Litter Woes - I don't know what to use

[Styx]

So I just can't find cypress mulch here in Utah. I've tried an organic bagged dirt, but I found little bugs in it after a week and it freaked me out, despite keeping the dirt as clean as dirt can be. I've also tried the larger wood chunks sold as "reptile bark" but he can't make a den in that.

So, I need some suggestions as to what to use. I just want to find something my tegu will enjoy and be healthy for him.

 

[james.w]

Just bake the dirt.

 

[TeguBlake]

What about like black bat bugs. What do you do for them!?

 

[Dana C]

Like James said, bake the dirt. The bugs probably won't be harmful as Tegu skin is pretty thick and since they don't have scales a bug can't bed under them like in snake scales.

 

[james.w]

Baking the substrate will kill just about anything.

 

[Dubya]

It may be too cold to do this now, but I saw something on TV that showed that bedbugs can be killed by putting clothes and bedding in closed black plastic garbage bags and putting it in the sun for the day. I did that back in July with my 3 cu ft bags of cypress mulch. by late afternoon it was damn hot in those bags. I turned them over halfway through the day to heat them thoroughly. I found no living bugs after a day in the bags. Baking enough mulch for a 4x4x8 enclosure will take forever, but if it is cold where you are, you may have to.

 

[Ntyvirus]

Topsoil and playsand could work

 

[Styx]

Baking the dirt it is. How should I bake it?

 

[Dubya]

Baking the dirt it is. How should I bake it?

Stick it in an oven and apply heat. It doesn't have to be blazing hot. 275 or 300 should be way more than enough.

 

[Styx]

For how long?

 

[Dubya]

Till internal temp reaches 160 with a meat thermometer
Everything should be dead then.

 

[james.w]

@300 degrees for about an hour.

 

[Styx]

Okay, thanks. Guess I have a lot of dirt baking to do now.