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Anybody else use that indoor/outdoor carpeting on the bottom of their tort's enclosure? You know, the plastic kind? Seems like it would be really easy to clean & look good too.

>>Anybody else use that indoor/outdoor carpeting on the bottom of their tort's enclosure? You know, the plastic kind? Seems like it would be really easy to clean & look good too.

I've been thinking about it. The floor of our "Tortoise Mansion" is concrete which gets too cold in winter so I use paper & old towels to cover the part that the pig blanket doesn't cover.
I've been thinking about trying machine washable carpet to cover that concrete because after going the hay route in the beginning I gave it up because it was messy, dusty, & nasty. What I don't like about paper & towels is that they get bunched up.. it's a hassle.

Our tortoise is around 60lbs right now, her "mansion" is in the backyard & she doesn't need an edible substrate like hay.
She has the lawn to use for hay.
If anyone has carpet or if you try it yourself, I'd be interested in hearing how it works out.
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PHRatz

I briefly used sections of carpet runner (it's maybe 2 ft wide and has a short-nap carpet on one side and rubber-backing on the other) for my indoor russian pens.

It's not quite indoor/outdoor stuff, so this may not apply to your situation.

Anyway, the poop would stick to either side of the carpet, and was hard to remove. Eventually the rubber-backing would disintegrate and leave dark granules everywhere. I worried about it getting into the food.

Not a good option.

I'd worry about the indoor/outdoor stuff that looks like grass. I wouldn't want to find out the hard way if it fooled the torts.

I have used astro turf before and my turtle managed to crumple it up like paper towels and even ate some of it! I found it in her poop for weeks it was nasty.I tried taping it down with double adhesive tape but that just made it easier for her to eat . you can try but it really is a pain in the butt you have to have a few sheets of it as you have to wash it alot and let it dry before you put it in the tank because it actully gets moldy pretty easy I have tried 3 diff kinds of it but just got sick of it and started using timothy hay as bedding instead.good luck your tort may be smart enough to not eat it my sulcata was a little kooky so who knows....
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~~*Erica*~~
1 puppy-cocoa
1 cat-Livvie
1 chinchilla-Lilo
3 Russian tortoises-baby,Calvin & Hobbs
1 Home's hingeback-Elephant
5 lil monkeys Jake,Matt,Amber rose,Zach,Kaitlin Grace
oh yeah and my husband Dave :0)
and 3 fish aquariums

Ahh the backing disintegrates, I hadn't thought of that.
My plan if I did it was to buy several pieces so that I could always have a clean dry piece waiting to replace a soiled one.
If the backing falls apart & make a mess.. then there's no point in even trying it.
The hay dust was bad enough but at least that was an organic mess.
I guess I'll stick with paper & old bath towels then.
Thanks for the input!
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PHRatz

Hi, in our sulcata's doghouse (in a heated winter shed) I use a thick mat. They come in a pack of four (~$16) and have puzzle piece edges. Not sure what they are called but I got them at Lowe's and have seen them in Walmart. If he poops on one, they are easily hosed off, put in the sun to dry and put back in. A friend who has bigger sulcata that I do uses them in her houses and recommended them to me. I tried newspaper with a thick layer of hay but it was messy and dusty.

Troya

Hmmm carpet without a backing and carpet like stuff in puzzle pieces..
Ok before I say no way I think I'll do a little shopping around.
A couple of years ago when we looked around the home improvement stores we didn't see anything like what either of you describe here.
That doesn't mean they don't have these things today, so it sounds like something worth looking into.
The paper & towels covering the concrete works ok but it's just not my ideal because it bunches up.
When the wind blows hard which it will do a lot of in the next couple of months, the newspaper often gets blown out of her home & then I have to chase it around the yard.
Thanks for the tips, I'll check it out.
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PHRatz

Hi,

The stuff I was talking about is not carpet at all. It's thick rubbery stuff. They are called "Soft Linking Mats", nontoxic, odorfree, high quality EVA, waterproof and lightweight, easy to clean and store. That's from the front of the package. It says they are used in playrooms, home gyms and daycares to protect surfaces from damage.

Hope you find something that works for you.
Troya

I use carpet for my box turtle and leopard geckos (not for the torts though). At lowes I think, they sell carpet without the backing, in a box, that is easily thrown into the washer and drier and comes clean. It is also very tight knit. With my box turtle I do feed him outside of his cage and soak him, so he doesn't eat and rarely defecates in his cage (keeping the carpet clean).