Coconut coir substrate for my two female pancakes.

Eric53

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Dec 6, 2014
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I'm likely going to go out and buy Coconut coir to use as substrate (i do not plan to do the mixing thing that some of you do) for my two female pancakes. Any of you have any experience using just Coconut coir as a substrate? And too, seeing as how coconut is not natural to pancake tortoises natural habitat, anyone have any problems with your pancake(s) ingesting some..? (My tort vet just this afternoon advised me to not use crushed oyster shell anymore as a substrate as he feels there is too much risk of the torts ingesting some and possibly becoming impacted. So there you have it..it is why i'm getting rid of the crushed oyster shell.)
 

Eric53

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Because of the danger of impaction from ingesting crushed oyster shell..this afternoon, my vet advised me to no longer use it as a substrate. I'm close to heading out to buy coconut mulch..anyone ever had any problems using it as a substrate? ..seeing that coconut is not natural to their environment..i mean..problems with pancakes ingesting some? (I"m thinking I'll use only one type of substrate as I don't plan on doing a mixing..well, a little of this and a little of that..do not want to do.) So any ideas that don't involve mixing I'm all in…
 

Tom

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I prefer fine grade orchid bark for pancakes, but coco coir will work too.

And ummm… oysters aren't native to their environment either.

Your tortoise(s) will fare much better with some moderate humidity.
 

Linhdan Nguyen

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I have no experience with pancake tortoises but i used a mixture (yes i know you dont want that) of soil and coco coir. Theyre really about the same (soil and coco coir). I know other members also use coco coir, either alone or as a mixture, and so far no problems.
I have russians by the way.
Also, cypress mulch or orchid bark work good as substrate also.
Hope that helps some.
 

Tom

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I prefer fine grade orchid bark for pancakes, but coco coir will work too.
And ummm… oysters aren't native to their environment either.

Your tortoise(s) will fare much better with some moderate humidity.
 

Eric53

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Thank you Tom & Linhdan, around noon (now it is close to 9 AM) after I've had my fill of coffee, I'll head out & buy orchid bark.

My two female pancakes are housed in a kiddy-pool..so they have space of a little over 4ft X 4ft so with it being round I'd say they have about 14ft of living space. I've had one from the time she was the size of a half dollar ..maybe one month old and I bought her in 2003. The other one was a rescue from pet store and I've had her about 3 years now. Thanks again!
 

Linhdan Nguyen

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Let us know how you like it :)
I dont have orchid bark available anywhere near me :( but good thing coco coir is!
 
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