Marine Momma

[Luckygirl]

I live in up state NY and im caring for my Marine son's sulcata while he's gone, Lucky is almost 3 and the size of half a basketball. Can anyone tell me what is the best substrate for the tortoise. We have repti bark in the enclosure right now, but it is super dusty and even though we spray it down the dust that accumulates cant be good for the tortoise.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings ! And a hardy shoutout to your son the Marine! ????????

You can do a number of things….but don’t forget to tell us more about the size of your enclosure during Winter & make sure you have the temps & humidity up.

Two thoughts on your substrate..l would take a 5 gallon bucket and go fill it up with the current substrate then add some water to saturate it. Once the water is absorbed, dump it back into the enclosure and do thecsame thing a few times until you have most thoroughly wetted down.

You could go to your Lowes or HomeDepot or nearest garden center & look for 100% cypress mulch. It costs about $4.00 here in MD for 2 or 3 cubic ft bag. Dump in a bucket, thoroughly saturate & add to current enclosure.

Make sure your temps all over are a minimum of 80f, including the floor/ground. Wet substrate & cold temps is a good recipe for a sick tortoise.

Good luck

 

[Luckygirl]

Greetings ! And a hardy shoutout to your son the Marine! ????????

You can do a number of things….but don’t forget to tell us more about the size of your enclosure during Winter & make sure you have the temps & humidity up.

Two thoughts on your substrate..l would take a 5 gallon bucket and go fill it up with the current substrate then add some water to saturate it. Once the water is absorbed, dump it back into the enclosure and do thecsame thing a few times until you have most thoroughly wetted down.

You could go to your Lowes or HomeDepot or nearest garden center & look for 100% cypress mulch. It costs about $4.00 here in MD for 2 or 3 cubic ft bag. Dump in a bucket, thoroughly saturate & add to current enclosure.

Make sure your temps all over are a minimum of 80f, including the floor/ground. Wet substrate & cold temps is a good recipe for a sick tortoise.

Good luck

Thank you so much

 

[TaylorTortoise]

Can we see pictures of your sons tort? Lucky is quite lucky indeed ? i hope you know this sulcata is going to get pretty big. Like 3 basketballs combined.