Dust-Free Substrate for Winter Hideout

[Suranai]

Winter is coming, and it’s time to place the Aldabra into their winter enclosure. The issue I face every year is the amount of dust that gets generated. Last year, I covered the ground with cypress mulch—it helped at first, but after about a month it still created a lot of dust. I switched to hay but that turned mold real fast. I saw a thread about keeping the substrate damp but that could pose health concern because I don't think cold weather and high humanity mix well. Of course, I always try to keep the air temperate to be around 80F but I don't want to take that chance. During winter, I'd like to keep the humanity between 60-70%. It had worked well for me in the past and I want to keep it that way. I’ve seen other people use sand, but I’ve also heard horror stories about tortoises dying after consuming it.

What are your thoughts on a good substrate that produces minimal dust with little potential for mold?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I would say fir bark is really resistant to mold and about as dust free as you can go. The problem is, where you can get the amount you need for a fair price?

 

[Tom]

Winter is coming, and it’s time to place the Aldabra into their winter enclosure. The issue I face every year is the amount of dust that gets generated. Last year, I covered the ground with cypress mulch—it helped at first, but after about a month it still created a lot of dust. I switched to hay but that turned mold real fast. I saw a thread about keeping the substrate damp but that could pose health concern because I don't think cold weather and high humanity mix well. Of course, I always try to keep the air temperate to be around 80F but I don't want to take that chance. During winter, I'd like to keep the humanity between 60-70%. It had worked well for me in the past and I want to keep it that way. I’ve seen other people use sand, but I’ve also heard horror stories about tortoises dying after consuming it.

What are your thoughts on a good substrate that produces minimal dust with little potential for mold?

Cypress mulch or orchid bark are both fine, but both have to be kept damp. You are correct that cold and damp is not a good combination, so that is why you have to keep it warm. All substrates will become dusty if allowed to dry out. Keeping the room at 80 is insufficient. The floor down where the tortoises are should be kept around 80-82, and there needs to be an area to warm up higher than that during the day. But be careful as CHEs and heat lamps are not safe or effective and will damage the top of the carapace while not warming the core of larger tortoises.

 

[Suranai]

Thank you for all the responses.

@The_Four_Toed_Edward
Fir bark price is off the roof!!!

@Tom
I guess I’ll use cypress mulch again. Keeping the mulch consistently damp might be a bit challenging without saturating the air with humidity. Although air temperature is around 80°F, there’s a spot under the heat lamps that reaches about 95°F. And you’re right—I do notice that the lamps only seem to warm the top of the shelf, and so I try to reduce the effect my reducing the wattage from 150W to 75W and lower the high by little. Other than that I don't know what other options I have. As for the ground temperature, I’m not sure. For now my tortoises sleep on plywood, and they seem to be doing fine.

Alternative route,
How about putting down bricks or concrete slabs? After all, the materials do absorb air temp really well. I know these materials are fraud upon but it's only for winter.

Any opinion?

 

[Tom]

Thank you for all the responses.

@The_Four_Toed_Edward
Fir bark price is off the roof!!!

@Tom
I guess I’ll use cypress mulch again. Keeping the mulch consistently damp might be a bit challenging without saturating the air with humidity. Although air temperature is around 80°F, there’s a spot under the heat lamps that reaches about 95°F. And you’re right—I do notice that the lamps only seem to warm the top of the shelf, and so I try to reduce the effect my reducing the wattage from 150W to 75W and lower the high by little. Other than that I don't know what other options I have. As for the ground temperature, I’m not sure. For now my tortoises sleep on plywood, and they seem to be doing fine.

Alternative route,
How about putting down bricks or concrete slabs? After all, the materials do absorb air temp really well. I know these materials are fraud upon but it's only for winter.

Any opinion?

Turn the heat lamps off. You are doing permanent damage to the tops of the shells.

Use Kane mats underneath and radiant heat panels over head to make a warming spot. Add some LEDs next to the RHP to make it look bright and "sunny" under the heat.

Put a digital thermometer on the floor to see what the temp is where the tortoises are.

Bricks and concrete are too abrasive and they suck heat away too. Plywood is fine and rubber horse stall mats serve the big ones well. The rubber smell goes away quickly.

 

[EppsDynasty]

A bare house .....
This is what you need, all this other stuff is no good. Tom is right you need heat mats not bulbs, your floor (where the tort is sitting) is cold without there being a heat mat. We prefer Stanfield to Kane mats, Kane are about half the wattage of a Stanfield and with a rheostat you can really dial the temps in to get them correct. Anything besides an insulated house with a mat on the ceiling and one on the floor is wrong and not doing anything good for your tort. I will include a video of ours for you to see what a correct setup looks like .......

 

[Suranai]

@Tom @EppsDynasty
Alright, I just spent roughly $1k on radiate heat panels and matts. I've never use these products before. What's a good height for the radiate panels? I"m thinking 3 feet because my torts are about a foot and few inches tall when laying flat.

 

[EppsDynasty]

It will depend on your setup....you want to heat the space not the tort. You will want to control the heat mats or RHP to make the inside space 80 degrees, your not looking for an exact temp on the mats.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

@Tom @EppsDynasty
Alright, I just spent roughly $1k on radiate heat panels and matts. I've never use these products before. What's a good height for the radiate panels? I"m thinking 3 feet because my torts are about a foot and few inches tall when laying flat.

How big is the space we are talking about? How tall are the ceilings?

 

[Suranai]

How big is the space we are talking about? How tall are the ceilings?

Here's a summary of my setup plan:

My Winter enclosure is insulated 10'x12' shed and 6' tall. Right now the temp is kept with 1500W oil-filled space heater and couple small fans for air circulation. I want to avoid using this as much as possible to reduce the electrical cost - hopefully my order arrive soon.

Inside this 10x12 enclosure, there's a smaller space of 3'x9' and 3' tall where the torts normally sleep. I plan to install smaller radiated heaters and matts inside this space to keep temp at 80F during the night. The larger heater would be installed in the larger space (with LED light for basking) and would be turn off during the night to save cost.

 

[EppsDynasty]

Without heat mats this space will not work. 6 foot tall means all the heat is at the top of the shed, even your smaller area loses it heat into the bigger space giving you a loosing battle against rising heat and humidity. Your floor needs to measure at least 80 degrees where there is no mat, or he's just cold.

 

[Tom]

Here's a summary of my setup plan:

My Winter enclosure is insulated 10'x12' shed and 6' tall. Right now the temp is kept with 1500W oil-filled space heater and couple small fans for air circulation. I want to avoid using this as much as possible to reduce the electrical cost - hopefully my order arrive soon.

Inside this 10x12 enclosure, there's a smaller space of 3'x9' and 3' tall where the torts normally sleep. I plan to install smaller radiated heaters and matts inside this space to keep temp at 80F during the night. The larger heater would be installed in the larger space (with LED light for basking) and would be turn off during the night to save cost.

Here is another tip I've learned over the years: Never use the heaters at 1500 watts. The cord, the outlet, and the control panel all get way too hot for my comfort level. I use them only on the "Low" setting which is 600 watts. My reptile room is about 10x20 feet, and one of these heaters keeps it at 80 in there most of the year. For our rare winter cold spells where temps drop below freezing on the occasional night, I have a scene heater set on its own thermostat. The two heaters have no problem maintaining the temperature even on nights in the 20s here. The other benefit of this set up is that if one heater or thermostat fails, the other will save the day.

BIG NOTE: When the air temp in the room is 80, the floor is NOT 80 in there. Even if I set the heaters to 90, the floor is still cold and will suck the heat out of a tortoise laying on it. Check your floor temps. Put a thermometer on the floor and cover it with a pillow or something to keep the warm air off of it and see what the real floor temperature is with something laying directly on it.

 

[EppsDynasty]

BIG NOTE: When the air temp in the room is 80, the floor is NOT 80 in there. Even if I set the heaters to 90, the floor is still cold and will suck the heat out of a tortoise laying on it. Check your floor temps. Put a thermometer on the floor and cover it with a pillow or something to keep the warm air off of it and see what the real floor temperature is with something laying directly on it.

This is great info......
We put ALL our totes or enclosures on milk crates to allow the warm air to surround the tote/enclosure and prevent the ground from sucking all the heat out of it.