new ZooMed substrate

[Lowenna]

Have any of you seen that new substrate from ZooMed called Excavator?? It looks fantastic.

Well better than sand, especially for bearded dragon enclosures.

Here is a link to ZooMed about it
Zoo Med Laboratories, Inc. - Cage Substrates

Anyone already using it? What are your thoughts on it?

[Evolution]

It does look good, unfortunately I can't get it yet. I will asap.

[Lowenna]

nor me!!

i will soon too though

[Athravan]

Looks like it might be better than a soil/sand mix for some australian species thats for sure... looks a lot more expensive too though but I guess we'll see!

[sami]

looks interesting.

Also 'happy' to see they have stuck to their time honoured tradition of selling rediculously small bags of it for rediculously high prices

when we do a substrate change we generally need a 15kg+ bag of substrate, 2-3 blocks of eco-earth,a medium bag of aspen and about three newspapers

Those substrate bags (4-5kg ones) that all the big brands sell are normally about £5-8 a pop.

Mason

[Andy b 1]

is that good for tortoises? my tortoises love burrowing

[balthazar196]

Im not too sure about this substrate, its clay and its pretty thick and clay sets so i think there are going to be a lot more cases of impaction with this substrate but then again i could be wrong im still newbish with reptiles

[Andy b 1]

ok forget that then lol, looks cool for meerkats

[Fixx]

Originally Posted by balthazar196

Im not too sure about this substrate, its clay and its pretty thick and clay sets so i think there are going to be a lot more cases of impaction with this substrate but then again i could be wrong im still newbish with reptiles

Clay is actually made up of relatively fine particles so may not be so prone to impaction. As it 'sets' as you say, it may mean less is ingested in the first place.
Clay (laolin) is also very effective at binding toxins from the diet and preventing them being taken up by the gut. Cows, elephants and a host of other herbivores have been observed seeking out clay to lick possibly for this reason.