Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

I just bought some GardenScape's organic top soil. Has anyone mixed this with sand to create a substrate before? I just wanted to check that this was safe to use; it was the only soil I could find that had "Organic" spelled out nice and clear. What ratio of soil to sand should I use for my star tortoises?

Thanks,

Becca

You will probably get a multitude of response. Several sites recommend such a blend. I think it has more do do with the size of the tort and the type of sand. I've heard that children's play sand is more similar to the type of sandy soil that is found in native areas. If a baby then may want to choose something more simple like newspaper and grass straw, paper pulp products or aspen. If older the sand soil mixture may be good.

Where do you get that stuff you were talking about in another
post - cactus fruities?

There was a distributor at a recent show in Bristol, VA. Coincidentally I saw an ad in a recent Reptiles magazine. They have products for various reps and amphibians

Thanks for the reply. These guys are yearlings. I was thinking of having one section of the pen a mix of soil and sand (what ratio should I use?) and the other part cedar mulch.

Best,

Becca

To be honest I'm not very sure. Some sites will recommend a 1:1 ratio but you may want to play around with it. You might want to get feedback on the cedar mulch. Many wood products will have aromatic oils that are very harmful to torts and other reptiles. I can't recall if cedar falls into this category but know that aspen does not and is readily available at full line pet stores. Others should respond about the use of cedar.

np

This may be useful in clarifying substrate plans. If can switch to cypress sounds like you will be better off.

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/substrates.html