Heating and lighting for a Russian tortoise

Tort1419

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There is. Grow your plants in pots with potting soil that the tortoises do not have access to. Move the substrate out of the way, put the pot base on the bottom of the enclosure and push the substrate back around it. This way you can cycle several of the same size pots through as they get eaten. Grow 10 pots of a variety of stuff and have one or two pots in the enclosure at a time. 8 pots can be growing and recovering, while two pots are getting grazed on. Trays will serve the same function but offer a larger surface area. Chemical free soil from Dad's garden sounds like a good idea.
So you are saying use the soil from my dads garden and put it in the pots that I grow the plants in
 

Tort1419

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That's what I would do.
Ok thank you so much, I will use orchid bark for substrate and put in pots of grown plants in the enclosure for him, the pot will still contain the soil right, of some of the topsoil accidently mixes in with the orchid bark should I be worried
 

Tom

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Ok thank you so much, I will use orchid bark for substrate and put in pots of grown plants in the enclosure for him, the pot will still contain the soil right, of some of the topsoil accidently mixes in with the orchid bark should I be worried

I would not worry about a little spillage now and then.
 

JoesMum

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Ok thank you so much, I will use orchid bark for substrate and put in pots of grown plants in the enclosure for him, the pot will still contain the soil right, of some of the topsoil accidently mixes in with the orchid bark should I be worried
No, it will be fine :)
 

Tort1419

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No, it will be fine :)
Ok thank you so much Tom and to everyone else who has contributed, I feel so much more confident about my tortoise being happy, when he gets here in hopefully a couple of weeks I will post pictures on the forums of me and him
 

JoesMum

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Ok thank you so much Tom and to everyone else who has contributed, I feel so much more confident about my tortoise being happy, when he gets here in hopefully a couple of weeks I will post pictures on the forums of me and him
We look forward to seeing your pictures :)
 

Tort1419

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We look forward to seeing your pictures :)
Hey I have another question, I'm going to use orchid bark, 100percent orchid bark for substrate in my Russian tortoise enclosure, one thing is before I use the orchid bark I am going to hear it in the oven to rid it of any possible mites or bacteria, one thing I am confused about is keeping the substrate moist. I'm thinking about a couple times a day throughly misting the whole enclosure, when I most to I o my have to most the top layer? How does this work, also do I need a humidifier
 

Tom

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Hey I have another question, I'm going to use orchid bark, 100percent orchid bark for substrate in my Russian tortoise enclosure, one thing is before I use the orchid bark I am going to hear it in the oven to rid it of any possible mites or bacteria, one thing I am confused about is keeping the substrate moist. I'm thinking about a couple times a day throughly misting the whole enclosure, when I most to I o my have to most the top layer? How does this work, also do I need a humidifier

You don't need to cook the substrate. Mites are not an issue for captive tortoises in most cases. All the bugs in the substrate and enclosures come from the surrounding environment and are not detrimental to the tortoise.

Misting the top layer of substrate is ineffective. All it does is evaporate in a few minutes. You need to dump water into the substrate and keep the bottom layer damp. How much water and how often depends on your enclosure and the room it sits in. Try a half gallon initially and add more or less a couple of times a week as needed. If its drying out on you too quickly add more water more often. I usually dump my dirty water bowls into the substrate as long as there is no poop. If they just track the substrate into the bowl I dump the substrate laden water back into the substrate. Often this is enough to keep the substrate damp in my closed chambers. With an open top, you will need more.

I don't like humidifiers personally. I'd rather stop the humidity from exiting the enclosure, rather than continually trying to add more.
 

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