mylittlecholla
Active Member
I've read Tom's guide and plan to replace the substrate I have with orchid bark.
Cholla has two enclosures, one outside, one inside.
Regarding the outside enclosure, it has two levels, The upper level Cholla can access either by climbing flat rocks of graduated sizes, or by a wooden ramp. In creating the "upstairs" area I followed the advice from another tortoise source that advised to create a substrate composed of 60% clean fine play sand mixed with 40% "loam." Now I'm worried that this was bad advice. I know the pet store sand they tried to sell me when I first got Cholla as a hatchling was bogus and dangerous, as she could ingest it. But 3 years later the "play sand" and "loam" guy (not a pet store clerk) seemed authoritative. The mixture is more solid than loose.
The mixture does create a surface very much like that seen in much of the Mojave Desert. Nevertheless I never put her food up there. She does have a burrow up there made with a black plastic flower pot sunk half way down into the substrate, which forms a sandy loamy "floor" that she seems to like to dig and shovel when she's crawling in there. It all seemed pretty neat, but now, having read advice in this forum, I'm concerned that the "play sand/loam" mixture is a mistake. I confess the loam came from our garden (no fertilizers or pesticides, but as some of you point out, there could be other bad stuff in there that I don't know about. And maybe it's just too dry.
SO . . . what do y'allthink? I'll replace it with orchid bark asap if that's the consensus, but I do need to know how deep it should be in the outdoor enclosure.
Many thanks for any input.
Cholla has two enclosures, one outside, one inside.
Regarding the outside enclosure, it has two levels, The upper level Cholla can access either by climbing flat rocks of graduated sizes, or by a wooden ramp. In creating the "upstairs" area I followed the advice from another tortoise source that advised to create a substrate composed of 60% clean fine play sand mixed with 40% "loam." Now I'm worried that this was bad advice. I know the pet store sand they tried to sell me when I first got Cholla as a hatchling was bogus and dangerous, as she could ingest it. But 3 years later the "play sand" and "loam" guy (not a pet store clerk) seemed authoritative. The mixture is more solid than loose.
The mixture does create a surface very much like that seen in much of the Mojave Desert. Nevertheless I never put her food up there. She does have a burrow up there made with a black plastic flower pot sunk half way down into the substrate, which forms a sandy loamy "floor" that she seems to like to dig and shovel when she's crawling in there. It all seemed pretty neat, but now, having read advice in this forum, I'm concerned that the "play sand/loam" mixture is a mistake. I confess the loam came from our garden (no fertilizers or pesticides, but as some of you point out, there could be other bad stuff in there that I don't know about. And maybe it's just too dry.
SO . . . what do y'allthink? I'll replace it with orchid bark asap if that's the consensus, but I do need to know how deep it should be in the outdoor enclosure.
Many thanks for any input.