Eco Earth question

[clementine]

Hello!

Before I get buried alive in "Eco Earth is a bad substrate for leos" comments, let me explain. I'm making a new humid hide for my gecko and opted to fill it with Eco Earth because of how well it retains moisture (and because she loves digging). So, I bought some compressed Zoo Med bricks and made them up yesterday. I've never used it before.

My question is: does it normally smell so...foresty? My first thoughts were mould and pine. I did some Googling and read that sometimes if the package is damaged moisture gets in and it can lead to moulding, but. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

The Eco Earth is dry now but it still smells sort of musty. Or maybe that's just how it is. I dunno. Advice?

[Andy_G]

It is normal to have a forest like smell, but it can definitely mould if too much water was used to expand it and if it begins to smell like mould rather than woodsy, I would err on the side of caution and pitch it. Make sure it's thoroughly dried out and well ventilated, and mix it daily to discourage this. I've always preferred moss to make humid hides...less chance of mould, less dusty if it dries out, less of a fuss to handle, so perhaps you could try moss of the eco earth doesn't work out for you, but I might just be biased because it's probably my least favourite of the commonly usedf substrates around...you won't catch me with it in my house. As far as the "eco earth is a bad substrate for leos" feedback...you've got the wrong forum there, most of us here are comfortable with using loose substrates for a variety of species, so don't worry. :)

[Leah844]

I use eco earth for my geckos humid hides sometimes, it always has a foresty smell, I've never had a problem with mold