Different substrates......

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tc1982

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Hi
At the moment I have just sterilised top soil in the table but am thinking I need to change it or at least have a mixture in there
He loves to walk through his water bowl but this means he's constantly getting it all muddy so was thinking of changing the substrate in certain areas? What do you think
He also walks through his food bowl and drags that everywhere but don't think it can do anything about that!!
 

pineapple

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I've seen a few folks put river rocks around the dishes to help with that and am going to try it myself. I also just got some cypress mulch and put a thin top layer of it over my coconut coir and that seems to be helping with the mess but keeps up the humidity.
 

ascott

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As long as the water is able to still be consumed then the dirt won't hurt the drinking process :D A tortoise in the wild will locate puddles or lake edges to drink from---so a little dirt won't hurt....

One of the redfoot torts here is absolutely not content until he has a bit of a mud bog in his water dish...lol
 

kanalomele

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If anything I would suggest adding coco coir to it, and perhaps thr ring of river rocks as suggested by pineapple. I use coir and organic topsoil at a 1:1 ratio for my indoor Russians. The coir can be safely ingested and will not cause impaction. So if that gets in the water dish I never worry.
 

jtrux

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My leopard does the same. I clean it every morning while he's soaking and he promptly muddys it up once back in his enclosure. I don't keep cleaning it all day, it would be a full time job if that was the case. Even all muddied up he is still able to get a drink from it. It's typically solid mud by evening.
 
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