Coco fiber for hatching medium?

[Salzy]

I was doing some reading (on another forum, I admit ) and read that you shouldn't use coco fiber or coco fiber mixes for hatching medium. I had thought that it would be because of it drying out and not holding moisture well, but I have no experience with coco fiber at all.

So, what I'm saying is that I'm not sure why it can't be used, but would like to hear your input. Why is it bad as an incubating medium?

[lesley]

I personally think that is would be harder to maintain the correct wetness in the media with coco fiber. I use coco fiber for the lay boxes and I have to wet it everyday or everyother day!!!

[Andrew Gilpin]

it has a pretty high salinity content unless it is rinsed multiple times.... Also, I can be somewhat high in bacteria straight out of the package.
I actually talked to a guy when we were in San Diege that was starting a different type of cocofiber company/business.
He said most of the cocofiber products out currently can be quite dirty.... that the coconuts are collected, and piled somewhere for who knows how long.... then they are soaked for an extended period of time to soften everything up. From there they are scraped I believe, and everything is left again in a pile for anywhere from a week to a year until they get it processed the way it's purchased. During these extended periods of time many things can happen that create a less than clean substrate that is generally high in salinity content.... and who knows what else
Aside from all of that, it packs down sort of weird, and would dry out faster than other incubation mediums.... I've received eggs from an individual that used eco earth as an incubation medium, and the eggs were quite small in comparison to ours, and extremely discolored, with a lower hatch rate according to who we got them from....
I will say we still use eco earth for our cages, however we use nearly boiling water the first time around for it to expand, let it cool, and squeeze the excess water out, and then rehydrate it again in an attempt to rinse it out.

[Salzy]

Ah, I had no idea that it was processed like that. Weird. That makes total sense as to why it would not be a desired substrate...in more ways than just incubating medium.

[lesley]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gilpin

it has a pretty high salinity content unless it is rinsed multiple times.... Also, I can be somewhat high in bacteria straight out of the package.
I actually talked to a guy when we were in San Diege that was starting a different type of cocofiber company/business.
He said most of the cocofiber products out currently can be quite dirty.... that the coconuts are collected, and piled somewhere for who knows how long.... then they are soaked for an extended period of time to soften everything up. From there they are scraped I believe, and everything is left again in a pile for anywhere from a week to a year until they get it processed the way it's purchased. During these extended periods of time many things can happen that create a less than clean substrate that is generally high in salinity content.... and who knows what else
Aside from all of that, it packs down sort of weird, and would dry out faster than other incubation mediums.... I've received eggs from an individual that used eco earth as an incubation medium, and the eggs were quite small in comparison to ours, and extremely discolored, with a lower hatch rate according to who we got them from....
I will say we still use eco earth for our cages, however we use nearly boiling water the first time around for it to expand, let it cool, and squeeze the excess water out, and then rehydrate it again in an attempt to rinse it out.

So with this said, what is the preferred laybox media? I do remove the eggs asap so maybe just the extended times and the closed envirnment in an incubator is when the bacteria can develop?!?!

[Andrew Gilpin]

Originally Posted by lesley

So with this said, what is the preferred laybox media? I do remove the eggs asap so maybe just the extended times and the closed envirnment in an incubator is when the bacteria can develop?!?!

well, laybox and incubation medium are very different....
so long as the eggs aren't in the eco earth for a long time and are found within a day or two they should be fine ( provided it's moist enough).... Nearly all of our crested eggs are laid in eco earth and are fine.... if you wanted to get away from eco earth I'd suggest using Sphagnum moss, as it retains moisture very well and I think it has a lower salinity content, however I've never checked into that, and I don't know exactly how it's processed.

[lesley]

Thanks, Andrew, you are always full of info. I had good luck tlast year with the coco fiber but this year I may do a bit of both and see what I like best.

Thanks, again!!

[Andrew Gilpin]

Originally Posted by lesley

Thanks, Andrew, you are always full of info. I had good luck tlast year with the coco fiber but this year I may do a bit of both and see what I like best.

Thanks, again!!

for the actual incubation medium or lay box? I'm just curious and would like clarification.... if you're talking about the lay box, and not incubation medium, what incubation medium are you planning on using?
I think we're about to switch to the aquatic pond soil for the incubation medium upon the suggestion from many forum members.

[lesley]

For the layboxes. I currently use vermiculite for incubation. I know that there is alot of debate on that topic but I had good luck with it for the most part. I started with hatchrite and hated it!!! I could not get the moisture right with it. I have thought about aps but worry about the "hardness" of it. With vermiculite I can make a thumb print and put the eggs down and then push the media around it, how could this be done with aps?

[ominously]

Molding is another issue with Eco-earth, particularly if you need to keep a high relative humidity...