need quick reply please!

[james]

i just brought my Desert Tortoise home form the vet. the vet reccommended "Bed A Beast" one of those bricks you put in water and it expands. the substrate is still very moist, and all of the sun is gone. would it be OK for my DT to be on it even if it's moist for a couple days????

 

[Yvonne G]

If I were you, I'd mix in some top soil...about 50/50. As far as the moisture goes, remember this: cold/moist = BAD!!! Warm/moist= 0k

Yvonne

 

[Yvonne G]

I just realized you said, "...the sun is gone." Does that mean you have your tortoise outdoors on bed-a-beast? There's nothing wrong with housing a desert tortoise on the native soil in your yard. But if, for some reason, you have had to add Bed-a-beast to his outdoor enclosure, then I would make sure his sleeping place is dry. It will be quite ok for him to roam around on moist substrate during the day, but at night, outdoors, he needs to be dry.

Yvonne

 

[james]

he is indoors. the bed a beast will be used for his indoor encloure. the ceramice heater is on, so hopefully it's warm moist! i'll have to check. any specific brand topsoil you reccommend?

 

[Redfoot NERD]

AND B-a-B has a tendency to retain water like a sponge! Indoors it's always best to keep their hide warm and moist. Yvonne is right.. moist and 'cold'= RI. And you don't want to go there.

I'm not an "Exotic' Vet.. but I have to Q? if where you just came home from is.

Terry K

 

[james]

it was a cold moist. i took out majority of it, i left a thin layer in there so it can dry quicker. i am also leaving the ceramic heater on all night to keep it warm. i'm going to leave the rest of it out all day tomorrow, and so on if i have to. i'm hoping once i add in the soil yvonne was talking about it dries up a bit. in the process of taking the BAB out, i dropped a HUGE amount of it ony my carpet. such an interesting day. haha. the vet is supposed to be an 'exotic' vet. he sees a lot of reptiles he says. i think i'm going to look around and see what else i can find. just didn't get the right vibe from him.

 

[katesgoey]

it was a cold moist. i took out majority of it, i left a thin layer in there so it can dry quicker. i am also leaving the ceramic heater on all night to keep it warm. i'm going to leave the rest of it out all day tomorrow, and so on if i have to. i'm hoping once i add in the soil yvonne was talking about it dries up a bit. in the process of taking the BAB out, i dropped a HUGE amount of it ony my carpet. such an interesting day. haha. the vet is supposed to be an 'exotic' vet. he sees a lot of reptiles he says. i think i'm going to look around and see what else i can find. just didn't get the right vibe from him.

If you get this early enough, you can use a hair blow dryer to dry it out faster. Hope this helps you. sorry your vet wasn't more of a partner with you in caring for your baby. You can take control now though of many things so just keep up your good work!

 

[Crazy1]

James you can also set it on a cookie sheet and place it in a low oven to help dry it out (BaB not the tort LOL). I added sand to mine BaB but found for a DT yearling, good old fashion yard dirt did fine. (just an FYI)

 

[james]

If you get this early enough, you can use a hair blow dryer to dry it out faster. Hope this helps you. sorry your vet wasn't more of a partner with you in caring for your baby. You can take control now though of many things so just keep up your good work!

i actually used the hair dryer last night a bit. i kept getting confused between the high and low button, that was a mess. but it dried it out enough. i took most of it out and left a htis layer so it would dry better. i have the rest of it outside in the sun, and also spilled all over my floor

thanks CRAZY for the baking tip. if it's not dry enogh when i get home from work tonight, i'm doing this for sure.

thanks again everyone! this forum is extremely helpful!!!