Orchid bark silly questions

[DezAndBowser]

Hi guys, so I’ve changed the substrate to orchid bark today - I just have a few silly questions.
How often do I spray it over with water? Once a day?
And how much water is recommended?
Thank you![emoji16]

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings, what I used to do with this substrate was to put a whole bunch in a bucket and soak it for 10-15 mins or so, then drain off the water and place in the enclosure. This way the coir/bark starts off well moistened.

I do note that it doesn’t look like you have the sides of your enclosure waterproofed, looks like a laminate of some type that will easily get ruined with water?

Others will say they daily mix in a few cups of water and mix it thoroughly with the substrate. The idea is to keep things nice and moist.

Make sure you follow pinned info on Russian Tortoise care and their substrate.

• https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/b...or-other-herbivorous-tortoise-species.107734/

Hope this all helps.

 

[wellington]

If this is for a hatchling, it should be a closed chamber with 80% humidity.
If this is for an adult, Russian? It needs about 30-50% humidity and only you can tell how much and how often. Get a good humidity gauge to tell you when more is needed. It will need to be damp as just spraying a couple pumps will dry up quickly.

 

[DARKFIRE007]

First, I have found that (expletive) stinks when wet so be ready for that.

As for watering it...my method has worked with Orchid, Cypress, and Coco Coir. Get a Dawn bottle, and wash it out. Squirt a full bottle on it evenly every day and follow it up with a misting from a spray bottle. The first bit gets down deep and the second gets full top coverage. It will be damp but not soaking.

Amount will vary based on your enclosure size, start small and use more every day until it isn't bone dry after 24 hours.

Every day may sound like a bit much, but those lamps bake water off pretty quick.

 

[DezAndBowser]

First, I have found that (expletive) stinks when wet so be ready for that.

As for watering it...my method has worked with Orchid, Cypress, and Coco Coir. Get a Dawn bottle, and wash it out. Squirt a full bottle on it evenly every day and follow it up with a misting from a spray bottle. The first bit gets down deep and the second gets full top coverage. It will be damp but not soaking.

Amount will vary based on your enclosure size, start small and use more every day until it isn't bone dry after 24 hours.

Every day may sound like a bit much, but those lamps bake water off pretty quick.

Thank you so much! So helpful!

 

[Tom]

First, I have found that (expletive) stinks when wet so be ready for that.

I think you are confusing this with cypress. Cypress often smells like the swamp it came from. I've been using orchid bark for decades and I've never had a batch that smelled bad.

 

[Tom]

Hi guys, so I’ve changed the substrate to orchid bark today - I just have a few silly questions.
How often do I spray it over with water? Once a day?
And how much water is recommended?

Spraying the surface does very little. You'll need to dump water into the substrate to keep it damp. How much water and how often varies greatly from enclosure to enclosure. It all by "feel". If it gets too dry it will be dusty. Too wet and it will rot your enclosure and be too swampy. You'll have to try it out and find what works in your enclosure.

 

[DezAndBowser]

Spraying the surface does very little. You'll need to dump water into the substrate to keep it damp. How much water and how often varies greatly from enclosure to enclosure. It all by "feel". If it gets too dry it will be dusty. Too wet and it will rot your enclosure and be too swampy. You'll have to try it out and find what works in your enclosure.

Ah, thanks a lot! I’ll be doing this straight away!

 

[DARKFIRE007]

I think you are confusing this with cypress. Cypress often smells like the swamp it came from. I've been using orchid bark for decades and I've never had a batch that smelled bad.

Oh no haha I meant Orchid. Someone once told me Reptibark is Orchid...the bag of repti I bought smelled fine if not good when dry. But when wet it stunk to no end. Now if there is a difference between the two, that will be a different story, but I was led to believe they were the same thing just that one was overpriced pet store bags.