eco/coco husk or peat moss?

[SnakeCharmr728]

I am contemplating switching from mulch to a dirt because it is the 2nd time that one of my tegus has been impacted from eating mulch. I feed out of the cage he just likes to eat the mulch apparently. So I want to try some sort of dirt to see how I/He likes that.
I know a lot of people use eco-earth bricks but with an 8x4 cage that isnt gonna fly, so would Peat Moss (its not actually moss) from the garden/hardware store be an okay substitute???

 

[Logie_Bear]

I use the 100% organic sphagnum peat in most of my herp cages. Works great, doesn't mold (easily), and it's super cheap!

 

[Skeetzy]

Topsoil/playsand is what I would recommend. I waited till last minute to get substrate. Only one local place near me has pure Cypress mulch, which is what I wanted the most, but I waited too long to order it. So I was stuck between eco earth/coco husk, and soil/sand. The coco route was slightly more expensive for me, so I settled for the dirt. I had so many doubts about it. Now that it's in the cage, I love the look of it, it holds humidity and burrows well, and is probably the cheapest option. I used 350 lbs of sand and 560 lbs of dirt. Next time I'll go 300 sand and 600 dirt. Gave me a good depth in my 7x4.

 

[james.w]

If you have a landscape store in your area, go get some good old dirt from them. That is what I did for my Tegu, Salvator, Melinus and Savannah cages. It cost me about $30 to fill all 4 cages.

 

[frost]

i tried dirt for a while but my red kept on pushing it all in her water bowl so i changed it.good for humidity tho.