I couldn't find any cypress mulch anywhere so I got some miracle grow organic choice potting mix. It has composted bark, sphagnum peat moss, pasteurized poultry litter and an organic wetting agent. Does this sound Ok? I'm not crazy about him eating chicken poop but they all seems to have something nasty in them. Thanks for any help.
Substrate choice
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My question is what is the poultry litter ? I used a mixture of straw and cedar in my henhouse to keep parasites under control. I then would compost the litter and use on vegetables. Never once would I use it on torts because of the cedar component. Cedar is commonly used with poultry. Do you have access to a hardwood mulch?
I wouldn't use that. It is very difficult to find any kind of soil in a bag that doesn't have a bunch of added stuff in it. I wouldn't use that one because of the poultry element AND the wetting agent.
I once found plain soil at Wal-mart in the garden center. Have you checked there already? I've been using whatever I can find in bulk. I found this one at Lowes and it works really well.
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-13520.html
I've also recently tried sphagnum moss. Its confusing because there are two types. Long fibered and soil type. The long fibered stuff is great for inside your hides and the soil type stuff is great as a substrate or part of a mixture for substrate.
I'm in SoCal, BTW, it seems there are different things all over the country.
I once found plain soil at Wal-mart in the garden center. Have you checked there already? I've been using whatever I can find in bulk. I found this one at Lowes and it works really well.
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-13520.html
I've also recently tried sphagnum moss. Its confusing because there are two types. Long fibered and soil type. The long fibered stuff is great for inside your hides and the soil type stuff is great as a substrate or part of a mixture for substrate.
I'm in SoCal, BTW, it seems there are different things all over the country.
I use miracle grow potting soil mixed with peat moss for all my indoor and outdoor enclosures because I put a lot of plants in them. I've never had a problem.
My Lowes, here in NY, caries two different brands of Cypress mulch. The one type I do not like as its too rough cut. The other brand seems to have enough fine cut stuff I can skim out what I like. It will be interesting to see how consistant it stays over time.
What city do live in?
What city do live in?
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I use Miracle Gro Organic Potting Soil and have for a long time with absolutely no problems.
Any potting soil, garden soil, topsoil usually contain some form of fertilizers either natural (poultry litter) or chemical, along with ground up mulch, moss, clay and probably plenty of bacteria and mites.
Mulch is a by product of lumber. It's ground up tree bark. Mites, bacteria, termites and several other insects along with moss, mold and fungus live in and on tree bark. Mulches are void of most of the above soil elements but being "all natural" certainly contain a multitude of bacteria.
Dirt from outdoors can contain any or all of the above ingriedients and more depending upon the area that it comes from.
If you're trying to keep their environment as sterile as a hospital operating room you're fighting a losing and unnecessary battle. Especially if you're putting your tortoises outdoors often or even occasionally.
It's all just dirt folks!
Any potting soil, garden soil, topsoil usually contain some form of fertilizers either natural (poultry litter) or chemical, along with ground up mulch, moss, clay and probably plenty of bacteria and mites.
Mulch is a by product of lumber. It's ground up tree bark. Mites, bacteria, termites and several other insects along with moss, mold and fungus live in and on tree bark. Mulches are void of most of the above soil elements but being "all natural" certainly contain a multitude of bacteria.
Dirt from outdoors can contain any or all of the above ingriedients and more depending upon the area that it comes from.
If you're trying to keep their environment as sterile as a hospital operating room you're fighting a losing and unnecessary battle. Especially if you're putting your tortoises outdoors often or even occasionally.
It's all just dirt folks!
The problem I see with the "organic" soil refered to in the first post is that I'm sure the poultry litter comes from a egg factory enviornment with attendent extra hormones and antibiotics. There nothing wrong with poultry litter as such (I swear by it fertalizer) but I question the fact that they can enough truly organic litter to support the market they are targeting. Anyone shooting for a truly clean substrat is joisting with windmills, we just want to provide a natural enviornmet for our animals.
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