Horticultural peat is available in smaller packages from houseplant and garden departments in department stores, and in larger packages and bails from commercial landscaping, gardening and horticulture suppliers. Alternate names for it are black peat, brown peat, and peat moss (although "peat moss" is also sometimes used for dried sphagnum moss).

When eventually tamped into a solid pad on the cage bottom, peat will occupy only about half the volume it does as it comes out of the package. Therefore, start out with at least twice as much as you might otherwise think you'll need. Add about 1 quart (1 litre) of room temperature tap water per 4 quarts (4 litres) of peat. Mix it well. Grab a handful and squeeze it as hard as you can. When you open your hand, if the peat retains the shape of the inside of your fist quite well, you're about finished. If it easily falls apart, add a little more water, mix and test again. If it's so wet that you can squeeze water out, mix in more dry peat. Don't become pathologically obsessed with the amount of moisture in the peat, there's a wide margin for error and it's all going to dry up in a few days anyway.

If the peat comes from the package in large or hard and unmanageable lumps, or seems to have an excess of sticks or other detritus mixed in, you should make some effort to sift it before adding any water. If the lumps are too hard you may have to add a little water first and let it stand for several hours before sifting it. On a small scale you can use an inexpensive French fry basket as a sieve. On a larger scale you can make a wooden framed sifter suspended from a ceiling joist in a garage or basement. Use one-half inch galvanized hardware cloth (sometimes incorrectly called "chicken wire") for the screen.

Now pack the peat into a pad on the bottom of the tarantula's cage. Pack it quite solidly. In the end you want a pad that's about 3 centimetres (an inch or slightly more) thick. Install a water dish with the obligatory rock or slate chip and add one tarantula. Don't try to feed it for several days or a week to give it a chance to get used to its new home before it's stampeded by a herd of wild crickets.

Article by and Copyright © 2003, Stanley A. Schultz and Marguerite J. Schultz.

Thanks Roy... and welcome !! Up to the last paragraph, I thought you had your forums all mixed up... :laugh:

Do you run/own a nursery?

I am looking for peat that is not too expensive.

Whats the prices for this peat and where can we get?

I need vast amounts As I believe everyone with a lot of T's does.

How does Horticultural peat compare to palm or coco peat, once dry does it easily absorb water again?

Palm peat bricks has become extremely expensive, I wanted to buy some the other day and was confronted with a price of R35 a block.

where do you other peeps buy peat?

Creator wrote: I am looking for peat that is not too expensive.

Whats the prices for this peat and where can we get?

I need vast amounts As I believe everyone with a lot of T's does.

How does Horticultural peat compare to palm or coco peat, once dry does it easily absorb water again?

Palm peat bricks has become extremely expensive, I wanted to buy some the other day and was confronted with a price of R35 a block.

where do you other peeps buy peat?

Try fangs.
I know he had a contact for peat blocks at one stage for around R15 a block.

Welcome Roydv.

I think it cost R50 for a bag Horticultural peat, it is the same as palm peat just a lot softer.
That is here by my local nursery.

I use an average of 8 to 10 blocks every 6 months.
If you can get cheap blocks buy bulk, and store it, it last for a long time.

But try Horticultural peat you can always find it.

The last time I got it cheap, I bought a truck load, but as time progressed I have depleted my stock pile.

When I last Bought, I paid R10 a block

Imagine my surprise when the guy told me R35 :blink:

Thanks Cerat I will ask Fangs.