Opinions on Excavator Clay?

[Tiny Boidae]

I've had a few bags of this Zoo Med Excavator Clay for a while now. I honestly don't even remember why or when I got it, but I want to use it as I progress towards more natural terrariums for my animals. I want to use it as a mixture for my sand boas and the baird's rat snake, but I guess I hadn't thought out the specifics until it was brought up lol.

Do I have to worry about moisture if I add it to the substrate? I don't mist down these enclosures, but at times someone will drag some moss out of the humid hide or spill some water and I know it has a tendency to harden into something like concrete. I also have some messy eaters, so I'm worried about them ingesting the excavator's clay and getting impacted. It's not even loose substrates, but just this one that I'm kinda concerned about. If anyone's used it in the past, I'd appreciate the commentary.

[sattva]

Originally Posted by Tiny Boidae

I've had a few bags of this Zoo Med Excavator Clay for a while now. I honestly don't even remember why or when I got it, but I want to use it as I progress towards more natural terrariums for my animals. I want to use it as a mixture for my sand boas and the baird's rat snake, but I guess I hadn't thought out the specifics until it was brought up lol.

Do I have to worry about moisture if I add it to the substrate? I don't mist down these enclosures, but at times someone will drag some moss out of the humid hide or spill some water and I know it has a tendency to harden into something like concrete. I also have some messy eaters, so I'm worried about them ingesting the excavator's clay and getting impacted. It's not even loose substrates, but just this one that I'm kinda concerned about. If anyone's used it in the past, I'd appreciate the commentary.

My only argument here is clay is not sand...

[dannybgoode]

First point-loose substrate does not cause impaction. Poor husbandry causes impaction. Indeed I the wild many lizards purposefully ingest dirt for its mineral content.

All my animals are kept on loose substrate and none have ever been impacted. If temperatures are right, humidity is right etc then they'll be fine.

Iro excavator clay its excellent stuff to make tunnels, burrows and hidey holes from but I wouldn't use in an entire viv. As you've eluded to it sets like concrete and that is far from natural. I've experimented with it in one of my olive vivs. I just mixed a bit in with the soil / sand mix I was using to form a burrow at one end.

It still holds its shape perfectly when mixed in this fashion and hasn't shown ant signs of collapsing - it's pretty robust stuff.

So use it where you want a burrow and use a nice soil/ sand mix everywhere else. For a rat snake I may also mix in a little fine gravel for texture too.

[Tiny Boidae]

Ah. Thanks lol.

I wasn't worried because it was a loose substrate. Just because it's activated by water and I didn't know how they'd be able to handle it. For some reason I was under the impression that I could use it as a loose substrate.

But thanks for the help. Answered all of my questions.

[trailblazer295]

I haven't heard of it used as a substrate. Only seen it used to build caves usually for lizards. There would be cheaper substrates you could use for loose stuff.

[TRD]

Its very sticky when it gets wet... I doubt it will give issues with snakes, but with lizards too much of the stuff as lose substrate can be problematic when the animals goes through the water into the clay... it will stick between toes and all and may annoy the animal or cause harm (as it gets pretty damn hard after that). I use it in some glass vivs on the bottom to create a barrier so that the snakes (sandboa's) can't dig so deep that they will lay on the glass bottom with their belly.

[dannybgoode]

Ah apologies - I misread your post a little. No I wouldn't use it as a substrate in its own - it would over time even just with the general humidity beginner hardened I think.