Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have Stars, Russians and Greeks and currently use alphalfa hay as substrate. It doesn't absorb real well and is a pain to clean. What works best for everyone else out there?

Hi,

In my indoor enclosure, half is a mixture of 60% topsoil and 40% playsand, and the other half is hemp (which they love to burrow into). The two areas are separated by a row of large flat pebbles, which gives a variety of surfaces to walk over and keeps the two substrates from mixing too much. I don't think you can get hemp in the States, and the neareest thing to it is aspen, but I gather from some people that it can sometimes be a little stringy.

Nina

Eucalyptus mulch.

For my sulcatas I use 50¾d-a-beast/50%sand. For my russian I use 70¾d-a-beast/20%sand. I have smaller areas with timothy grass for grazing and eating on. I also have cypress in the hides for the sulcatas and hay in the hide for the russian. Visit russiantortoise.com for more info.
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Julia
Sulcatas Echo and Tank

>>Eucalyptus mulch.
>>

isnt Eucalyptus mulch toxic if ingested? I would look into that

Hi NYbuckeye,

Eucalyptus mulch is definitely NOT toxic. Many zoos including the Bronx Zoo use it, and in fact, I was introduced to it myself through my long-time affiliation with the Bronx Zoo. I have been using Eucalyptus mulch for tortoise bedding with no problems for roughly 25 years now. I believe San Diego Zoo uses it also, which is another good reference for its use.

Cedar shavings and pine shavings (when damp) can produce turpens which are not considered good for reptiles; perhaps one of them is the substrate about which you were thinking when you mentioned the toxicity.

As an aside, I have also tried Aspen shavings for some tortoises, but they will ingest that, and it is quite liable to cause an impaction. I lost a very gorgeous 8" female Star whose gut was totally full of the Aspen shavings. It appeared that she had purposely ingested it in lieu of all other foods for several weeks or more. I never saw her doing so, but the necropsy was quite definitive. After that, I only used Aspen for extremely large tortoises who could readily pass it if they did eat any of it.

thanks for clearing that up for me. I knew that eucalyptus leaves are toxic, I spent some time in australia and learned quite a bit about koala's and their nutrition. I was unsure about the bark. Good to know

cypress mulch

for my redfoot, i used to use bed-a-beast... i tried cypress mulch, but he kept trying to eat it, and i was so terrified of him getting an impaction that i switched back.

however, back around december he broke off one of his toenails, and the vet suggested that while it was starting to heal, i keep him on peper towels or newspaper to help keep debris from sticking to it.

my tort actually seem to like the newspaper, though, so i've been using it ever since! i put a bunch of shreds under his hideout ledge, and he pushes around and around in them. i'll even put a piece of newspaper on his favorite "rest stops" when he's free-roaming, and he'll sit right on it!

so, even though it looks kinda ghetto, at least it's free, i'm recycling, he doesn't seem to mind it, and it's super easy to change it out in his enclosure.