Finding proper substrate for new Redfoot

[mountaindown]

Hello everyone, first post!

Im getting a juveneile (6") redfoot in a couple weeks, and Im currently setting up an indoor table for him/her. Ive been reading the forums for a while, and the general consensus is to use cypress mulch for bedding. The problem is, I live in the middle of nowhere with no access to cypress mulch. I asked my local Home Depot if they had any, or could get it in, and the answer was no. After looking around more, the only place I can get it seems to be ordering it online from the US (Im in Canada) which means Ill pay about $60 for a 8 qt. bag. So I guess my question is,what are my alternatives? I can get tons of fir mulch, also Douglas fir. Are either of these OK to use with Redfoots?

 

[Madkins007]

Douglas fir is fine. The smaller and cleaner version of Douglas fir mulch is often called Orchid Bark and has long been on the list of OK options.

The other locally available mulches may also be OK as long as they do not smell of cedar. Some sources also recommend staying away from anything that smell of redwood and pine, but clinical evidence of this is harder to find- still, it may be better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Shelli]

Douglas fir is great for redfoots as is Sphagnum moss you should beable to get it at an independent or Scott's type Garden centre.
Just make sure the fir is not mixed with pine or cedar.
Also a lot of pet stores carry coconut coir I used to buy it, it was sold in bricks you add water to it and it expands about 5x the size..
Here is a website in Canada you can look at
A lot of the stuff on the page is not good for torts but this is what I used.
http://www.petsandponds.com/en/reptile-supplies/c194892/p16534124.html

http://www.petsandponds.com/en/reptile-supplies/c194892/p17065979.html ( I always just used garden centre Sphagnum Moss not this stuff)

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Oh also that website also carries ceramic heat emitters, misters etc.. so I don't know whether they offer free shipping for a large order you might want to look into buying all your supplies at once if the do. I have ordered from them before also their actual store used to be down the road from me.

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Oh and welcome where in Canada are you?

 

[Balboa]

Got the same problem, no cypress round these parts. I've had good luck so far with fir, and douglas fir bark, (as I understand it orchid bark is fir bark "held to a higher standard of purity" always a good thing for torts, when a few pine shavings could "accidently" find there way into the regular stuff). Many folks shy away from the fir products, as it is a conifer like pine or cedar, but the toxicity on it is relatively low compared to other woods. Its a little costly, but comparable to orchid bark in price (at least arround here), but Zoo-Meds Reptibark is Fir, and seems to be fairly pure. ITs nugget size seems to be smaller than orchid, which may be a good or a bad thing. Little nuggets may get ingested, big nuggets are tough to walk on. The local hardware stores here only sell blends, I'd be very happy with a fairly pure fir or douglas fir product from them, as that would probably be an ideal substrate. Nice and partially decomposed with lotsa fines, awesome. They have such a product that I SUSPECT is MOSTLY Fir (it IS the predominent type of tree in these parts) but do I want to take the risk?

This all made me give Mark's bio-active a try. So far so good! But I do dust the top of my tort's paths with bark still.

EDIT ROFLMAO 3 of us were typing answers at the same time, and I'm a slow typer.

 

[Tempest]

I have all my snakes on coco fiber, but I don't like it for tortoises because it sticks to everything when it's damp, and since you should be spraying your tortoise several times a day, and they like to move around and explore, that may be a problem- or maybe not, for you. I have mine on an organic potting soil/clean topsoil mix, and I like it so far. I tends to pack down so she can walk easily, but also is soft enough for her to dig a little bit.

 

[HarleyK]

Where do you buy the soil or what brand is it tempest?