DIRT IN HIDE DRY AND POWDER-LIKE

[Carol S]

The dirt in my Desert Tortoises hide is super dry and powder-like. I am afraid to add water to it as I am afraid the wetness in the hide at night and the real high humidity would be bad for them. One of my 4 four Desert Tortoises seems to be bothered because of the dryness of the dirt in the hide. I sprinkle their enclosure during the day when it is real hot outside, but I am careful to not let the water run into their hide.

Your suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Tom]

If this is an above ground hide, how about simply digging it out a bit and then adding back some different substrate of your choice?

 

[ascott]

seems to be bothered because of the dryness

May I ask what it is that leads you to believe this? I have 4 CDTs that live here. One of their natural dug burrows gets this way...and it is still his first choice to be in..even though he has another option with an above ground chick made burrow/hide.....

 

[Carol S]

seems to be bothered because of the dryness

May I ask what it is that leads you to believe this? I have 4 CDTs that live here. One of their natural dug burrows gets this way...and it is still his first choice to be in..even though he has another option with an above ground chick made burrow/hide.....

When one of the tortoises comes out of the hide (Brutus) he rubs his eyes off and on for a short time and then he seems fine a short while later. He eyes look look healthy.

 

[Utah Lynn]

seems to be bothered because of the dryness

May I ask what it is that leads you to believe this? I have 4 CDTs that live here. One of their natural dug burrows gets this way...and it is still his first choice to be in..even though he has another option with an above ground chick made burrow/hide.....

When one of the tortoises comes out of the hide (Brutus) he rubs his eyes off and on for a short time and then he seems fine a short while later. He eyes look look healthy.

He's prrobably just rubbing the dust from his eyes. My RT's also do this.

 

[ascott]

I personally would let your torts burrow be.......I would not change what you are doing in keeping it from being flooded....when you water the tort yard you can spray over the burrow like when you are watering the rest of the yard...just don't let the burrow get directly flooded out....if I do this with the one that dug his own burrow...he kinda looks at me like "hey!, what the?" and he immediately goes and digs away the wet dirt and covers it over with the dry dirt from inside...lol...so I purposely do not do this often....but his burrow goes down about 6+ feet and is at a 40-45 degree angle ...so when I do water his yard space the entire top ground gets watered which includes over the top of where his burrow is, just not the entrance....