Advice on coco coir

[Augustus1508]

So ive been using coco coir for a little while inside my torts viv, however im worried about the stringy bits that are inside.

Is it necessary to get rid of them - or will keeping them in the coco not impact my tort at all? Its only because he runs throufg his food makes it as dirty as possible and he does often drag the stringy parts into his food which often im here to remove them but im worried about the times im not.

Any advice would be supppper helpful!

 

[Tom]

The stringy bits can cause impaction and kill your tortoise. You need to find a brand that doesn't have those. Also, be sure to buy "coco coir" or "Coco peat", not "coco fiber".

Also, keep it damp and hand pack it to reduce the mess.

I like coir for baby Testudo, but prefer orchid bark for all other species, and older larger Testudo.

 

[TylerStewart]

So ive been using coco coir for a little while inside my torts viv, however im worried about the stringy bits that are inside.

Is it necessary to get rid of them - or will keeping them in the coco not impact my tort at all? Its only because he runs throufg his food makes it as dirty as possible and he does often drag the stringy parts into his food which often im here to remove them but im worried about the times im not.

Any advice would be supppper helpful!

We use coir a lot for babies, if your supply has a lot of strings, you can quickly run it through a screen and it'll remove almost all of it. We found a local source that has almost no strings in it which has been nice.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

My tortoise got constipation from eating the long fibers, after that I sifted through his substrate to get rid of them all.

 

[Mabelthetort]

So ive been using coco coir for a little while inside my torts viv, however im worried about the stringy bits that are inside.

Is it necessary to get rid of them - or will keeping them in the coco not impact my tort at all? Its only because he runs throufg his food makes it as dirty as possible and he does often drag the stringy parts into his food which often im here to remove them but im worried about the times im not.

Any advice would be

I use non-stringy coco coir, but I was having the same issue of my tort treading it onto her feeding slate so I switched to orchid bark in that half of her enclosure. She spends more time on the coco coir side (maybe because she’s familiar with it already) but she does go to the orchid bark side to eat and her slate is soooo much cleaner now. Also, I guess they would experience multiple terrains in the wild so it’s nice to have a bit of both.

 

[Augustus1508]

I use non-stringy coco coir, but I was having the same issue of my tort treading it onto her feeding slate so I switched to orchid bark in that half of her enclosure. She spends more time on the coco coir side (maybe because she’s familiar with it already) but she does go to the orchid bark side to eat and her slate is soooo much cleaner now. Also, I guess they would experience multiple terrains in the wild so it’s nice to have a bit of both.

I was actually thinking of doing this myself as he has his food bowl kind of central in his viv so was thinking of having either sides coco then a good amount of the centre be orchid bark, hes really good when knowing not to eat "dirty" food as such

 

[COmtnLady]

I use the coco coir that comes in compressed bricks. It has no stringy fibers in it, plus doesn't take up as much room when being stored for future use. I also put a layer of orchid bark over the top of it, so it doesn't track all over the place and make the water dish muddy.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

So ive been using coco coir for a little while inside my torts viv, however im worried about the stringy bits that are inside.

Is it necessary to get rid of them - or will keeping them in the coco not impact my tort at all? Its only because he runs throufg his food makes it as dirty as possible and he does often drag the stringy parts into his food which often im here to remove them but im worried about the times im not.

Any advice would be supppper helpful!

What brand of coir have you been using? Don’t suppose you have the link?

Agree with the above, ones we’ve used haven’t had the fibrous pieces, but tbh we ditched coir pretty quickly and opt for a thick layer of fine grade orchid bark

 

[Augustus1508]

What brand of coir have you been using? Don’t suppose you have the link?

Agree with the above, ones we’ve used haven’t had the fibrous pieces, but tbh we ditched coir pretty quickly and opt for a thick layer of fine grade orchid bark

I dont have a link unfortunately!

But its the swell reptiles coir soil & we have used habistat coco coir brick

We've tried different brands but weve noticed they have had those pieces in and obviously we dong want to risk harm to our still young tortoise especially with going through a new phases of thinking everything is food and everything is his mate

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I dont have a link unfortunately!

But its the swell reptiles coir soil & we have used habistat coco coir brick

We've tried different brands but weve noticed they have had those pieces in and obviously we dong want to risk harm to our still young tortoise especially with going through a new phases of thinking everything is food and everything is his mate

Aw strange! I’m sure we’ve used that brand before and all was ok, wonder if their consistency has changed

 

[Augustus1508]

Aw strange! I’m sure we’ve used that brand before and all was ok, wonder if their consistency has changed

Thats what im thinking! Ive made sure its the right consistency before putting it in and everything and the stringy bits are just so apparent, we do have orchid bark chips too which weve put mainly around his food/water bowls so accidental ingestion doesnt happen!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thats what im thinking! Ive made sure its the right consistency before putting it in and everything and the stringy bits are just so apparent, we do have orchid bark chips too which weve put mainly around his food/water bowls so accidental ingestion doesnt happen!

It was a good few years ago we bought the coir from them, it’s possible their more recent batches are like this which is a shameperhaps you could even place his dish on a large slab or something too? Might help if he’s dragging the odd bit onto the substrate

 

[Augustus1508]

It was a good few years ago we bought the coir from them, it’s possible their more recent batches are like this which is a shameperhaps you could even place his dish on a large slab or something too? Might help if he’s dragging the odd bit onto the substrate

Thats what im thinking of doing as he does love the coco soil as he can burrow a bit better!