Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the best bedding for indoor tortoises? I've been using hay, it works ok but is not very absorbant and a mess to clean up. Your experience is appreciated!

Try a 50/50 mixture of organic dirt or eco earth with play sand. If its to dusty add a bit more dirt or eco earth.

Is this mixture pretty absorbant?

Well, try it out. Mix a little sand and dirt together and pour water on it. I would say its fairly absorbant, but everyone sees things a bit differently.

I've got my trio of russians in a cattle trough with about 14" of dirt, and I have yet to remove any feces (after almost a full year of the same soil). If you manage to get decent soil and keep it watered correctly (and otherwise well maintained), feces just kind of disappear. It's great fertilizer. I'm assuming after a while the dirt may start to smell, but so far it hasn't been too bad yet. The culprit for bad smells has so far only been left over food (that the torts drag around the enclosure) and old hay.

Of course, you need a decent sized enclosure, with good dirt, and enough of it. Otherwise you clean up feces just the same as any other substrate (pull out solid wastes). I just recently had to start removing feces from my hatchling's enclosure because she/he is growing at such a rapid pace (and therefore her feces are as well). I'm going to have to move her to a larger enclosure over the summer. Luckily I just moved my male in with the females in the cattle trough, so she can take up residence in the male's old 4'x2' enclosure (hers right now is just a small 2'x1.5' tank), and in a couple years, if it turns out to be a female, I plan on adding her to the group in the cattle trough.

I use straight topsoil (the kind with no additives). I usually just buy it in bags (in large quantities) at lowes or home depot, but if you have the ability, I highly suggest locating landscapers and trying to find some really good quality dirt. Good quality dirt should hold moisture well, and hold a burrow. That's the only complaint I have with the bagged topsoil (and other topsoils in general) is that it doesn't really hold a burrow, so my tortoises usually just completely bury themselves at night and dig back up to the surface in the morning.

Always experiment with the substrate before you put animals on it.