best DT substrate?

[Josh]

what substrate do you all use for your DTs?
i currently have my hatchlings on coco husk but i'm starting to feel they should be on granite gravel or something similar to their natural habitat. plus, coco husk is so dusty! how many of you use the soil/sand mixture? anyone on just straight gravel?
of course, ultimately they will be living outside on the soil but until then...?

 

[Yvonne G]

Josh: You can keep your coco husks on the damp side. It's not harmful to the little guys to have you dampen it down in order to keep the dust at bay. The light will quickly dry out the top layer and their walking on it also packs it down.

I use oat hay pellets. Most people don't agree that pellets are a good idea for little tortoises, but I have always used oat hay pellets and have raised many rescued desert tortoise babies on it with no ill effects. The thing to remember, if you use a substrate that you cannot get damp, such as the pellets, you will have to soak the babies more frequently. They say that the pellets don't offer good enough footing and could damage their little legs. But this is not the case. They are so light that they just walk on the top of the pellets, and the footing is just fine for them.

I also use orchid bark for my baby leopard tortoises. You can water this down too, to keep the dust down. At the end of the day this substrate is almost completely dry because of the lights. So dampness is really not an issue.

Yvonne

 

[Josh]

that raises another question... i soak my hatchlings (are they still hatchlings at 6mos old?) but i don't mist their enclosure at all. i've read in a couple different places that they don't need so much humidity...and again, thinking about their natural habitat, that makes sense

 

[Yvonne G]

You can mist their enclosure. They live in the desert, but stay hidden most of the time. And in the hiding place they poop and pee, which provides moisture to their substrate. As long as they are warm, the moist substrate isn't harmful.

Yvonne

 

[Josh]

i misspoke...i very occasionally mist them.
either way, how do you think clean granite gravel or something similar would work?

 

[Yvonne G]

This is a subject that has very outspoken opinions on either side. I'm surprised no one else has chimed in on it. In the wild, a tortoise doesn't usually pick up his food off the ground. He bites it off of a stem, stalk or blade. So in the wild, he usually doesn't have the opportunity to pick up sand or gravel on his food. Also, his desert floor is dry, and the food is dry, so the sand or gravel doesn't stick to the food and he usually won't ingest his substrate.

In captivity, we feed wet food, and have moistened substrate. They walk all over their food, dragging the substrate all over the food. I've seen radio-graphs of turtles and tortoises who have ingested small stones or sand. Some say that if you keep your tortoise very well hydrated, impaction is not a problem.

Personally, I would not use granite or gravel of any kind.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

Josh, I just dug up dirt form my yard which is fairly sandy soil. I figured they would be outside during the summer and that is what I would place them on it inside. I packed it down pretty hard watered it and packed it down again. Then let it dry out. I fed them on paperplates to help keep their food out of the dirt.

 

[JustAnja]

Josh, I just dug up dirt form my yard which is fairly sandy soil. I figured they would be outside during the summer and that is what I would place them on it inside. I packed it down pretty hard watered it and packed it down again. Then let it dry out. I fed them on paperplates to help keep their food out of the dirt.

When I lived in Phoenix I dug up dirt and sand from the desert and used that for substrate for my rattlesnakes. Of course my DTs were all adults, but I definitely would have used the exact same substrate for them as I did most of my rattlers. I went for very naturalistic setups for them, which would work nicely for little DTs. I so wish I could get some DTs here. Well that and some good old AZ sunshine right about now. *sighs*

 

[Josh]

i guess gravel isn't the right answer really because they could really easily eat the little rocks. maybe i will upgrade to a real sandy soil/sand mixture and make it a bit thicker so they have a nice solid foundation.

 

[chelonologist]

i guess gravel isn't the right answer really because they could really easily eat the little rocks. maybe i will upgrade to a real sandy soil/sand mixture and make it a bit thicker so they have a nice solid foundation.

I don't think ingestion of rocks or sand is much of an issue for desert tortoises, or any other tortoise species for that matter. I've watched wild desert tortoises eat sand, rocks, and bones - even the little guys do this. Having that inorganic matter in the stomach/intestines actually helps in digestion. That said, I seriously doubt that incidental or purposeful ingestion of sand, gravel, or rocks by captive desert tortoises will result in any troubles at all.