hughmungus
New member
Well, I promised this a few months ago, and don't worry - I didn't forget about it! I can't deliver a video review right this moment, but it will come sooner or later.
Where to start - I guess a brief overview of what this stuff actually is. It is definitely NOT much like excavator clay. If you are looking for something that you can build ledges and background with, this is NOT the substrate for you. But if you're looking for a naturalistic substrate for your herps, this is so far my favorite stuff.
It is somewhat like coconut fiber, but not quite. It compacts down VERY well, and if you want to use it you should definitely use a liberal amount of it and compact it down quite well - 6" of it will compact down to about 2" with enough pressure. It's a very interesting mix - it's not hard when it's heavily compressed (just by my hands), it remains soft - but it's not getting moved around by anything, even my extremely active pair of 10-year old leopard geckos - who are some good-sized lizards (not compared to a tegu or monitor, but for a leopard gecko they've got some size on them). Now, granted it has only been in there for a little over 24 hours - we will see how long it lasts, but so far it's doing very well.
I have seen things saying that you are able to build burrows with this material - I am not sure whether or not this is true as my enclosure isn't exactly large enough to do something like that yet (it's a small temporary enclosure), but I have a feeling that it could be done. However, I think it would take some time, and a lot of the stuff. I'm going to try it at some point, when the larger enclosure is finished - I'll be using balloons most likely.
One interesting thing that I have seen about this stuff is that if you compact it down hard enough, it is EXTERMELY hydrophobic. I spilled some water onto it and figured I would have to pretty much take it all out and bake it to dry it out - quite the contrary. Water just sits on top of this stuff. I took a paper towel, blotted it up, and everything was back to normal. I have a little container of the substrate with some water that I poured on top of it three hours ago, and it doesn't appear to have soaked into it at all. Good stuff if you're worried about humidity levels getting too high.
I have yet to do a feeding with the substrate - that will come tomorrow, so I will update the thread after that. It doesn't appear that they will get any of it in them though, since it's compacted pretty well. But we will see for this part.
With all these good things, there's got to be some negatives. Well, I tried to develop a few and it was very hard. But, I think I found a few pieces of constructive criticism to add.
First - the price. On Amazon, a 10-quart bag costs $23. I probably used 8 or 9 quarts for my viv, and I'm going to need at least 20 quarts if I do the 20 long - and if I go with a larger enclosure, I'll need even more. I'm not sure why it's so expensive, but it is, and I am not sure it's worth spending $23 on. Maybe closer to $16 for 10 quarts - which puts it pretty close to Excavator Clay. Or perhaps they could offer bulk sizes, for people who need to purchase more of it. I probably wouldn't have a problem paying $40 or so for a 20-quart bag.
Second - the look. I love the look of it for now, but in the future viv I will be building for my pair, it might not fit in too well. I am going to need something more reddish, so perhaps adding some red-colored sand would help out. I will be contacting Lugarti at some point to see if there is a way to develop the substrate in a different color, while still retaining the same qualities. However for a tropical viv (or even a temperate viv, for species like anoles or green tree frogs), pay no attention, it's the perfect color.
Third and finally - it's kinda hard to keep it out of the water bowl. Granted, my water bowl is a large heavy thing that's actually buried into the substrate. I think that getting a simpler bowl that's made of plastic and kept above the substrate level would look nicer, be easier to remove and clean, and practically eliminate the problem of substrate getting inside. A very minor problem, in my opinion, as it's got an easy solution.
So to conclude this review, Lugarti is probably the best substrate for your leopard geckos if you're looking for something natural. Actually, it's the best for all of your reptiles. Their customer service was great, I was given a 10 quart bag shipped to my house all free of charge to try it out, and I can't say anything greater. Again, I wish to work with the developers at Lugarti to try and find a way to more cheaply manufacture this product, and perhaps to change the color - if those two things are changed, the perfect reptile substrate will have been made, and most other companies are going to REALLY have to step up their game to compete with Lugarti.
-Drew
Where to start - I guess a brief overview of what this stuff actually is. It is definitely NOT much like excavator clay. If you are looking for something that you can build ledges and background with, this is NOT the substrate for you. But if you're looking for a naturalistic substrate for your herps, this is so far my favorite stuff.
It is somewhat like coconut fiber, but not quite. It compacts down VERY well, and if you want to use it you should definitely use a liberal amount of it and compact it down quite well - 6" of it will compact down to about 2" with enough pressure. It's a very interesting mix - it's not hard when it's heavily compressed (just by my hands), it remains soft - but it's not getting moved around by anything, even my extremely active pair of 10-year old leopard geckos - who are some good-sized lizards (not compared to a tegu or monitor, but for a leopard gecko they've got some size on them). Now, granted it has only been in there for a little over 24 hours - we will see how long it lasts, but so far it's doing very well.
I have seen things saying that you are able to build burrows with this material - I am not sure whether or not this is true as my enclosure isn't exactly large enough to do something like that yet (it's a small temporary enclosure), but I have a feeling that it could be done. However, I think it would take some time, and a lot of the stuff. I'm going to try it at some point, when the larger enclosure is finished - I'll be using balloons most likely.
One interesting thing that I have seen about this stuff is that if you compact it down hard enough, it is EXTERMELY hydrophobic. I spilled some water onto it and figured I would have to pretty much take it all out and bake it to dry it out - quite the contrary. Water just sits on top of this stuff. I took a paper towel, blotted it up, and everything was back to normal. I have a little container of the substrate with some water that I poured on top of it three hours ago, and it doesn't appear to have soaked into it at all. Good stuff if you're worried about humidity levels getting too high.
I have yet to do a feeding with the substrate - that will come tomorrow, so I will update the thread after that. It doesn't appear that they will get any of it in them though, since it's compacted pretty well. But we will see for this part.
With all these good things, there's got to be some negatives. Well, I tried to develop a few and it was very hard. But, I think I found a few pieces of constructive criticism to add.
First - the price. On Amazon, a 10-quart bag costs $23. I probably used 8 or 9 quarts for my viv, and I'm going to need at least 20 quarts if I do the 20 long - and if I go with a larger enclosure, I'll need even more. I'm not sure why it's so expensive, but it is, and I am not sure it's worth spending $23 on. Maybe closer to $16 for 10 quarts - which puts it pretty close to Excavator Clay. Or perhaps they could offer bulk sizes, for people who need to purchase more of it. I probably wouldn't have a problem paying $40 or so for a 20-quart bag.
Second - the look. I love the look of it for now, but in the future viv I will be building for my pair, it might not fit in too well. I am going to need something more reddish, so perhaps adding some red-colored sand would help out. I will be contacting Lugarti at some point to see if there is a way to develop the substrate in a different color, while still retaining the same qualities. However for a tropical viv (or even a temperate viv, for species like anoles or green tree frogs), pay no attention, it's the perfect color.
Third and finally - it's kinda hard to keep it out of the water bowl. Granted, my water bowl is a large heavy thing that's actually buried into the substrate. I think that getting a simpler bowl that's made of plastic and kept above the substrate level would look nicer, be easier to remove and clean, and practically eliminate the problem of substrate getting inside. A very minor problem, in my opinion, as it's got an easy solution.
So to conclude this review, Lugarti is probably the best substrate for your leopard geckos if you're looking for something natural. Actually, it's the best for all of your reptiles. Their customer service was great, I was given a 10 quart bag shipped to my house all free of charge to try it out, and I can't say anything greater. Again, I wish to work with the developers at Lugarti to try and find a way to more cheaply manufacture this product, and perhaps to change the color - if those two things are changed, the perfect reptile substrate will have been made, and most other companies are going to REALLY have to step up their game to compete with Lugarti.
-Drew
