Is there a substrate with no smell??

Wendylori8

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Hi! I am looking for a substrate that does not have any odor... Does this exist?
We recently moved to a smaller house and I now have to keep my tortoise enclosure in the guest room. I have to keep the door closed to keep my dogs out of the room and the smell of the new, clean substrate is strong when you walk in! I currently have a mixture of plantation soil and repti chip. Is it possible it is the plantation soil that smells and if I just use the reptichip alone it would not smell? Have you found anything that doesn't smell AT ALL?

My elderly mother is coming to visit and she is very sensitive to smells and I know she is going to complain about the earthy smell. If there is not a substrate that doesn't smell, worst case scenario could I just use shredded paper or something just for the time she is here?
 

wellington

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Any that I have used have a smell. Not a strong smell to me but also not closed up in a small room.
The only stuff that may not smell at all is bad for tortoises.
What if you put a gate across the doorway to keep the dog out and open windows and door and air out the room? It likely is more present because you are keeping the room shut up tight. Air it out and see how that goes.
If it's an adult then a little time on paper towels shouldn't hurt. If it's still a baby then a few days without proper humidity could start the shell to dry out more and possibly pyramiding to want to develope.
 

Krista S

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I am also not aware of any substrates that don’t have a smell. I also have my tortoise in a small bedroom. I’ve got about 12 cubic feet of fir bark mulch in his enclosure and for the first few days it smelled like a forrest and was very over powering, but the smell was gone within a few days. It just dissipated on its own with the bedroom door open and regular air movement in the house. When I was using a smaller enclosure I used to use peat moss (which I don’t recommend anymore) and reptibark and it also had the earthy smell you’re talking about. Even with this, after a day of air circulation the smell is gone. I agree with @wellington to find a way to get air circulating in that room and the smell should leave pretty quickly. With the door closed, the smell has nowhere to go.
 

Tom

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I've had the same experience with orchid bark as the other posters here. You can smell it when you first put it in there, but there is no smell after that. Its also the best substrate to be using. If you keep it lightly damp, there is no dust and no smell.

What species and size tortoise?
 

Maggie3fan

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Hi! I am looking for a substrate that does not have any odor... Does this exist?
We recently moved to a smaller house and I now have to keep my tortoise enclosure in the guest room. I have to keep the door closed to keep my dogs out of the room and the smell of the new, clean substrate is strong when you walk in! I currently have a mixture of plantation soil and repti chip. Is it possible it is the plantation soil that smells and if I just use the reptichip alone it would not smell? Have you found anything that doesn't smell AT ALL?

My elderly mother is coming to visit and she is very sensitive to smells and I know she is going to complain about the earthy smell. If there is not a substrate that doesn't smell, worst case scenario could I just use shredded paper or something just for the time she is here?
Being an elderly mother myself, I can tell you she will not sleep with a tortoise making smells and noises.
 

Wendylori8

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I've had the same experience with orchid bark as the other posters here. You can smell it when you first put it in there, but there is no smell after that. Its also the best substrate to be using. If you keep it lightly damp, there is no dust and no smell.

What species and size tortoise?
He is a red foot. 18 yrs old
 

wellington

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What size enclosure is he in now? It's likely way too small for what an 18 year old size should be. The whole room should be dedicated to him. A russian that stays pretty small needs a minimum of a 4x8 foot. A redfoot much larger space.
 

Wendylori8

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Is there any place I can find good plans or you tube videos on how to build an outdoor enclosure for a red foot? I have found someone to build it for me, but I need something to show him what I want!
 

Tom

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Is there any place I can find good plans or you tube videos on how to build an outdoor enclosure for a red foot? I have found someone to build it for me, but I need something to show him what I want!
Something this size would work perfectly:

Or half of one like this:

More threads with more explanation of how to build it:

 

Glosseryck

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Hi! I am looking for a substrate that does not have any odor... Does this exist?
We recently moved to a smaller house and I now have to keep my tortoise enclosure in the guest room. I have to keep the door closed to keep my dogs out of the room and the smell of the new, clean substrate is strong when you walk in! I currently have a mixture of plantation soil and repti chip. Is it possible it is the plantation soil that smells and if I just use the reptichip alone it would not smell? Have you found anything that doesn't smell AT ALL?

My elderly mother is coming to visit and she is very sensitive to smells and I know she is going to complain about the earthy smell. If there is not a substrate that doesn't smell, worst case scenario could I just use shredded paper or something just for the time she is here?
I love bark as a substrate. It does smell a tiny bit but it's not a bad smell, just an earthy smell. There's great threads on here with different bark suggestions.
 

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