Peat Moss?

[rsross1970]

O.K. I was wondering if you could use fine peatmoss that you buy at home depot. Its got the consistancy of almost powder-slash fine grade substrate. It reminds me of ground coconut fiber. Anyways I was thinking of mixing it with 50/50 organic dirt from my yard, and the peat moss. Don't worry I don't use pestasides. All natural....I kill my worst weeds with hot water or torch it. Anyhow I was thinking of trying this out in the indoor tortoise table for substrate. My only concern is that I don't want to run a risk of this getting into a resportory system of my redfoots. I currently use cypress mulch. But it is very expensive and very large chunks. I want to create a soft natural substrate. I could always mix the cypress with the dirt for my indoor set up. But I know that peat moss holds moisture really well. Anyways please send me some feedback and ideas. Thanks....

 

[Itort]

Peatmoss as you say is very fine and as such can cause resportory problems if used alone. Mixing it with soil would help but the problem with this mix is it would hold water too well and be too heavy. I would suggest long fiber sphagrum moss as a substrat for your little guy. I don't know where you live but in my area we have hardwood mulch (basically from "trash" trees such as cottonwood, willow, and red maple) that I use for my larger torts.

 

[terryo]

I mix peat moss and soil for all my enclosures...boxie's and tort...inside and outside. Two parts soil to one part peat moss. I put a thin layer of cypruss mulch on top. Inside the hides I put the long fiber moss. I do this because I put a lot of plants in my enclosures and the plants do much better when peat moss is mixed with the soil.

 

[chadk]

+1 for what terryo said

 

[Neal]

In Richard and Jerry Fife's Leopard tortoise book they have pictured the exact type of peat moss your talking about. The statement in the book says that it doesn't seem to be toxic to them or impact the gut if eaten. I would say that it is safe to use, there are probably better things though than just the peat moss as Terryo suggested. I use that same type of peat moss mixed with play sand in a roughly 50/50 mixture with cypress mulch on top. It keeps the ground compact, moist and loose.

 

[South FL Katie]

I've been using it alone but I think I'll add in some organic top soil, it does get a bit dusty when it's not damp.