Orchid Bark

Reptilony

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Oh well...I really tought this would be good, wrong again, I had bought the western bark too before. What I don’t get is I heard coniferous are bad but fir is one so is fir an exception? I already bought a lot of substrate I hope the next one be good lol.

Maybe cypress mulch would be easier to find here.
 

Markw84

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As an option, I ran across this site that sells and ships orchid bark. I know it is hard to get outside of the west coast as fir trees are west coast products. SO this is an option that is reasonably priced. - a 2 cu ft bag is $20. That is more than my local garden center, but I am on the west coast. It is still way less expensive than most options I see anyone in the rest of the US having available.

http://www.tropicalplantproducts.com/products/417-orchid-bark.aspx
 
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Reptilony

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As an option, I ran across this site that sells and ships orchid bark. I know it is hard to get outside of the west coast as fir trees are west coast products. SO this is an option that is reasonably priced. - a 2 cu ft bag is $20. That is more than my local garden center, but I am on the west coast. It is still way less expensive than most options I see anyone in the rest of the US having available.

http://www.tropicalplantproducts.com/products/417-orchid-bark.aspx
It may be a better option than the reptibark but it would cost me more than 100$ of substrate for the size of my enclosure...I really gotta find something local
 

Farcryjj

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Hello fellow Québecois, I found this at my local garden center, you can also just use the coco coir bricks they sell at pet stores but it’s really messy that’s why the orchid bark is good but like you I have not been able to find any here. View attachment 269162View attachment 269163 I did not get any feedback from this forum yet but I believe as long as it’s not a coniferous it should be good.

Thanks everyone for answering! I found this in Home Hardware here. It's coconut mulch, not coir. I think it might be bigger pieces than the coconut coir I've been using. I might give it a try. :) $10 only.947cff5f-3131-4b0f-93bb-d8a281fd1437.jpg
 

Reptilony

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Thanks everyone for answering! I found this in Home Hardware here. It's coconut mulch, not coir. I think it might be bigger pieces than the coconut coir I've been using. I might give it a try. :) $10 only.View attachment 269423

Hey that could be a really good less messy alternative! I’ve done my research on the thing I bought( willow ) . It’s only the bark that may be poisonous in some types of willow but only if eaten in a large quantity, I’ve found horse actually really like eating fallen willows and they never had problems. Also, boiling it would make sure there ain’t any bad stuff left. But anyway now thanks to @xMario im gonna try to have a turf in my enclosure everywhere!
 

Tom

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Thanks everyone for answering! I found this in Home Hardware here. It's coconut mulch, not coir. I think it might be bigger pieces than the coconut coir I've been using. I might give it a try. :) $10 only.View attachment 269423
I like this for blue tongue skinks and a few other lizards and snakes, but I don't like it for tortoises. Its too loose, too many fibers, and not easy for them to walk on.
 

Farcryjj

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I like this for blue tongue skinks and a few other lizards and snakes, but I don't like it for tortoises. Its too loose, too many fibers, and not easy for them to walk on.

Ahhhhhhh
 

Mons

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I know this thread's been quiet for almost a year now, but thought I'd try my luck since I'm also wondering about orchid bark.

My vet first advised me to try a coconut chip substrate that has bigger chips. The goal was to find something with as few fibers as possible, since my 1.5 year old Russian tortoise was eating the aspen pine shavings I'd been using. Couldn't find any without stringy fibers, so I asked if she had a specific brand in mind. She responded that they all have some amount of fibers, so pointed me to orchid bark here: https://www.fruugo.us/komodo-orchid-bark-fine-forest-terrain-substrate/p-40864972-83573679

komodo_fine_orchid_bark_chips_forest_terrain_petworld_ireland.jpg
That is not easy to find in the U.S., but the link above lets you buy it in the U.S, but at $20 for shipping, and you can only get one bag at one time, for some reason.

So the two initial suggestions in this thread might work (GreenAll MicroBark or Uni-Gro Premium Orchid Bark), but I'm having a little trouble finding them as well, at least through Amazon, so I can get some additional input from other reviewers and see if anyone else mentions using it for their tortoises.

I did however come across these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006GKC6HS/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TN1NHT4/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

For that second link, one of the reviewers mentions using it for her indian star tortoise and that working out for them.

Does anyone have any experience with those last two? Or, how can you tell that they're totally safe for a Russian tortoise? (Might be a dumb question.)

-Monica
 

Blackdog1714

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The Reptibark is $14.36 for 24 quarts on Amazon. For the Eastcoast that is about as cheap as it gets. I use cypress mulch for my Russian and he Burrow’s in it just fine. My Leopard has Reptibark over cypress to save on $$ and makes it perfect for walking on
 

Myakoda

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Some people in some parts of the country seem to be having trouble finding orchid bark. I thought I could post a couple of pics here that might help them order it. I've been using both of these for years and had no issues. Its good stuff and cheap in bulk.

View attachment 162836 View attachment 162837
Hi Tom, I've been googling this bark, then clicked on this. It's you, so I want to get the Uni grow one. I've checked a few places, I can't seem to find this brand. I'll keep looking! I can't wait to get this in Myakoda's enclosure. Like now! :)
 

Myakoda

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jsheffield

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I'm still troubled/confused by the admonition against pine... orchid bark is made from fir or redwood (both pines) and cypress mulch is made from cypress (also a pine).

I use a mix of cypress mulch, orchid bark, and coconut husk... I can't help thinking the prohibition against pine is a holdover from the days when people just passed along information (right or wrong) that the tribe of tortoise had accepted as law.

Jamie
 

Maro2Bear

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I can't find those in Montreal... HD and Lowe's only carry cedar or pine mulch... I did find some Cocoa shell mulch, hemlock mulch and western barks in a local garden center. Do you think they can work with Russian tortoiseView attachment 269106View attachment 269107 View attachment 269109?

We used to use cocoa mulch all the time a few years back. We lived kind of close to Hershey where they reportedly had tons of the husks bagged and sold. The smell of the cocoa husks was very very strong, especially when moist. Not sure that strong cocoa smell would be good (for the tortoise). But it would smell nice in your house!
 

jsheffield

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I got a brick of the compressed coconut husks from Amazon, and I couldn't believe how much it expanded when broken up... I've been using that over cypress mulch and orchid bark from HD.

J
 
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