09-17-2010, 12:59 PM
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Chasing Crickets
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: St. Augustine, Florida
Posts: 70
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Good info above. The different ingredients provide different beneficial characteristics. You want a balance between moisture retention and drainage. All coco fiber or all sphagnum moss - or both together will hold too much moisture and make the bottom wet. Some frogs can't tolerate being wet all the time. They can get infections.
Also, you want a balance between organic matter that breaks down quickly versus that which persists longer. The chopped leaves break down more quickly than the sphagnum or orchid bark (usually bark from fir trees). This provides nutrients for the plants, but if you have too much, it turns to mush.
The larger pieces (orchid bark - sometimes substituted with coconut husk chunks) keep the substrate from compacting too much and helps with drainage.
Finally, the sand and charcoal promote drainage and serve to make the substrate more suited to growing microfauna, like springtails, that help break down the poo from the animals and keep the fungi (mold and shrooms) under control.
I have a thread on clay-based substrate, but that's a whole different set of ingredients. I've used blends similar to that listed above and at least one of my vivs is 3 years old and I've never had any trouble with the frogs or plants.
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help! lol 
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