Is straw ok for outdoor tortoise homes?

singapura78

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What do ya'll recommend for putting in an outdoor tortoise house for material? I have one box without a floor (so the soil is the floor) and another with a wooden floor. I was thinking of putting straw in, so they can cuddle down in it. But is that too pokey for their eyes? What would ya'll recommed. This is for Russians ;)
 

singapura78

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In going back and rereading my original post, I find that I really was not clear enough :) My Russians have run of my entire tortoise-friendly backyard. It has topsoil with coir mixed in, plants, regular soil that was already there, shade, sun, etc. What I have now done is plopped down two tortoise boxes that are made of wood, so now they have 100 and 101 places to hide (ok, maybe not really that many….but it is a lot). One of the boxes has a wooden bottom and one does not. So the regular soil is the substrate in the box without a bottom, but I would hate for them to just sit on wood in the box that has a wooden bottom. So I was thinking of tossing in some cypress mulch.

My original question was really trying to ask if I could also just throw a bit of straw in these additional boxes - just so they could crawl under it and bed down. Or is the straw too pokey for their eyes? I didn't even think they would simply march around on top of it instead of going under it. So I am very happy that russian/sulcata/tortoise member pointed that out to me. I guess I was thinking that they would like to cuddle under something. But that can be accomplished by adding a bit more cypress mulch.

Any other suggestions out there? These torts are AWESOME!!!!! They seem to get up around 9am (I am near Sacramento, CA), eat their breakfast, then spend 6 hours cruising around the yard, then go to bed at 3pm. Lazy little guys right now. But I LOVE THEM and am now addicted :)

Oops - forgot to add that I did previously read the entire RT care sheet posted in TF. But I went back and reread it again just in case. Thanks for the link!! Makes for good bedtime reading in my opinion. I don't read novels…I read about torts.
 

Yellow Turtle01

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I keep straw/dried grass/hay with my sulcata in her house, but she just ends up eating it :p! Russians do not eat hay/grass type food naturally, they eat weeds, so I can imagine they'll either wander around on top of it, or burrow. My russian does not like to burrow (shocking) he just sleeps on top, so I'd have to say skip the hay and just add the mulch... more insulating anyway :) Are the boxes heated?
 

Yvonne G

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I see nothing wrong with using straw for them to burrow in. Is there any danger of the straw getting close to the heat source?
 

singapura78

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Hi everyone - it is SO wonderful to get so much advice. I only have two RTs right now - but would like to add a few more females next Spring. Anyways, the houses are not heated. I was afraid to heat them since I am deathly afraid of fires starting. From the sounds of it, it probably is not a good idea to put straw in. Or perhaps just a little bit to run around. But I definitely don't want to give them bad hips :( Thanks guys - it's nice to know that I can post a question on here and get such quick answers. And the list of previous answers that TF puts at the bottom of the string helps tremendously as well!
 

Levi the Leopard

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I used straw in my non heated Russian houses for few months.. They enjoyed burrowing into it and it didn't poke their eyes.
I did replace it once a week or so. I didn't want it to get moldy.

I eventually used leaf litter (fallen tree leaves) and liked that much better.
 

shellfreak

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I keep straw in my heated boxes. hasnt caused a fire. Torts love it. Russians and Greeks. Straw was recommended to me by Chris leone. He suggests straw over hay Bc hay molds. Straw tends not to.
 

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