# Organic soil smells?



## Candy (Nov 11, 2009)

I just did Dale's enclosure with organic garden soil (by Miracle Grow) and it stinks. Has anyone else used this before? It says that it's all organic so I should think it would be alright for Dale, but now I'm almost afraid to put him back in his enclosure. The problem is I've never had dirt in his enclosure before It's just always been the moss, but with after being outside all summer I figured he'd miss it. Has anyone used this or does any of your enclosures smell at first?


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## Millerlite (Nov 11, 2009)

Yeah over time the smell will go away, give it a week or two, mine was the same and now it doesnt smell.


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## dreadyA (Nov 11, 2009)

Does it have poultry droppings? Or would that not be considered organic? Maybe you should try and let it air out outside


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## terryo (Nov 11, 2009)

Candy, did you mix it with anything? I usually mix it with some compost, Cyprus mulch and leaf litter. I always used the organic soil, but now I just buy plain soil. It's like 2$ a bag in KMart. (NOT potting soil) I still put the long fibered moss in his hide.


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## Candy (Nov 11, 2009)

Millerlite said:


> Yeah over time the smell will go away, give it a week or two, mine was the same and now it doesnt smell.



Thank you I'm so happy to hear that of course my boys aren't because Dale's in their room.  Hopefully the will be able to sleep. I just put Dale inside his enclosure and he's hiding in his shell. I put some plants in there also which he's never had before. We'll see how he likes them. I didn't realize how much dirt smelled though because we usually don't bring it in the house do we?


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## andred82vert (Nov 11, 2009)

Organic soils usually have different kinds of manure mixed in with them, (steer, bat, chicken, human)


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## Candy (Nov 11, 2009)

dreadyA said:


> Does it have poultry droppings? Or would that not be considered organic? Maybe you should try and let it air out outside



Abe, it does have poultry and steer manuer in it now I know why it smells so bad. My poor boys.  Not possible to let it air outside as the enclosure won't fit through the door without turning it sideways and then the dirt would fall out. Hopefully like Millerlite said it will air out hopefully sooner than two to three weeks though. Oh well it's all to make Dale feel more at home. 



terryo said:


> Candy, did you mix it with anything? I usually mix it with some compost, Cyprus mulch and leaf litter. I always used the organic soil, but now I just buy plain soil. It's like 2$ a bag in KMart. (NOT potting soil) I still put the long fibered moss in his hide.



Terry I did mix in some mulch and put quite a bit of moss on the top of it. So far he's just sitting there. He's probably in shock that I did that I just wanted him to be at home like Pio is at your house. 



andred82vert said:


> Organic soils usually have different kinds of manure mixed in with them, (steer, bat, chicken, human)


I does have Chicken and Steer manuer in it. Thanks for telling me that I went and looked at the bag after reading this.


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## dreadyA (Nov 11, 2009)

Fuuuchiiee...human poo in soil??? 
Poor boys!and good for Dale, hopefully he enjoys it.


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## Candy (Nov 11, 2009)

He's still just sitting there in his shell. He won't come out. Maybe he doesn't like the smell. It's been over an hour now. He liked the bathtub when I put him in it while I was redoing his enclosure. Maybe I'll make that his new enclosure. 

Yes he finally moved. He went under one of the plants in there. I started to think that he didn't like the smell either.


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## Madkins007 (Nov 12, 2009)

The one time I tried 'organic' with chicken waste in it, I ended up tossing it all out and getting some other stuff. Your mileage may vary but my stuff always stunk when I misted heavily, etc. Besides, I was not comfortable with the thought of what microorganisms might be in the poultry waste.

Our torts have a good sense of smell, one reason I sniff everything before I add it.


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## Candy (Nov 12, 2009)

Yeah if it doesn't stop smelling I might do what Terry suggested and go to Kmart to find some stuff that doesn't. It was so much work yesterday I couldn't even think of redoing it, but today is another day.


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## brymanda (Nov 14, 2009)

Microorganisms can actually be good for your enclosure because they'll help break down the nitrogen in the turtle poo, which reduces the smell. But, I would guess that commercial organic compost is probably steralized some where along the line, so it probably doesn't have the microorganisms any longer, which means you just have poo. In an outside environment, local microbes will move in and help the breaking in process, thus making it a rich nitrogen-based soil. However, in an indoor environment, you won't have those microbes, so that's probably part of the reason it smells so bad - there's nothing to break down the poo. If you can gather some decomposing leaves, leaf litter, etc. from outside and mix it in with the tank soil, you'll add some microbes to your setup and make it more healthy and less smelly.

I used organic soil in my enclosure mixed with coir and decomposing banana leaves. It smelled for a few days, but now it just smells like dirt. And that's also considering I just added a bunch of bunny poo to the soil for fertilizer.


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## Candy (Nov 14, 2009)

Thanks Brymanda. This weekend I was going to get new dirt, but like Millerlite had said it stopped smelling. I was kind of happy about that. I am amazed at the plants though they're actually doing well just having the UVB light on them like Terryo has in her viv. Dale did eat some of the begonia's that I had planted and some he trampled on, but right now he is enjoying sleeping behind a plant. It seems to be his favorite one except he is very curious about the violet that I sat in there. I will definetly get some leaf matter and through it in there also. Thanks for the information.


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## terryo (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm glad the smell left Candy. That's why I used to mix it. It kind of got rid of any smell. It's also why I don't use it anymore....lol Why dont you try putting some of that frog moss (I made another thread about it) around the water dish. It's so great....no mess in the water.


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## Candy (Nov 14, 2009)

I will look up your other thread and check it out. Thanks Terry. Dales so happy now even though he's indoors.


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## redreatta (Nov 23, 2009)

i just did the same thing with the organic soil, i mixed it with sand and desert snow and it does not have much of a smell. i was hoping iggie would like it


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## Candy (Nov 23, 2009)

The smell of mine went away in about 2 to 3 days. It's perfectly fine now. We are making a new enclosure for Dale though and this time I will find the kind of soil without manure in it.


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