Zoo Med Creatures line - thoughts?

[KhoanScart]

Recently Zoo Med released a new line of products called Creatures that geared towards tarantulas, scorpions and other invertebrates. In this line they include starter habitat kits and a substrate called Creature Soil, which is a mixture of peat moss, soil, sand and carbon. At the moment I'm only using Coco fiber but I was thinking of mixing it with peat or testing around with other substrates. I've found that I need to provide my A. Seemanni, Bianca, with more moisture than just the water dish as I live in the desert and it gets really dry here. She seems to be a lot more active and have a better appetite since I've been moistening her substrate but I want to keep on top of mold and monitor her humidity.

That said, the Creature Soil caught my eye and I was wondering if anyone here has tried these products or if they think they'd be good for tarantulas.

 

[Arachnoclown]

I've used it with my hamorii's. It's a good mix.

 

[Phil]

we have a similar mix in the UK called Spider earth (I think). personally, I never touch anything with soil or peat and can't see how sand is anyway beneficial.
My personal view...its all about making money. Coco fibre is natural, ph neutral and sustainable (unlike peat), holds moisture if it needs to which is very rare as humidity is over rated (let's not go there though! LOL) is light and easy to clean/swap out and is very cheap! I buy 50 litre bags for about £16 ($20ish). and that can fill hundreds of tanks. as my US friends like to say.. "you do the maths"
Personal choice at the end of the day and having tried many substrates over the 30+years of keeping Ts, Coco fibre is my #1 choice. Hope that helps.

 

[Arachnoclown]

I agree with @Phil with cocofiber. Cost is only a issue if you have lots of Ts though. If you only have one or two it's really no big deal. As for dirt, clay, and sand...that's what tarantulas live in. They dont live in ground coco fiber in the wild.
You can use whatever you like as long as you have you moisture and ventilation down good to avoid a mold issue.
Coco fiber is probably the safest bet.
I've actually tried the creatures soil you speak of and it is a really good mix. I haven't had or seen any issues with it. My hamorii's seam to like it as well...I'm just guessing though

 

[Hemolymph]

I’ve used this with my scorpions. I like it but it’s a little spendy.

 

[ilovebrachys]

I think the zoomed range is aimed at people who just want or own "one" creature (be it a tarantula ,scorp etc) that's why its all marketed like starter packs/homes etc,mainly to get peoples started off with a small amount of product -and if you only need a very small amount of substrate that sort of product is probably ideal,
I cannot speak for the quality of it as i've never personally used it

 

[KhoanScart]

I think I'll stick with just a coco fiber/peat moss mixture then. The only reason I considered it is because I noticed my A. Seemanni seemed to like more moisture. I was considering redoing her entire enclosure and having all of the substrate be a mixture, but I think I'll experiment with just mixing the peat in with part of the substrate that's already there and see how she likes it. My Exo Terra has pretty good ventilation so mold shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Some of the products aren't really the best for tarantulas, seems more like for geckos or arrow frogs etc.

You can get very affordable tarantula habitats from Jamie's or fear not for far less money.