Best Substrate for a Russian tortoise in New Mexico

[ElizabethAndTaco]

Hey everyone,
I was wondering if anyone had any substrate suggestions for Taco, my new tortoise. We live in New Mexico and the humidity here is super low! Our air sucks up all moisture. Keeping any kind of moisture in the substrate is nearly impossible. I currently have him (or her) in a 5 foot by 2 foot plastic storage container. I covered some of the container with part of the lid it came with so I could try to keep the soil moist (I cut it to pieces to fit around the lights I have). My current substrate is soil and coco coir. No matter what I do, I cannot keep humidity in the soil. The levels are always around 10-15. I tried to mix in some moss to keep water in the soil. The heat lamps dry out the top and dries out underneath by the end of the day. So when Taco goes to burrow, it gets all dusty and in the eyes. I absolutely hate that it does that, my poor Taco. Does anyone have any suggestions for a substrate that won’t get as dry and dusty as the soil/coir mix? I was thinking using maybe Sphagnum moss with Cypress Mulch on top, would this be a better option, less dusty?

Also, on a side note, do you think Taco is a girl or boy? When I got him/her the people kept him in a 10 gallon tank and had no idea what kind of tortoise he was or what the sex was. My poor Taco loves the new huge habitat, but I don’t want him to suffer with dirty eyes and eventually a RI.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!!

 

[Yvonne G]

I wouldn't worry about humidity with your full grown female Russian tortoise. They don't require a bunch of humidity. I would get rid of the moss and just go with either coco coir or orchid bark. Even dirt from outside would be ok. How about setting up an outdoor habitat when the weather gets better?

 

[ElizabethAndTaco]

Okay, I didn’t think that adult tortoises needed that much humidity, but I didn’t know if 10-15 was too low. But my main issue I’m worried about is the dust getting in her eyes and her breathing it in. I don’t want her to get eye or respiratory infections. I’ve tried just coco coir in her hiding spot and it was just as dusty as the soil mix. This morning when she woke up, it had gotten so dry that the dirt was so dusty and caked in her eyes. It took me a long time to get it all out. Poor Taco kept trying to scratch her eyes because it was so bad.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've never had that problem with orchid bark. I use the 'fine' grade. My store recently stopped selling it, and I searched online and found 4 other stores that carry it. So, if you do an online search for "fine grade orchid bark" it should help you find some.

 

[ElizabethAndTaco]

Okay, thanks, I’ll definitely look for it and try it out. I’ll try anything. I plan on maybe trying to move her outdoors later in the year. Right now, it’s about 30 degrees outside.

 

[Tom]

Okay, I didn’t think that adult tortoises needed that much humidity, but I didn’t know if 10-15 was too low. But my main issue I’m worried about is the dust getting in her eyes and her breathing it in. I don’t want her to get eye or respiratory infections. I’ve tried just coco coir in her hiding spot and it was just as dusty as the soil mix. This morning when she woke up, it had gotten so dry that the dirt was so dusty and caked in her eyes. It took me a long time to get it all out. Poor Taco kept trying to scratch her eyes because it was so bad.

Every substrate will dry out under heat lamps and in a dry room in a dry climate. You have to continually dump water into it to keep the dust down. How much water and how often is highly variable. If yours is drying out, you need more water more often. I usually dump the water bowls into the enclosure then rinse and wipe them out, and rinse again, and all of that water goes into the substrate daily. Then, when I refill, I fill the bowls all the way to the tippy top and let some spill over into the substrate. In my dry climate, this is usually enough to keep the soil at the proper level of dampness. In our hot dry summers, I sometimes need more. Over a winter cold spell, I might use less, or more because the heater is running and drying everything out. Its all by feel. If the substrate is too damp, I don't add any water until it dries out a bit. If the substrate is too dry, I add as much water as I need to dampen it up some more.

As usual, I agree with Yvonne. I'd get rid of the moss before the tortoise dates it and gets impacted.

Another thing you could do is make a humid hide and keep the substrate under it more damp than the outside substrate.