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What does everyone use for indoor sulcata pens I was using dirt/sand mix but very heavy and makes a mess. Dont want to use hay because of fire hazard. Was thinking indoor/outdoor carpet? The pen is in my basement and is on a concrete floor. I have seen some reptile parks keep them on concrete floors for the winter and put them outside in the summer but would think that would ware their shells. Any suggestions welcome.
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Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko (dot, spot, casper)
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
0.1.0 Sulcata Tortoise (tank)
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise (tito and lulu)
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders (bernie and ernie)
0.0.3 Painted Turtles (larry, curly and moe)
0.0.1 Western Soft shell (Squirt)
2.2.0 Bearded Dragon (marshmellow,Bubba,Sparkles,Alfredo )
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor (beef)
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure (kermit)
0.1.0 Love Bird ( KIKI )
1.1.0 Dog (layla and Rosco)
2.1.0 Crazy Cats (babe, sabastian, tinkerbell)
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit (daisy)
0.1.2 Ferret (jordan RIP, Cosmo and Izzy)
0.2.0 Guinea Pigs (lilly and petunia)
0.0.1 White Tree Frog (dumpy jr.)
0.0.2 Fire Belly Newts (spork and blaze)
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad (ferdinan)
0.0.1 Red Spotted Newt ( red)
0.0.2 Bull Frogs (goliath and tubby)
0.0.1 Spectacled caiman (wilbert)
0.0.3 Green Anoles
1.0.0 Bahama Anole
0.0.1 Giant Millipede
Lots Of Fish

What I did that worked really well for me but was not for a sulcatta was; I first put down 1 by 2's on the concrete every 16", then I covered the whole pen with compressed foam board with the foil backing on both sides(1" thick) The foam went on top of the 1 by 2. Then I put down 1/8 thick masonite over the foam board. Finally I layed a pond liner over the whole thing and 12" up all the walls(actually up the studs, then I used 1/2 plywood as the walls over the pond liner). I used sand/soil also as the substrate, if you put enough in I suppose they wont make it down to the pond liner to damage it(like I said mine wasnt for sulcattas,but the liner will hold up quite well to them). If you are worried about the liner being damaged by them you can add another layer of the 1/8 masonite inside the liner before you fill it with the substrate. I would stick to the sand/soil combo though, it works the best. Good luck

I use cypress mulch for my indoor tortoise pens during the winter. The cypress mulch is inexpensive, can be misted if needed but drys out fairly quickly, is resiliant to decay and molding unlike hay or grass clippings, easy to spot clean and light weight, and provides burrowing opportunites and traction as well. The only downside is potential ingestion, so I put food on paper plates when feeding my torts in the winter pens. I put about four inches or so on the bottom of their pens and they have done well on it for a couple of years now when housed indoors.

One winter I built a winter pen for my largest redfoot tortoise and a rescued sulcata tort in my carport storage shed before it became my colubrid brumation room during the winter. The pen was built using 1x12 boards across the back of the shed and the floor was concrete. The cypress mulch worked well over the concrete and kept the floor pretty clean all winter long.