Changing the substrate

[Nibs]

Hi all,

Just wondered how often you change the substrate in your indoor enclosures? The last thread I could find on this was quite old, so just wanted to check that the current opinion was still that if you are spot checking regularly, then an entire change of substrate would be a rare thing to need to do??

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

I only spot check & add more substrate (coco coir) when it looks like its getting low.
I tried adding pill bugs and earth worms to help keep the substrate clean but i realized my enclosure isnt humid/wet enough for them to survive. Theyve all disappeared.. Maybe to the bottom of the enclosure, im not sure. The only one i see left is a worm that hangs out by the water dish.

 

[wellington]

I don't change mine. Cleaning it, (spot cleaning) is all you should need to do, depending on type of substrate. If using anything that molds, like hay, then change it often. If I'm changing enclosures, I wI'll then replace all old substrate

 

[Tom]

I do the same as Linhdan and Barb.

 

[Yvonne G]

Because I have several babies in each indoor habitat, all that footwork around the feeding tile tends to trample and compress the excess food and poop into hard blobs around the tile. So every day I have to remove the tile and pick up big clumps of stuck-together substrate. Then I smooth good substrate back over the site and put the tile back. My indoor habitats are only in use from Autumn until the weather is good enough to move the babies outside in the Spring, and then I dump all the old substrate and clean out the habitat so it will be ready for the coming Autumn's inhabitants.

 

[Speedy-1]

I just spot clean and ad if needed also !

 

[Nibs]

Thanks all - just thought I'd better check after I read elsewhere that substrate should be changed weekly. That seemed excessive, so I wanted to check with those that know better!

 

[keithsf]

Mine are both less than a year old and I keep them in fairly closed chambers for increased humidity.
I spot clean like the others mentioned, and soak both of my torts regularly where they seem to do most of their peeing and pooping.
However, after a few weeks I detect a bit of a urine odor coming from their cages, and then I replace the substrate in the areas of the cage where they spend the bulk of their time, in their sleeping and basking areas.
IMO, it's kind of akin to having a fish tank and changing just 1/4 of the water rather than all of it.
But definitely not weekly.