Coco coir users, does your tort get it stuck everywhere too?

Anyfoot

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Anyfoot, my coir is the reptile bricks they sell at petsathome (they only have one type) they were on offer two for £5 when I bought them.

Ladyengineer, I'd really recommend it, it holds moisture really well and it smells nice too. Also I've read that this shouldn't go mouldy especially if you mist it/don't leave it to sit like lots of plain soils do.
Ok. so you got 1.3kg for £5. Its all the same anyway, Do you have a homebargains shop near you. They are selling it off at £1.79 for 3kg. ;) Don't thank me, I'm not the shopaholic in our house.:)
 

ladyengineer

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I'm not experienced in other substrates, but I used coir mixed with cyprus mulch then sphagnum moss on top. Over time the moss and cyprus mulch mixes in the coir. I put fresh moss in as needed for my juvy redfoots. I've never had any problems so far. I don't bother with moss for my adults.
What species is your tort.

My tort is a Tunisian Tortoise. I'm just braving changing his substrate to hopefully improve the smoothness of his shell. I'm in totally alien territory at the moment, the breeder I got him from told me to avoid humidity at all costs and all the care sheets for tunisians recommend low humidity, but I think what he's on now is TOO dry... so confusing...

So I'm considering this coco coir stuff, which I've never really seen in the flesh with some medium sized pebbles mixed in, and possibly this cyprus stuff too. But yeah I'd read that fibre based substrates were hotbeds for mould, which seems to be false? Trying to read all these threads all over the place, so confusing. I AM sure that no sand will be involved!
 

Anyfoot

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My tort is a Tunisian Tortoise. I'm just braving changing his substrate to hopefully improve the smoothness of his shell. I'm in totally alien territory at the moment, the breeder I got him from told me to avoid humidity at all costs and all the care sheets for tunisians recommend low humidity, but I think what he's on now is TOO dry... so confusing...

So I'm considering this coco coir stuff, which I've never really seen in the flesh with some medium sized pebbles mixed in, and possibly this cyprus stuff too. But yeah I'd read that fibre based substrates were hotbeds for mould, which seems to be false? Trying to read all these threads all over the place, so confusing. I AM sure that no sand will be involved!
So yours is a Tunisian spur-thighed tortoise.
 

ladyengineer

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I'm not up on this species.
You need to get some advice on how to look after him before you change anything. Have you gone on the other African species section of this forum.
Yeah this is the issue I have, the tunisian is pretty rare and hard to find specific advice on them in particular, though a bunch of people have positively jumped to tell me that what I have now is not good enough. I'll continue the search in the morning. Thanks for telling me about what you use though. :)
 

HotdogKnight

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Ok. so you got 1.3kg for £5. Its all the same anyway, Do you have a homebargains shop near you. They are selling it off at £1.79 for 3kg. ;) Don't thank me, I'm not the shopaholic in our house.:)

I'll have to look into it, I think we have a similar sort of shop in town. I've never tried mixing it with moss, I bought a bag of sphagnum at the weekend and when I opened it it smelt SO strange that I've not braved using it yet!
 

Anyfoot

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I'll have to look into it, I think we have a similar sort of shop in town. I've never tried mixing it with moss, I bought a bag of sphagnum at the weekend and when I opened it it smelt SO strange that I've not braved using it yet!
Smells like nasty seaweed. You need to soak it in fresh water for 30 minutes then squeeze excess water off.
 

Anyfoot

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Yeah this is the issue I have, the tunisian is pretty rare and hard to find specific advice on them in particular, though a bunch of people have positively jumped to tell me that what I have now is not good enough. I'll continue the search in the morning. Thanks for telling me about what you use though. :)
Speak to @Yvonne G and she may be able to point you to an expert.
 

MikeCow1

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I'm trying different substrates because my little torts always want to dig in the coir and it ends up stuck all over them, face, eyes and all. But so far all do pretty much the same. Next up orchid bark, small grade. Thought most of my mite problem was from the coir, too. Even after freezing it first. But no matter what, so far, mites return after a few weeks
 

Arizona Sulcata

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What do you use for baby sulcatas? I prefer orchid bark, but coir would be my second choice.


HotDogKnight, I think coir is best for baby russians.

Tom, I use the coco coir. Always have. I've have never even tried anything else. Kind of a "if ain't broke don't fix it" kinda thing.
 

Tom

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I'm trying different substrates because my little torts always want to dig in the coir and it ends up stuck all over them, face, eyes and all. But so far all do pretty much the same. Next up orchid bark, small grade. Thought most of my mite problem was from the coir, too. Even after freezing it first. But no matter what, so far, mites return after a few weeks

I doubt you have mites. You almost certainly have one of the many varieties of substrate flies. These don't come from your coir. They come from the surrounding environment and thrive in your coir. They are harmless detrivores. They didn't come from your coir and that is why freezing the coir did not prevent them.
 

MikeCow1

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I doubt you have mites. You almost certainly have one of the many varieties of substrate flies. These don't come from your coir. They come from the surrounding environment and thrive in your coir. They are harmless detrivores. They didn't come from your coir and that is why freezing the coir did not prevent them.

I don't know, they don't have wings or fly and look a lot like wood mites. Very tiny, smaller than springtails and kind of tan colored. Whatever they are there's tons of them crawling all over. Not seeing any on the tort so far.
 

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