Substrate for Hermanns

[NickPoole]

Hi all,

From what I can tell the most popular substrates for Hermann tortoise are generally either the topsoil/play-sand mix or aspen. I'm leaning towards using the topsoil mix.

So, and this is probably going to seem like a silly question, but where do most owners who use the topsoil mix get their topsoil? I'm assuming it's either dug out a garden, or brought from a garden centre. I'd also assume that if I dig up my own soil out of my garden (which I know has never seem the like of weed killer in the 15 years I've been living in this house), that soil is less likely to have harmful chemicals in it than if I brought it from a garden centre, as I would have no knowledge of the soil's history.

So, should I go dig up some soil? And if I do, will I need to remove any stones, etc? (obviously I'd make sure that there's no glass or bits of metal in the soil)

Thanks,

Nick

 

[nrfitchett4]

I just bought the organic topsoil from walmart.

 

[galvinkaos]

I used soil from the garden. I shoveled it into a bucket and then sifted it through a screen lid from an aquarium (small holes that kept rocks out but didn't take all day to sift a bucket of soil) then I mixed in the sand by hand. Poured it all in the table and made sure it was mixed good. Found a few worms I threw into the RES tank. So everyone scored that day.

Dawna

 

[NickPoole]

As my garden is already half dug up, I think I'll take a garden sieve to it; when my garden have been re-turfed I'll switch to garden centre soil. I'm probably gong to use a 2 part soil, 1 part play-sand for the mix (reduced risk of the watery eyes issue, but still similar to their natural habitat).

Thanks for the advice.