Stones in my Eco Earth.

[Jcal]

I have found things in eco earth and plantation soil. If they all use the same supplier(which it sounds like they do) i dont think switching brands will help. Just be careful and make sure you give it a good look through. And remember they are wild animals....they can handle more than you think.

[GrifTheGreat]

I buy this [http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ctId=11147195] at PetSmart and have had zero problems with it. Maybe you can try that after you finish your bricks?

Itried to look at the link you posted with my phone bt it wouldn't let me. For some reason it wouldn't load the page. I tried several times. What's the brand name?

[GrifTheGreat]

I have found things in eco earth and plantation soil. If they all use the same supplier(which it sounds like they do) i dont think switching brands will help. Just be careful and make sure you give it a good look through. And remember they are wild animals....they can handle more than you think.

I know. I've used a few brands like I said and found sand/rocks/sticks and twigs. I think Grif could pass them but Loki would die because he/she is a baby.

[Jcal]

I know. I've used a few brands like I said and found sand/rocks/sticks and twigs. I think Grif could pass them but Loki would die because he/she is a baby.

No one knows your frog like you and companies should be held accountable to what they put on the package. Its good that you called them on it. We cant have loki dying!!!

[GrifTheGreat]

No one knows your frog like you and companies should be held accountable to what they put on the package. Its good that you called them on it. We cant have loki dying!!!

No we can't. I saved him/her from a similar fate and don't want me saving him/her to be in vain just for him/her to die here in my care from that same fate.

[R3N3G4D3]

I tried to look at the link you posted with my phone but it wouldn't let me. For some reason it wouldn't load the page. I tried several times. What's the brand name?

It's Eco-Earth in a bag, instead of as a brick. Haven't ran into any trouble.

[Nabced]

Last Eco terra brick I bought was infested with fireants to the point of touching the brick would leave your hand practically swarming. So I boiled...er well got some really really water and let it soak in that for a day. No survivors >

[GrifTheGreat]

Last Eco terra brick I bought was infested with fireants to the point of touching the brick would leave your hand practically swarming. So I boiled...er well got some really really water and let it soak in that for a day. No survivors >

That's almost worse than stones/plastic/and sand. Fire Ants could seriously harm your frog. I would have called them about that as well. None of this makes me feel any better about Eco Earth now. I'm going to use up what I have and try plantation soil. I know of no other substrate to use at the moment. So ill have to look around.

[SiNi5T3R]

I buy the big loose bags of eco earth and iv found small rocks and like what seems to be small threads from a tarp or something..like u know when a tarp gets warn out and the ends start to just shred and fall to the ground..looks just like that. I pull it out when ever I find such stuff tho. Its a pain in the butt...

[Kreamcheese]

Grif- Lately I've been having similar issues with zoo med eco earth as well. I've found rocks like you have, also entire plants that have been compressed into the bricks. Many many twigs and strings...the list goes on. Oh yeah and like you said my bricks lately aren't breaking up like they're supposed to. I let them soak for about an hour and come back and it has hardly absorbed any water, at which point I then break it up by hand and waste even more time. So frustrating so I bought a bag of it already broken up and loose and luckily I didn't find anything alarming in it.

[Sublime]

Someone mentioned you could sift it out. I recommend getting a fine-mesh kitchen or dirt sifter for the time being until you sort out what permanent soil bedding you'll be using (Spot clean and sift). Will help you at least be comfortable knowing you got the rocks, twigs, and synthetic materials out of the coconut fiber. I'm not sure if Zoo Med can be held liable for these small traces of things besides the coir. Since it's all factory produced and it's never certain that there's not anything else mixed in. It's definitely worth a shot calling them up though and trying to get it reported to the department to see if this issue can be fixed. Telling them your situation, etc...

I've also found small strips of white plastic mixed in with the coconut fiber. Took that out, but I've never found rocks like you have.

In my case, I buy the zoo-med coconut fiber bags already made in the bag (The bricks are annoying and the same amount of money) mixed with EarthGro topsoil found at Home Depot and a few other hardware or plant nursery retail stores. 50/50 mixture of both for the coconut fiber to hold humidity, topsoil to fight bacteria and fungal growth, and provides a looser consistency. The only problem with the EarthGro topsoil I bought, it has traces of mulch in it. I've been picking out pieces of mulch and I found a stink bug or some other type of beetle in the soil that I threw out.

I don't stress about some of the mulch left in there though because I feed my frog in a separate feeding bin. Still like to pick out what I can find though and throw it away. Doubt there's any plain topsoil that is just straight dirt without mulch unless you go into your backyard provided that there's no pesticides or fertilizers present.

Hope you get everything worked out for Grif and Loki. Gotta' keep them healthy .

[GrifTheGreat]

Someone mentioned you could sift it out. I recommend getting a fine-mesh kitchen or dirt sifter for the time being until you sort out what permanent soil bedding you'll be using (Spot clean and sift). Will help you at least be comfortable knowing you got the rocks, twigs, and synthetic materials out of the coconut fiber. I'm not sure if Zoo Med can be held liable for these small traces of things besides the coir. Since it's all factory produced and it's never certain that there's not anything else mixed in. It's definitely worth a shot calling them up though and trying to get it reported to the department to see if this issue can be fixed. Telling them your situation, etc...

I've also found small strips of white plastic mixed in with the coconut fiber. Took that out, but I've never found rocks like you have.

In my case, I buy the zoo-med coconut fiber bags already made in the bag (The bricks are annoying and the same amount of money) mixed with EarthGro topsoil found at Home Depot and a few other hardware or plant nursery retail stores. 50/50 mixture of both for the coconut fiber to hold humidity, topsoil to fight bacteria and fungal growth, and provides a looser consistency. The only problem with the EarthGro topsoil I bought, it has traces of mulch in it. I've been picking out pieces of mulch and I found a stink bug or some other type of beetle in the soil that I threw out.

I don't stress about some of the mulch left in there though because I feed my frog in a separate feeding bin. Still like to pick out what I can find though and throw it away. Doubt there's any plain topsoil that is just straight dirt without mulch unless you go into your backyard provided that there's no pesticides or fertilizers present.

Hope you get everything worked out for Grif and Loki. Gotta' keep them healthy .

I hope to resolve all problems as well. Grif is a little constipated I believe since she hasn't pooped for about 2 weeks. If she has I haven't found it and given her size I think I would have seen her poop. I've been soaking her I warm water and massaging her side to help. So far nothing. Do night crawlers usually take longer to digest and pass? I gave her a pinky last week so maybe its why she is a little backed up. Hopefully it isn't caused by something in her substrate. I feed with forcepts to minimize soil ingestion but ofcourse sometimes they get too anctious and miss. Ithought about trying plantation soil/Eco Earth 50/50 mix. I thought George said they love it and its a good mix so I'm going to try that first. Sifting is probably going to be a must. I did call Zoo Med and I guess I'm going to get a free brick. I told them I was going tp call everytime I find rocks or other debree within my Eco Earth. This should be over a few months considering I have 6 bricks. Maybe this will fix the issue faster.

[Kreamcheese]

Packie Chan pooped a couple days after I gave her a mouse. Don't think that would cause Grif to be backed up.

[Sublime]

I hope to resolve all problems as well. Grif is a little constipated I believe since she hasn't pooped for about 2 weeks. If she has I haven't found it and given her size I think I would have seen her poop. I've been soaking her I warm water and massaging her side to help. So far nothing. Do night crawlers usually take longer to digest and pass? I gave her a pinky last week so maybe its why she is a little backed up. Hopefully it isn't caused by something in her substrate. I feed with forcepts to minimize soil ingestion but ofcourse sometimes they get too anctious and miss. Ithought about trying plantation soil/Eco Earth 50/50 mix. I thought George said they love it and its a good mix so I'm going to try that first. Sifting is probably going to be a must. I did call Zoo Med and I guess I'm going to get a free brick. I told them I was going tp call everytime I find rocks or other debree within my Eco Earth. This should be over a few months considering I have 6 bricks. Maybe this will fix the issue faster.

No, night crawlers don't take longer to digest. However, a pinky will take awhile to digest and break down depending on your pacmans size. I know you already keep your temperature at the requirements and your pacman gets frequent soaks from you. If you've been feeding them with tongs for most of the food they consume, then there shouldn't be a problem. It's possible he ingested too much dirt, but I don't thinks that's the case for you. Have you ever noticed runny stools you may have mistaken for coco fiber in the bowl or dirt?

Ok cool, that's a good approach. You can start sharing some of the love passing out free bricks. Haha no, kidding aside I think everyone should call Zoo Med so it becomes recognized in their company that they have too many customer complaints and need to fix the problem.

[artes]

I've found those rocks too. I've also found really large leaves, twigs, and other random stuff. The last pack I got was so compacted in I ended up having to break it apart with my hands after it soaked for two hours. I ended up breaking the skin on my fingers and bleeding some too. >_< Their quality seems to be going way down. I may switch to that plantation soil myself.

Edit: OMG Fire ants?! I'm like, deathly allergic to those things. I'm switching brands like, right now. >_<

[GrifTheGreat]

No, night crawlers don't take longer to digest. However, a pinky will take awhile to digest and break down depending on your pacmans size. I know you already keep your temperature at the requirements and your pacman gets frequent soaks from you. If you've been feeding them with tongs for most of the food they consume, then there shouldn't be a problem. It's possible he ingested too much dirt, but I don't thinks that's the case for you. Have you ever noticed runny stools you may have mistaken for coco fiber in the bowl or dirt?

Ok cool, that's a good approach. You can start sharing some of the love passing out free bricks. Haha no, kidding aside I think everyone should call Zoo Med so it becomes recognized in their company that they have too many customer complaints and need to fix the problem.

No worries. She went while I soaked her last night. I believe the problem was wax worm skins that weren't properly digested for some reason. They were 2 empty wax worm skins that looked like flat white bags. She pooped A LOT! Never found any runny stooles though. She has never had that problem. It may have been a combination of the pinky taking longer to digest and those wax worm skins. All is well now. BG said that night crawlers and earth worms are like stool softeners and actually make it easier for them to go. Ill have to watch what foods I combine from now on.

[GrifTheGreat]

I've found those rocks too. I've also found really large leaves, twigs, and other random stuff. The last pack I got was so compacted in I ended up having to break it apart with my hands after it soaked for two hours. I ended up breaking the skin on my fingers and bleeding some too. >_< Their quality seems to be going way down. I may switch to that plantation soil myself.

Edit: OMG Fire ants?! I'm like, deathly allergic to those things. I'm switching brands like, right now. >_<

Glad you never found any fire ants in any of your bricks. Last night I changed Loki's substrate and luckily that brick didn't contain any rocks. Io did find some small leaves but that's all. The. Brick also didn't exspand correctly either and o had to break it apart with my hands too.