W Shaw
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2015
- Messages
- 452
Finally made the switch from aspen to orchid bark this weekend. At the last minute a couple of people said I wouldn't like it because it's not good for burrowing, but I'd been told by others that their torts burrow in it, and I'd already paid for the bark, so I put it in. The first thing I noticed was the strong fir sap odor that made me cough if I breathed it in, which raises some concerns about Ronan breathing it all the time. The second thing I noticed was Ronan trying for an hour to burrow in it and finally giving up and sitting unhappily on top of it with his nose in a corner. After the first few hours he finally went into a hide, which some people will think is a good thing, but he hates hides and won't go in them as long as he's able to burrow, so his going into the hide is essentially desperation on his part. I've also noticed that he keeps picking up his feet and shaking them, or pulling his feet into his shell, so he clearly hates the way the stuff feels on his feet. What I got was reptibark, which is supposed to be optimized for reptiles -- fine grade and well screened.
So I'm pretty much at a loss now as to where to go from here. The aspen was too dry, the vet says coir causes eye issues. I've had sphagnum in a small area for him with the aspen for the last couple of weeks but it wasn't great for sanitation, so I tossed it with the old substrate and don't want to put more in. I plan on leaving the bark in for a few more days to see if he gets over being creeped out by the feel of it, but he lives to burrow, so if he can't burrow in it, there's no way I'm making him live in it. At the moment, he's pacing around trying to burrow in different locations, walking into the hide and then coming back out, or sitting on his dinner plate to avoid sitting on the bark.
Anyone got an opinion on cypress?
So I'm pretty much at a loss now as to where to go from here. The aspen was too dry, the vet says coir causes eye issues. I've had sphagnum in a small area for him with the aspen for the last couple of weeks but it wasn't great for sanitation, so I tossed it with the old substrate and don't want to put more in. I plan on leaving the bark in for a few more days to see if he gets over being creeped out by the feel of it, but he lives to burrow, so if he can't burrow in it, there's no way I'm making him live in it. At the moment, he's pacing around trying to burrow in different locations, walking into the hide and then coming back out, or sitting on his dinner plate to avoid sitting on the bark.
Anyone got an opinion on cypress?
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