My sulcuta is eating his cypress substrate

[Andieallnight]

I just completed an outdoor enclosure for my Africian Spur Thigh (Sulcuta). I used cypress mulch because I had read it was not harmful to them if ingested, but whenever he is put into the enclosure he just CHOWS DOWN on the mulch. I cannot find anything that talks about a solution to this. He has plenty of food in the enclosure and I cannot fill it with a sand/ soil mix without constructing it over again. Is it really bad for him to be eating this much substrate? Any advice?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Andieallnight:

Welcome to the forum!!

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the forum. How long has this been going on? I would not allow my tort to chow down on substrate, no matter what type. It is more typical for them to take a test bite or two and then realize it isn't food. What did you previously use for substrate? I think you need to even go so far as to use newspaper until you can find a replacement, such as orchid bark, organic potting soil, or coconut coir. Why can't you put in a new substrate without re-construction? How were you going to change it out down the road? Yes, eating substrate can cause impaction (him not being able to poop) or could perforate his bowels if he gets a sharper piece. Yes, Cyprus is a safer substrate, but not when eaten in large amounts.

 

[chairman]

Is he actually eating his substrate, or is he eating his poop that happens to have substrate stuck on it? Or substrate with a greens stuck on it, etc? If you don't think he's eating the bark because it might accidentally have "food" on it, does he have a cuttle bone? He could be trying to keep his beak trim by chewing on the bark.

 

[Andieallnight]

Hello everyone. Thanks for the advise and welcomes.

Until the outdoor enclosure was completed last weekend he has been in an indoor enclosure with either a sand/ soil mix or newspaper substrate. I've only let him explore the outdoors twice because both times he kept eating the cypress. I'm concerned about filling the outdoor pin with sand because I didn't bury the fence down very deep and I can see him digging a hole into the neighbor's yard very quickly. I was ideally trying to find out if there was anything he can burrow in and eat, since he apparently will eat anything.
Any suggestions before I start further construction this weekend? Hay would be wonderful, if someone knew a type that wouldn't cause malnutrition or pyramiding. . . [/align]

 

[tortoisenerd]

I would use plain organic potting soil if he has shown to be fine with that in the past (did you see him eating it?). Has the eating the cyprus slowed down at all? How much are we talking about? From how you made it seem, I would have taken the tort out of there the same day, so I wonder if I mis-understood you. Why put sand in the outdoor pen? Just either add more dirt or dig the fence down more. Hay is not ideal because it is tough for a tort to walk on and they need humidity to prevent pyramiding (I assume yours is young and growing?). The only time I'd recommend it is for a large Sulcata living in a basement for the winter or similar, where a typical substrate would be tough to use.