best subtrate?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Josh

Ask questions, share answers, talk torts!
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
4,108
Location (City and/or State)
Redlands, CA
what substrate do you use in your tort/turt table? i thought we had a thread about this but the search yielded nothing...
 

Iluvemturts

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
429
Location (City and/or State)
South Central WI
Speaking of substrate....I dont want to hijack your post , Josh, but I want to also know if anyone uses Aspen. Maybe this can get the ball rolling on what people use and if Aspen is ok.

I have used Bed a Beast and a sand mixture but Im running out of room to dump it.
 

Crazy1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
6,068
Location (City and/or State)
Inland Empire, CA
I use turtle carpet and hay (timothy or Bermuda) takes cleaning daily and changing weekly to keep the smell down. But they are only in for the winter.
 

Josh

Ask questions, share answers, talk torts!
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
4,108
Location (City and/or State)
Redlands, CA
i got some finely ground coconut husks (bed a beast stuff) it took a whole 10 quarts to cover a 12 square foot area
 

T-P

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
418
Location (City and/or State)
Coventry, England
Best substrate is Soil and playsand 50/50 mixture.
Or bed-a-beast and sand.

I personally use Hemcore for my tortoises because i cant use soil as my mother dislikes it.

But hemcore, aspen is all fine to use.

i have a corner of woodchips mind you, its bad for woodchips but you can use a small amount in a certain area.
Not alot.
I have a small amount in the basking corner now.
 

jlyoncc1

Active Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 3, 2007
Messages
2,038
Location (City and/or State)
NJ
I am getting a redfoot this week - what mixture of bed-a-beast and sand do you use? How wet do you make it and how often do you mist?
 

T-P

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
418
Location (City and/or State)
Coventry, England
Redfoots need a different substrate.

They need things like:
Moist Bark around their food and water area.
SOil and sand in their digging, and basking area
and other things such as pete moss for their other areas.

Redfoots come from moist and humid areas, so their substrates would be moist, and mostly petemoss, bark and soil.
 

Crazy1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
6,068
Location (City and/or State)
Inland Empire, CA
I found a hemp substate at Petco the other day. I got it and shortly after I put the new yearlings I got last Friday :D in it they tried to eat it. It is cut rather fine, so out it came. I was hoping for something that didn't make the livingroom smell like a barn. I wasn't happy with the hemp. So I am back to the turtle carpet and the hay at least for now.
 

chilieo

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
23
Location (City and/or State)
Delaware
Iluvemturts said:
Speaking of substrate....I dont want to hijack your post , Josh, but I want to also know if anyone uses Aspen. Maybe this can get the ball rolling on what people use and if Aspen is ok.

I have used Bed a Beast and a sand mixture but Im running out of room to dump it.

I've been using the Aspen Pellets (Petco) for about 1 month now. It's been good to use (so far). When it gets moist/wet it just breaks down into something that looks like sand/gravel. This makes it easy to know when it's time to change/clean. It states on the bag biodigradeable which is a plus and no harm if eaten. I also use bed-a-beast in a different area of the enclosure.
 

Redfoot NERD

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
3,666
Location (City and/or State)
Tennessee
Does every tortoise in the eastern hemisphere use the same substrate? Or is this a bad question? Should we not consider that the flora in the north-western Mediterranean region might differ than that of central Africa?

Remember mine are from a different hemisphere.. which is entirely different. Just curious who's substrate are we setting-up for?

Terry
 

Itort

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
2,343
Location (City and/or State)
Iowa
I use hardwood mulch (organic) as substrat around water and food bowl and sphagrem moss in hides for my rainforest type torts in a humid enviornment. For the grassland torts (stars) I use reptile carpet overlayed with grass hay (not straw). In my area (E Iowa/ W Illinios) the hardwood is mostly cottonwood, red maple, and willow.
 

Cam

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
477
Location (City and/or State)
Minnesota
Calvin is still on paper towels and shredded paper towels...
We are still treating him for parasites... so trying to keep him really clean. Changing everything out 3 times/day...etc.
Although I feel terrible everynight when he is 'digging' to go to bed and there is just the towels to push around:(
 

Crazy1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
6,068
Location (City and/or State)
Inland Empire, CA
Since I enlarged my twos inside enclosure I have tried bed a beast with sand mixture and will be changing to soil and sand mix. I also tried Country critter which is a hay pellet substrate. It works great as far as ingestion as it just turns to almost nothing in water. It can be flushed or used as a compost, and is made from hay, but for the smaller torts it is like walking in quick sand they just sort of sink-in. Danny said he thinks it would be OK for the larger torts as they walk higher and with straighter steps.
 

TestudoGeek

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
389
Location (City and/or State)
Lisbon, Portugal
Cam said:
Calvin is still on paper towels and shredded paper towels...

How long do you keep babies on paper towels before moving them to top soil\sand?

I've had my little THH on coconut fiber and now top soil since he was 2 months old (he's 6 months old now).
 

Cam

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
477
Location (City and/or State)
Minnesota
TestudoGeek said:
Cam said:
Calvin is still on paper towels and shredded paper towels...

How long do you keep babies on paper towels before moving them to top soil\sand?

I've had my little THH on coconut fiber and now top soil since he was 2 months old (he's 6 months old now).
I am not sure. I am sure someone else can answer though:D
(Calvin is about 7 years old. We found him at Petsmart, they had him labeled as a 6 month old Russian Tort.:rolleyes:
We brought him home, posted his picture here and via the great group of tort lovers/experts found out he was actually a 7 year old Greek.)
He is being treated for parasites, which is why the paper towels right now.
 
E

evolution6972

Guest
hi new to the forum i have a salcuta tortoiuse and i am in the process of choosing bedding some people use playsand is that normal sandbox sand bought at home depote and some say soil mixed with the sand what kinda soil is this i live in new orleans and i know i got diferent soil than most people
thanks
D
 

JustAnja

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
1,539
Location (City and/or State)
Arkansas
I would go with BedABeast (coco fiber) mixed with play sand OR organic topsoil mixed with play sand. You could also do cypress mulch and play sand. :)


welcome!
 

barbie69

New Member
10 Year Member!
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
190
Location (City and/or State)
Ohio
JustAnja said:
I would go with BedABeast (coco fiber) mixed with play sand OR organic topsoil mixed with play sand. You could also do cypress mulch and play sand. :)


welcome!


Okay, not sure if you saw the other post but I thought I would ask here too......I switched to this bedAbeast and play sand mixture and my torts think it is a wonderful treat to eat:rolleyes:....they sit and munch as if it is delicious....How do I make them STOP eating it??:(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top