Clay Background and Substrate Recipe

[JimO]

This recipe was given to me by Lee (flapjax300 on Dendroboard) and I have only used it on my latest vivarium. Lee has a lot more experience with this and he got a lot of information from other to develop the recipe. I just want to make sure credit is given where it is due. A few months ago I had never even heard of clay backgrounds or clay substrate.

Clay Substrate Ingredients

1. Red art clay (found at your local art supply store, not Michaels), if you can't find red, then gray will be fine. The red give it a richer color.
2. Bentonite clay (unscented natural kitty litter). Wal-Mart carries some really inexpensive unscented kitty litter (Special Kitty) for about $3 for a large bag; however, it is very inconsistent. Some batches will soften up as soon as you add water, while others stay clumpy - like it's filled with small gravel. It likely depends on how much heat is applied to dry the clay before it's milled to size. If it gets too hot, it won't rehydrate. Petco has more consistent clay kitty litter, but it's about $12 or more per bag. Make certain there are no other ingredients other than natural bentonite clay - no fragrences or odor control ingredients.
3. Coco fiber (bricks are the cheapest)
4. Peat moss or sphagnum (helps retain moisture)
5. Turface infield conditioner - go to http://www.johndeerelandscapes.com/s...Pro/search.asp to search for a John Deere Landscape location near you. They carry it in white and red, both of which are natural. This is an important ingredient and necessary for drainage. The smallest quantity, unfortunately, is a 50-lb bag for $15 to $20.
6. Calcium montmorillionite clay (koi pond powder varies in price usually around $10 for a couple of pounds). I found it at Foster and Smith online http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.co...m?pcatid=10852. If you have a pond supply store nearby, they might have it.

Base Recipe from Lee

Mix 2 cups bentonite, 1 cup red art clay, one-half cup turface (mix together wet so it all blends). It should be the consistency of bread dough.

The following was my own (JimO) innovation because I got the recipe as a substrate recipe and not a background material recipe - I added a cup of expanded coco fiber to the wet base recipe and used this wet mixture for the background. The mixture needs to be dry enough to be sticky and hold well on a vertical surface, but not too dry. I had glued pieces of cork bark directly to the glass a few days earlier in order to create a water feature and to anchor the clay.

To Make Clay Substrate - from Lee

• Spread the wet base recipe mixture (without the coco fiber) on a pan (about an inch thick or less) and bake it until hard. I turned the oven up to 350 F and let it bake about an hour, then turned the oven off and left it overnight. I found that baking it on a sheet of parchment paper keeps it from sticking to the pan/cookie sheet, etc. Break it up and make sure it is completely dry. If so, then crumble it up into smaller pieces no larger than a pea. If it isn't crumbling and is still damp in the middle, bake it some more.
• To the crumbled clay mix add one cup peat/sphagnum, one cup expanded coco fiber, and another one-half cup of turface. The coco fiber can be damp, but don't add any water to the mixture and add the peat/sphagnum moss dry. You can grind the sphagnum moss up if you like. Mix everything together.
• This substrate would be placed well above (at least 2 inches) the highest water level in the viv bottom (whether or not a false bottom is used) on top of the drainage layer (gravel, LECA, etc.).
• Spread the substrate in the viv and then mist it lightly.
• Sprinkle the calcium montmorillionite (koi powder) on top of the substrate then add a good amount of leaf litter. Once the leaf litter is placed, mist again and then mist as you would any other viv.

I doubled the recipe above and had enough to set up a 20-gal tall viv (in the horizontal orientation) with about half the background area covered with clay to a depth of ~2 inches (the rest was occupied by the cork bark) and enough substrate to put a 3-inch layer across the bottom.

Some Additional Comments (from Jim)

• The smallest 50-lb bag of Turface is enough to make sufficient base recipe to cover a small lawn, so if you have another frogger nearby, you might want to share. You'll still have enough to take to reptile shows and meetings and trade for stuff.
• Against Lee's original instructions, I took the cheap route and got the Wal-Mart kitty litter. I wasn't happy with the results when I tested some of it. So, for the actual recipe I ground up the kitty litter with a hand crank wheat grinder. That was stupid! I've had about a gallon of it in water for two weeks and it is still gritty. I've heard the Petco brand is much better and it is definitely worth the extra $10 not to have lousy bentonite clay to work with. I'm going to buy some for my next viv.
• You will also have plenty of calcium montmorillonite powder to share. I used about a tablespoon. In fact, I would consider offering a half cup to anyone for free, but it probably wouldn't be a good idea to send a half cup of white powder in the mail. That could have all kinds of unintended consequences. However, I will be taking the container with me anytime I expect to meet other froggers and will offer them some. As with the Turface, plan to share it if you can.
• I managed a sort of dribbling waterfall/drip wall with the center piece of cork bark glued to the back, but had to fiddle with it to make sure that the water wasn't flowing over any of the clay. Before I got it right, a small chunk of saturated clay background sloughed off the back. I cut little channels in the bark and used pieces of driftwood or fir bark to block other spots so that all the water flowed over the cork bark and dripped onto another piece of cork bark placed upside down on the bottom and slanted toward a small gravel pool.
• I am very happy with the results and plan to use clay-based material for all future backgrounds and substrate. I've successfully used fern panel and Great Stuff for background material, but even if the clay didn't provide the nutritional advantages over other backgrounds and substrates, I wouldn't go back simply because I like it better.
• I regret having not photographed the process, but I will take some pictures of the ingredients and a little of the unused substrate, as well as the finished background and post them over the next few days. I have another small build for some thumbs coming up and will take plenty of photos to post.

I hope this helps someone.

[John]

Jim, thank you for distilling the information into a useful format - Dendroboard is a nightmare when it comes to figuring out the clay process.

[JimO]

Jim, thank you for distilling the information into a useful format - Dendroboard is a nightmare when it comes to figuring out the clay process.

I know. I was completely confused trying to wade through that one long thread on clay. That's why I sent Lee a PM and just asked him for his recipe. We met at a Florida dart froggers meet and greet and he had shown me some of his clay mix.

Someone asked me to write down the basics and I got a bit carried away , so I thought I'd post it in the hopes of helping someone.

[ryangreenway]

I agree, this is much more helpful than the "ultimate clay based substrate" thread over there. I've been making clay backgrounds with just the kitty litter and peat moss, and they've been working great. I must've gotten some of the good batches of the litter. I really love the way the microfauna take off in the clay soil, it's very helpful for froglets.

[Gator]

Is it absolutely necessary to bake the clay mixture for the substrate? or can it just be set out to dry? Reason is I have A LOT of clay I'm going to need for the substrate and it would still be easier to let it set out to dry.

[flybyferns]

I see this is old- BUT-----
WOW! that was very, very nice of JimO to have taken the time to type all of that information out!

I'm sure FF members will always happy to read this as a possibility for a background !!!!!

Uncle Chester- thanks for resurrecting this !!!!

[XdinoX]

I can't find kitty litter with out baking soda in it, does that matter?

[in2Diy]

I can't find kitty litter with out baking soda in it, does that matter?

yes it matters, you're better off getting the red art clay and bentonite clay at a clay supplier, i got one from a distributor near my work in city of comerse ca