Eating soil

TortNZ

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Hi

My torts outside substrate is made out of organic soil and coconut coir.
Just spotted her dug halfway down and eating what looks like the soil.
Is this OK?
 

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Tom

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Not okay. Something is amiss. Many possibilities.

This is one reason I always say to not use bought-in-a-bag soil. You can't know what composted material it is made of. It might be something that smells appetizing to your tortoise and it could be toxic.
 

TammyJ

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Any conclusion here? Tom said not to use bought-in-a-bag soil and I agree. And if it's mixed with coconut coir he may be eating that too and surely that's not good either. I think natural earth without any additives would be OK for substrate if you don't have anything else more suitable, and if he is being fed a correct diet for this species and seems healthy to you, that should be OK. But I am not the expert!
 

Blackdog1714

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If you have the coco coir already use that in place of the soil. If not then cypress mulch or fir bark. For the money I like cypress under with fine fir bark over. Looks nice and performs well
 

TortNZ

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Ok, bit confused now as I’m sure I a previous discussion I have been advised to use coconut coir or orchid bark. The orchid bark here in NZ is made of pine so I went for the coconut coir. I use it in my inside enclosure and at the moment no issues.
I will remove all substrate from the outdoor enclosure and start again.
 

Blackdog1714

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Orchid park is usually fine fir bark in the US so that may be the issue. Pine/cedar are no good for torts. Sorry for the confusion. You are good tort to being what you are!
 

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