Top soil for outdoor area?

JEllis

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Apr 10, 2020
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We are building an outdoor garden box to grow Testudo Mix seeds (Broadleaf). Ideally, I would also love for our tortoise to be able to spend outdoor time in the garden box generally walking around, enjoying the sun, and grazing (we will have a cover to avoid predators and she will be supervised at all times). Has anyone done this and what soil do I need to use to make sure the plants are healthy but so is the tortoise?

I have seen threads on soil for enclosures, but we use coco coir, so this would just be for the outdoor play area.

Any thoughts welcome!
 

TechnoCheese

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A lot of people argue against using top soil for enclosures because it turns to mud when wet and you can’t be 100% sure of the composition, but Scott’s organic topsoil is very frequently used as a substrate choice for most reptiles, especially in substrate mixes, and I imagine it would work well. I personally use it as part of a mix for my bearded dragon and dart frogs, where I have plants growing.
 

jaizei

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You could use topsoil, but I typically use a soil-less mix of coir/peat and compost for most substrate/growing applications and only use topsoil for fill or bulking if needed.
 
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