New bedding is this ok?

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ley2308
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Joined: 15 May 2020, 08:17

New bedding is this ok?

Post by ley2308 » 24 May 2020, 13:40

Had to get new bedding from local pet shop is this ok as Pablo looks like he is trying to eat it? It does say on the bag that it’s for Mediterranean tortoise? I’m a new mam so question everything
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Nina
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Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: New bedding is this ok?

Post by Nina » 24 May 2020, 14:26

That looks like Tortoise Life substrate, and it's perfectly fine. Tortoises will sometimes eat a bit of new substrate to test it. Tortoise Life has bits of calcium in it (the tiny white bits) and I wonder if he is going for those? Does he have another good source of calcium (cuttlefish bone, limestone flour, Nutrobal)?

Having said that Tortoise Life is good, it's also fairly expensive and you can easily put together your own substrate much more cheaply by mixing ordinary sterilised topsoil and children's play sand (bags of both of these can be bought at garden centres, Homebase, etc.). You just mix them about 50/50, or put slightly more topsoil than sand (say 60/40) and then spray it every couple of days to keep it from getting dusty.

Pablo is one handsome little chappy, isn't he?

Cheers,
Nina

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Nina
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Re: New bedding is this ok?

Post by Nina » 24 May 2020, 14:28

Oops, I take back what I said about cuttlefish bone because I think i can see one in your photo! Tortoises sometimes won't touch cuttlefish until it's been sitting outside in the rain and elements and is getting to look all manky and horrible -- and then they devour it for some reason. If he isn't eating it, you can just wet the leaves, etc. that you feed him and with your nail scrape some of the cuttlefish onto the leaves (it will stick to the wet leaves) -- that sometimes works.

Nina

ley2308
Posts: 4
Joined: 15 May 2020, 08:17

Re: New bedding is this ok?

Post by ley2308 » 28 May 2020, 09:06

Thanks Nina he is actually eating the Cuttle fish he seems to do a few laps of his table then has a little chew and then wonders about and does it again, I’m not to impressed with the sand mix he seems to be getting it in his eyes and such, when we first got him he cane with a soil substance could u advise which is the best soil 2 use? Pablo is a handsome man he seems friendly and loves a bit time wondering around the garden with a little time to explore his new home and his new surroundings, I have a lot to learn about tortoise but looking forward to it all

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Nina
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Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: New bedding is this ok?

Post by Nina » 28 May 2020, 10:00

That's great that he is eating the cuttlefish -- give him a little tickle under the chin from me for doing so well.

With any soil/sand based substrate (like Tortoise Life or any that you will mix up, it does get dusty, so you need to either give it a light spray every day or two, just to keep the surface from getting too dusty, or what I do is every couple of days I just pour some water on it and mix it up really well. The thing with doing that though is that you don't want the substrate to become wet -- by the time you've finished mixing it up it should be only the teeny tiniest bit damp (so not too much water). If you get soil, you should mix it with some sand -- to stop it from getting muddy and keeping a good texture, but if you want you can mix a smaller proportion of sand into it (say 70% topsoil and 30% sand). Just buy bags of sterilised topsoil from any garden centre, Homebase, etc. and they also sell bags of playsand (it must be play sand as ordinary sand often has bits of glass in it. You will occasionally find bits of stuff in the sterilised topsoil, because even though it's screened, sometimes bits little bits of plastic get through, but it's not really a problem and it doesn't often happen.

Oh yes, while you've still got that substrate, if it is Tortoise Life there is something interesting that you can do with it. if you take some of it out of the table and wet it quite a lot, so that it is a bit like very wet clay, you can then mould it into shapes (little hills, or I used to cover one of those bendy logs with it), and then it dries hard just like clay, so you can do all sorts of interesting things with it. I think that's because there is a high clay content in the soil they use. It does wear down over time, as the tortoise walks over it, but it's quite a nice little thing to experiment and get creative with.

Hope that helps. Did you know that when you are writing a message on this forum, below the box you are writing in there is a list of tick boxes and if you tick the one that says 'notify me when a reply is posted' then you'll get a notification when someone else writes on this thread.

Nina

ley2308
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Joined: 15 May 2020, 08:17

Re: New bedding is this ok?

Post by ley2308 » 28 May 2020, 10:56

Which is the best top soil to use?

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Nina
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Re: New bedding is this ok?

Post by Nina » 29 May 2020, 09:25

I'm not really sure. I have had topsoil from Homebase in the past and it was all right but did sometimes have little bits of stuff in it, and I've also bought some from garden centres. i think someone said that topsoil from Wicks was a bit betterthan Homebase, but that's a while ago.

The thing about topsoil that you buy in bags from garden centres, etc. is that it has been sterilised to kill off any nasty organisms that might have been in it, it has been screened to filter out bits of metal or plastic and stones (although small stuff can creep through), and it doesn't have any fertiliser in it, which is important. So I do think they are probably all pretty much the same, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of it came from the same source and then the big places like B&Q and Homebase just put it in bags with their name on it. I would just go with the one that is most convenient for you to get. What you don't want is topsoil that says it has been 'enriched', as that will have had fertiliser added.

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