Substrate for in-door winter room

Prairie Mom

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Hi All,
I'm in the process of setting up a warm humid room for my sulcata this winter. The floor is concrete. I will need to have a deep thickly applied substrate both for tortoise comfort/insulation and clean up.

I'd rather not use much soil and would prefer wood chips. I could throw in a rotation of dry Autumn leaves as well. (I've done this for squirrels). I would REALLY like to avoid expensive cypress mulch in this larger area, but am still trying to understand what is best for reptiles.

What do you guys think about untreated wood chips? The trees are mainly cottonwood and elm, but there are other untreated mystery bits mixed in too. My tortoise already walks in this stuff throughout the yard and gardens. Haven't had any problems with her walking in it or eating plants out of it.

I'm interested in your thoughts about the substrate, as well as anything else that comes to mind regarding my project. If you do not believe my substrate is a good idea for indoors, do me a favor, and please try to convince me why not:) -Thanks!
 

Pearly

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I think that natural shredded wood plus leaf litter would be great unless the room is inside your own living quarters. I'd be concerned about the bugs and stuff you bring in from the outside.
 

Len B

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Concrete is almost impossible to heat, what I have done in the past is put luan down as the floor and didn't use a substrate throughout the whole enclosure, and sometimes mine would poop where there was no substrate which made for a easy clean up:).It would probably benefit you with your very cold temps to put some insulation (1/2 in urethane) under the luan and use some form of both bottom and above heat in one section of the area.
 

Prairie Mom

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I think that natural shredded wood plus leaf litter would be great unless the room is inside your own living quarters. I'd be concerned about the bugs and stuff you bring in from the outside.
Thanks for the response Pearly:) I'm going to give it a shot.
 

Prairie Mom

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Concrete is almost impossible to heat, what I have done in the past is put luan down as the floor and didn't use a substrate throughout the whole enclosure, and sometimes mine would poop where there was no substrate which made for a easy clean up:).It would probably benefit you with your very cold temps to put some insulation (1/2 in urethane) under the luan and use some form of both bottom and above heat in one section of the area.
Hmmm... You definitely got my wheels turning. Thanks for the advice, Len. It's going to be in the same room with my grow light setup which gets really warm and humid. I've been hoping this, along with additional heat would do the trick, but I suspect you are right. I'll have to check my temps and will most likely need to insulate and use luan or something like it.
 

lismar79

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I know we have sim projects so let me tell ya about my rubber flooring- got it in rolls at menards. Used for basement gyms and garages. Holds the heat well, no trouble there. The mess however.....poo drys to it and it is not fun to clean up :)
 

Prairie Mom

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I know we have sim projects so let me tell ya about my rubber flooring- got it in rolls at menards. Used for basement gyms and garages. Holds the heat well, no trouble there. The mess however.....poo drys to it and it is not fun to clean up :)
Thanks for letting me know, Lisa. Did you guys ever decide to put substrate down? What do you think the room would be like with substrate over the rubber? I may need to poke around your thread again and ask a questions or two. :)
 

Pearly

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Yvonne G

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I would put down plywood over the cement floor, then your substrate.

My outdoor sheds all have cement floors, but I've put down rubber horse stall mats over the cement, then substrate over that. For your use, this wouldn't be economically feasible though, because they're only 4x6 and $40 apiece.
 

lismar79

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Thanks for letting me know, Lisa. Did you guys ever decide to put substrate down? What do you think the room would be like with substrate over the rubber? I may need to poke around your thread again and ask a questions or two. :)
No we did not put anything down. Just the rubber flooring.
 

Prairie Mom

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Heating cables are being mention in a Tortoise Library, I think is a viable option. Also as for shreded wood the Library mentions is but recommends to stay away from the wood with strong smell (ie pine or manure, etc)
Good to know! Thanks:)
 

Prairie Mom

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I would put down plywood over the cement floor, then your substrate.

My outdoor sheds all have cement floors, but I've put down rubber horse stall mats over the cement, then substrate over that. For your use, this wouldn't be economically feasible though, because they're only 4x6 and $40 apiece.
The horse mats are an interesting idea.

For now, I think I will probably do a plywood with thickly applied substrate and see how my temps go. I can always upgrade as I go.
 

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