Hello,

I am in the UK and have a 9-banded armadillo; I originally had two, but one died as a result of an impaction, caused by the animal ingesting wood shavings (which I was using as a substrate). Naturally I have stopped using this for the armadillo I have left.
I found straw to be good for a while, but then had trouble with forage mites, which caused strange malformations to the scales of the shell. Sealed, ‘clean’ bales would be an expensive way to go.
I currently have it on sand, which is nice because it dries out waste, which makes it easy to clean, and also means it doesn’t harbour bacteria easily, and so doesn’t need regular changing, making it cheap.
However I’ve found that the dillo has developed sores under the banded segments of his shell, which I attribute to sand getting in there.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to a suitable, low-cost substrate?

Many thanks for your time.

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