I added a new substate in addition to the cypress mulch

[mads3732]

Hey everyone, I added a new substrate in addition to the cypress mulch. I wanted to get opinions and making sure I'm doing it right. It looks good and tuttle seems to enjoy it. But I notice that it keeps getting in his eyes and causes him to rub them. I've made sure to keep it very damp.

 

[Yvonne G]

Quite a few folks use the coco coir, but I'm not a big fan of it. Cypress mulch is good, but the chunks are too big for my taste. I really like and am totally satisfied with fir bark. I buy it from garden nurseries, where it's labelled for orchids as orchid bark. Because orchids are very sensitive plants, they can't live if their medium has any pesticides or herbicides and it is a relatively clean product. I buy the fine or small particle fir bark. It's easy for little tortoises to walk on and it won't cause impaction if they happen to eat it. If you just need a small amount, you can buy this product from chewy.com:

ZOO MED Premium Repti Bark Natural Fir Reptile Bedding, 24-qt bag - Chewy.com

Buy Zoo Med Premium Repti Bark Natural Fir Reptile Bedding, 24-qt bag at Chewy.com. FREE shipping and the BEST customer service!

www.chewy.com

 

[mads3732]

Quite a few folks use the coco coir, but I'm not a big fan of it. Cypress mulch is good, but the chunks are too big for my taste. I really like and am totally satisfied with fir bark. I buy it from garden nurseries, where it's labelled for orchids as orchid bark. Because orchids are very sensitive plants, they can't live if their medium has any pesticides or herbicides and it is a relatively clean product. I buy the fine or small particle fir bark. It's easy for little tortoises to walk on and it won't cause impaction if they happen to eat it. If you just need a small amount, you can buy this product from chewy.com:

ZOO MED Premium Repti Bark Natural Fir Reptile Bedding, 24-qt bag - Chewy.com

Buy Zoo Med Premium Repti Bark Natural Fir Reptile Bedding, 24-qt bag at Chewy.com. FREE shipping and the BEST customer service!

www.chewy.com

Thank you so much!!

 

[jsheffield]

I've also recently started using a product called ReptiChip, which is a chipped coconut husk product, between orchid bark and cypress mulch in size.

I've been impressed with it so far.

Jamie

 

[Tom]

Hey everyone, I added a new substrate in addition to the cypress mulch. I wanted to get opinions and making sure I'm doing it right. It looks good and tuttle seems to enjoy it. But I notice that it keeps getting in his eyes and causes him to rub them. I've made sure to keep it very damp.

Coco coir is safe, but its messy. You can reduce the mess by hand packing it down. Personally I don't use it for anything other than baby Testudo or baby desert tortoises.

 

[Tom]

I've also recently started using a product called ReptiChip, which is a chipped coconut husk product, between orchid bark and cypress mulch in size.

I've been impressed with it so far.

Jamie

I use this for other reptiles, but I didn't like to for tortoises. I found it to be too loose and hard for them to walk on. The looseness is great for animals that are going to burrow through it like blue tongue skinks or my cribos, but not so great for little tortoise feet that are trying to walk around on it. Has this been an issue for you? What size tortoises do you have on it? I anticipate it would be less of a problem for larger tortoises.

 

[jsheffield]

Hi Tom

I use this for other reptiles, but I didn't like to for tortoises. I found it to be too loose and hard for them to walk on. The looseness is great for animals that are going to burrow through it like blue tongue skinks or my cribos, but not so great for little tortoise feet that are trying to walk around on it. Has this been an issue for you? What size tortoises do you have on it? I anticipate it would be less of a problem for larger tortoises.

Thanks for the info... to date I haven't seen any of them having terrible moving around.

I'm using it with torts from 200 to 1400 grams, but it's possible the effect has been mitigated by the fact that I've been mixing it in nearly equal parts with Cypress mulch and orchid bark... I scoop it in and mix it around with warm water before adding the torts to the enclosure.

Jamie