I’ve been trying to switch the bedding I use for my tortoise, I use reptibark right now and I know bark is the safest for tortoises for indoor. Does anyone know the difference really between the zilla brand bark blend vs the zoo med reptibark? The zilla one is a lot cheaper and I go through ALOT of bedding so the reptibark at $30 a bag is getting a bit annoying when I need 4 bags just for one tortoise because he digs so much
Bedding
- Thread starter Sydgeo21
- Start date
I don't know the difference. However, substrate should be able to be used for a long time, like a year at least. If you spot clean often and remove any food laying around on the substrate and stir up the substrate every couple weeks or so, it should not have to be fully replaced for quite some time.
I see Wellington already said this, but there’s no reason at all to “be going through a lot of bedding/substrate”. If you have a nice large enclosure, a good thick substrate, you just need to add a bit & subtract a bit of substrate periodically. Do some daily, weekly & monthly spot cleaning. No reason to be breaking the bank on brandy new substrate.
I switch it out probably every 3ish months. I spot clean daily, I guess I just got into the habit of doing that often. Since he digs so much he will poop and pee under all the substrate so sometimes it’s harder to spot clean. But thank you for the advice!
Why is that, though? Coco coir lasts a long time..... Seems like a lot of excess work!
Soak more often and the tortoise will poop and pee in the soak water instead of the enclosure.
Also, get your substrate in bulk at a local garden center. Its fine grade orchid bark for growing orchids. Also called fir bark. They can order it for you if they don't have it. Don't get a "blend" or "potting mix".
I tried to look it up but everything seems to indicate the the Zilla "blend" isn't a blend at all. Everything I found refers to it as plain fir bark. That should work.
Some Home Depot type stores will have plain o bark, but I have better luck at actual garden store type places. Nurseries.
Citron Elegans
New Member
I've had the biodude's substrate last for over a year at a time. You either need a solid clean up crew or very dry conditions, both with the daily/few times a week cleaning of surface poop. You can even get biodude on amazon now, just not all the biggest bags which are the best bang for your buck.
