new hermans tort owner, should my little one dig to the bottom of his substrate?

[livewireme]

New hermans tort owner, I have had him for one day now. Should my little one dig to the bottom of its substrate? He is small about 2 inches long. I was told to use peet moss for substrate. it is about 1" thick. At first it freaked me out because I could not find him. I finally found him burrried under the peet moss. Is this normal and/or ok.

Thank for any info livewireme

 

[tortoisenerd]

Torts love to dig and most people recommend at least a couple inches of substrate for them (I've even heard up to 6 inches). Once you know his habits a little better you can provide areas with a little deeper substrate, and some areas with less. I have a little Russian Tortoise the size of yours and he's buried himself completely under so I couldn't find him without digging up the entire enclosure! They are quite fun.

He's probably going to want to hide for awhile until he gets used to his new surroundings. Hatchling tortoises in the wild spend most of their time hiding from predators.

What kind of enclosure do you have? Do you have a hide (box, half-log, etc) for him? Some torts tend to bury/burrow, and other like to hide in a safe place.

I'm kind new at this so hopefully someone can come along to answer your question about the peet moss.

Best wishes!

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

It's perfectly normal for a tortoise to dig down into the substrate, especially young tortoises. Might be better to add some organic soil to your peatmoss, as peatmoss is very dusty when it dries. I'd add an equal amount of soil to your peatmoss.

Danny

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum

 

[livewireme]

Thanks everyone, you put my mind at ease. It is really amazing how well they dig. I was just concerned he would not be able to dig his way out.

Thanks for the replies

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Hi...welcome to the forum...