Greek Tortoise Substrate

asianfly

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Nov 24, 2017
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Hi All. I am brand new to tortoises and have found a wealth of information from this forum to help me on my journey. However I am a bit confused as I have been reading and searching through the stickys and post on substrate. I have ordered a Gold Greek Tortoise and through the forum have learned it is probably a Testudo gracea terrestris. However in reading some of the posts it lists the substrate to be 50/50 organic top soil and play sand. However when I read other posts it states that you should not use sand at all. Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks in advance.
 

chemprentice

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Hi, I also have a Greek tortoise and I ended up using coco coir as the substrate. It retains humidity fairly well after it's initially constituted with water.
 

Kaliman1962

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Jun 26, 2016
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i have a greek too, i use organic top soil, thinking of mixing some coco coir in with it
 

Mr. Tortle

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I also have a Greek, I use a 70/30 potting soil/ play sand mix with a thin top layer of repti-bark. I felt that the 50/50 ratio was too much sand so I adjusted accordingly. Hope this helps!
 

Kimmers000

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I have a Golden Greek too - I decided on coco coir in most of her table, with fine reptibark at one end just for something different for her to walk on. I was advised by a very reputable breeder that Mesopotamian Greeks have much drier humidity requirements than most Mediterranean torts, and I’m happy with coir for the ease of getting the humidity right.

Edited to add: the humidity requirements for babies are always different than adults, so the “keep her much drier” advice given to me for my huge mature adult female is most probably different than for a hatchling!
 

mlongmire

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I just purchased a golden greek tortoise hatchling. I have other reptiles ( 5 snakes) but I am new to tortoises I did my research and found a lot of contradictory information on humidity requirements. So any advice from experienced people would be greatly appreciated. As far as substrate is concerned I a currently using a layer repti bark and with layer of sphagnum & peat moss underneath to retain some moisture. I also mist him daily and soak him almost every day. He is eating but he is still a little timid. He sleeps or "rests" a lot. Is this normal for a hatchling?
 

TechnoCheese

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I just purchased a golden greek tortoise hatchling. I have other reptiles ( 5 snakes) but I am new to tortoises I did my research and found a lot of contradictory information on humidity requirements. So any advice from experienced people would be greatly appreciated. As far as substrate is concerned I a currently using a layer repti bark and with layer of sphagnum & peat moss underneath to retain some moisture. I also mist him daily and soak him almost every day. He is eating but he is still a little timid. He sleeps or "rests" a lot. Is this normal for a hatchling?

How are your temperatures? Usually inactivity is due to temps being too low. Sadly, I’m not sure how high the temps are supposed to be for a Greek, because I don’t keep them.
 

mlongmire

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Jan 21, 2018
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How are your temperatures? Usually inactivity is due to temps being too low. Sadly, I’m not sure how high the temps are supposed to be for a Greek, because I don’t keep them.
temps are 95+ high end 80ish low end
 

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