postby **eegore** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:27 pm

Completely unrelated side note....didn't want to start ANOTHER thread.....

Can someone explain the numbers contained in some peoples signatures below?

2.4.3 T. s. intermedia
2.1.0 T. r. rugosa
2.2.1 T. g. evanesence
0.0.4 T. s. scincoides

Fatal_S · Postby **Fatal_S** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:35 pm

eegore wrote:Completely unrelated side note....didn't want to start ANOTHER thread.....

Can someone explain the numbers contained in some peoples signatures below?

2.4.3 T. s. intermedia
2.1.0 T. r. rugosa
2.2.1 T. g. evanesence
0.0.4 T. s. scincoides

Male.Female.Unknown
So Jeff has 2 male intermedia, 4 female intermedia, and 3 unknown-gender intermedia. He has 2 male rugosa, 1 female rugosa, and 0 unknown-gender rugosa.

eegore · Postby **eegore** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:35 pm

How the crap do you guys keep up with so many animals?!?!?! I have me hands full with one! :panic:

Postby **Katrina** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:15 pm

eegore wrote:How the crap do you guys keep up with so many animals?!?!?! I have me hands full with one!

You'll find as you get used to eegore and his care it will get to be much easier. In the beginning there is so much to learn, but after a while it gets to be very easy. Much less work than most other pets!

Repti-bark is fine to use. Indonesia is tropical and most of Australia isn't desert, so their natural habitat is more dirt, bark, leaf litter type stuff than sand.

Rush · Postby **Rush** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:16 pm

Coco husk is an o.k substrate, in my opinion. It's pretty dry, so misting two times a day would be good idea. Reptibark is the same. Sphagnum moss in a humid hide would be great addition for your skink too, so he/she can move to different humidity levels when he/she pleases. Like the others have said, your skink is from the tropics with high humidity levels in the wild.

jasjmm27 · Postby **jasjmm27** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:29 pm

Reptibark is awesome, but expensive, cypress is great, but can be "dirty"...you have to find a good source...Aspen can be found at PetSmart, you should get the large bags from the small furry creatures section (not sure what the true label is, it is where you go to buy stuff for gerbils, etc.)...

For ease of cleaning and "pretty" cages, I think reptibark is best...but then cost factors in and cypress bumps it off...that is for Indo/IJ species, though...since they need a bit more humidity...(I like the smell of reptibark...)

sheslikeheroin · Postby **sheslikeheroin** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 2:32 am

i am a big fan of both repti bark and aspen. zoo med's repti-bark is best the exo terra and rzilla bark seem to usually be contaminated with debris such as rockss and splinters. i use aspen fr one skink and bark for the other depending on what i have on hand. IMO reptibark has a feeding advantage as it's seems harder for them to eat the bark and they are more likely to spit it out

Nae · Postby **Nae** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:59 am

I believe repti-bark can also be cleaned and re-used a few times? Correct me if Im wrong =D

Fatal_S wrote:
Male.Female.Unknown
So Jeff has 2 male intermedia, 4 female intermedia, and 3 unknown-gender intermedia. He has 2 male rugosa, 1 female rugosa, and 0 unknown-gender rugosa.

YES! I was right! I was thinking this the other day actually, and thats the conclusion I came to. I was going to ask if I ever started another thread.

Postby **Katrina** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 11:02 am

Nae wrote:I believe repti-bark can also be cleaned and re-used a few times? Correct me if Im wrong =D

Fatal_S wrote:
Male.Female.Unknown
So Jeff has 2 male intermedia, 4 female intermedia, and 3 unknown-gender intermedia. He has 2 male rugosa, 1 female rugosa, and 0 unknown-gender rugosa.

YES! I was right! I was thinking this the other day actually, and thats the conclusion I came to. I was going to ask if I ever started another thread.

If you were wondering if Jeff has a skink problem, then the answer is most definitely yes. :nod:

Repti-bark?

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