Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question for you all regarding bedding for russian tortoises. From what I've gathered, a mixture of bed-a-beast and sand seems to be the preferred substrate. I found a product from T-Rex called Jungle Bed that says its a mixture of Forest Bed (their equivalent of bed a beast), coconut bark, calci-sand and vermiculite. This sounds like an ideal bedding and it doesn't require any mixing, however on the back it has a species guide with their bedding preferences and they DON'T recommend it for russians.

I was just wondering if any of you use this product or your thoughts on it. Thanks!

Steve

Sand/soil or sand/bed-a-beast is fine.

The other stuff you mentioned is probably expensive and unnecessary.

all you need is a layer of something that will allow the tort to dig in (they love to dig) and will help it retain heat and moisture. The substrate must drain well, too.

Calcium sand, bark, whatever is more than is needed.

Russians poop a lot, and you really don't want to have them pooping on some over-priced, pre-packaged substrate. Save yourself some $$ and just do the soil/sand/bed-a-beast stuff.

I'm assuming this is for an indoor setup. If outdoors, there is generally no need for special substrate. I've added a little sand to my outdoor pen because the soil around here is dense clay that drains poorly.

I'm pretty sure that russian tort's are dry scrubland type torts. Prairie even. I wish I could visit the habitat to know for sure, but ideally, I'd guess that if you wanted to go all out, a compacted dirt/soil would be best with a burrow perhaps predug and reinforced. Hay or long grasses on top of it all would offer cover, bedding, and the occasional snack.

Of course, until this happens at my house, I use wood shavings, with the hay on top.

Ian

A description of russian's natural habitat from www.russiantortoise.net:

Its habitats are dry open landscapes. It is most commonly found in sand and clay deserts with sparse grasses and bushes. Russian tortoises are rarely found in dense grassy areas or cultivated fields (Paraskiv,1956; Kuzmin, 2001).

I've also read that they are often found near water sources.

The russians I have are very adaptable. Here in Missouri it's humid, rains frequently, and the soil drains poorly. I try to keep the grass trimmed down, but their pen is definitely not a "dry open landscape". I make sure there are flat rocks for them to bask and their hide area has a brick floor so they don't have to spend the night on damp soil.

After 5 years of spending April-October outdoors 24 hours a day, they've shown no signs of respiratory or shell problems.

I have no idea about their origins. The 3 adults have the same basic shape and pattern, with two of them being a little yellower than the third. My 4th captive-bred "almost adult" resembles his parents, of course.

I use shredded coconut fiber which can be bought in bricks labeled as potting soil. It's sterlized and dehydated, so you have to soak it before you can use it. Fiborus when new, it grinds down to a fine powder as the tort digs thru it. Holds moisture well, I use it when hibernating him too. When it's time to change it out I save the old for potting soil, pre fertilized.

I live in the high desert, very much like their natural habitat. Russians are notorious non drinkers, getting most of their water from food but I do try soak him weekly. And he loves to run thru the sprinklers on a hot summer day.

I'm in the UK and my indoor enclosure is a mixture of topsoil and sand in one half (the half where the water and the hot spot is), and hemp (commercial name aubiose) in the sleeping half. The two halves are separated by an area of very large pebbles, to give a different texture for walking on. Lots of people over here have switched to hemp and Russians seem to love to burrow into it. I used to have all soil and sand (with pebbles and slates for basking), but it was too loose for him to burrow much and he just dug in a little bit. Now he completely buries himself in the hemp each night and loves it.

Nina