OK y'all - I got new substrate so I need your guidance please! I admire the passion that has been so evident in this thread - but we all need to remember that parents have different ways of raising kids - so we're gonna have different opinions on how to raise our torts...it's human nature. I appreciate ALL input...keep it comin'! (I didn't realize they had such a low survival rate!!!!!!!!)
Shimmy is in a 24"x24" plastic sweater bin, 6" tall.
I have a bag of cypress mulch from the pet store, and organic compost mulch which consists of bark mulch, composted plant/wood products, sawdust & gypsum. I was thinking I could either combine them or do like a gradual transition and separate them so that I can possibly grow some plants for him in the mulch area. Is this OK? GO!!
THANK YOU!
I would be suspicious of the compost with wood products like sawdust and gypsum. The sawdust could be from plywood cuts, which means that there would be formaldehyde and glue in there as well. It also could come from cutting treated lumber, which is treated with arsenic, yet another toxin. For my animals I prefer the most natural substrate – some soil from the backyard where there have been no herbicides or pesticides sprayed for at least a few years, baking it first in the oven at 350° (for about 20 minutes?) To sterilize it. You could plant diachondra in the soil along with native plants such as globemallow.