Petco Reptibark! Good price!

SLB

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Is it the specific Zoo Med reptibark you don’t recommend? I do not use this for turtles.

You’re a rehabber? So you take in turtles that have been poorly cared for?
I take in wild turtles and pet turtles and tortoises that are sick or injured. The pet ones are dog or raccoon-chewed, or are victims of poor care (bad set-up, bad diet). Sometimes they have received inappropriate prior medical treatment. (Not all exotic vets are good with chelonians!!). Zoo Med Reptibark is, like all chip bark bedding, a possible source of gastrointestinal obstruction so I don't recommend it for chelonians. There are safer options.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Isn't Reptibark just orchid bark?
 

TeamZissou

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Isn't Reptibark just orchid bark?

I thought it was as well, this is what @Tom has indicated in the past, it's fine Fir bark. He's also said before that substrate eating is often an indicator of a mineral deficiency, which can be remedied by feeding the supplement Miner-All. @KarenSoCal talked about her Burmese star eating cyprus mulch in the past, which I've also seen with my Greek tortoise, which is why I switched to the Reptibark. I thought the consensus was that the bark was the best option over sand or soil etc to reduce impaction risk. Maybe this is only a concern for poorly cared for box turtles? Are they more prone to eating substrate compared to tortoises?
 

Toddrickfl1

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I thought it was as well, this is what @Tom has indicated in the past, it's fine Fir bark. He's also said before that substrate eating is often an indicator of a mineral deficiency, which can be remedied by feeding the supplement Miner-All. @KarenSoCal talked about her Burmese star eating cyprus mulch in the past, which I've also seen with my Greek tortoise, which is why I switched to the Reptibark. I thought the consensus was that the bark was the best option over sand or soil etc to reduce impaction risk. Maybe this is only a concern for poorly cared for box turtles? Are they more prone to eating substrate compared to tortoises?
I was also confused as Orchid bark is the main substrate recommended here.
 

Tom

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I take in wild turtles and pet turtles and tortoises that are sick or injured. The pet ones are dog or raccoon-chewed, or are victims of poor care (bad set-up, bad diet). Sometimes they have received inappropriate prior medical treatment. (Not all exotic vets are good with chelonians!!). Zoo Med Reptibark is, like all chip bark bedding, a possible source of gastrointestinal obstruction so I don't recommend it for chelonians. There are safer options.
FIne grade orchid bark is the best of all compromises for tortoise substrate. It is much less of a gastrointestinal obstruction risk than any other substrate recommended. There are NOT safer options, and there are not better options for tortoises.

My last box turtle was housed on orchid bark, and I've seen many other keepers using it too. I can't argue with you about what is "best" for a box turtle because I haven't kept enough of them over a long term, but the blanket statements that there are safer options, and you don't recommend it for all chelonians, are wrong and its bad advice. I've been keeping all manner of reptiles, to include 1000's of tortoises of multiple species and ages on orchid bark for more than 30 years, starting in the mid 80s in the pet shops where I worked as a kid. I start all of my hatchlings of multiple species on it, and raise them on orchid bark until they are large enough to live outside full time. In all those year not a single case of impaction from orchid bark. Over all those years I've seen many sand impactions, sand/soil mixture impactions, gravel impactions, and sphagnum moss impactions in the practices of my reptile vet friends, but I've never seen one single case of a tortoise impacted with orchid bark.

Repti-bark = fir bark = orchid bark.

IMG_2285.jpg
 

SLB

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I thought it was as well, this is what @Tom has indicated in the past, it's fine Fir bark. He's also said before that substrate eating is often an indicator of a mineral deficiency, which can be remedied by feeding the supplement Miner-All. @KarenSoCal talked about her Burmese star eating cyprus mulch in the past, which I've also seen with my Greek tortoise, which is why I switched to the Reptibark. I thought the consensus was that the bark was the best option over sand or soil etc to reduce impaction risk. Maybe this is only a concern for poorly cared for box turtles? Are they more prone to eating substrate compared to tortoises?
I have worked with box turtles for more than 30 years. I have never known them to intentionally eat their substrate other than small white debris they happen upon, presumably misidentified as a mineral source (bone). However, they will inadvertently ingest surprisingly large objects that cling to food they are eating. Their front feet and beak are imperfect at removing clinging debris, and once in the mouth, some objects just keep going down. Reptibark is just the right size to cling to food and just big enough to not pass easily through the alimentary and out the anus. (I have had to maneuver it out with lubrication and forceps. Attached is a pic of about half of what I removed from a large male Eastern Box Turtle kept on Reptibark. He could not excrete any on his own and prolapsed his penis while straining. It was damaged and required excision. I have had other similar cases.
 

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  • some of Reptibark from impaction in large male T. c. carolina (Large).jpg
    some of Reptibark from impaction in large male T. c. carolina (Large).jpg
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queen koopa

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I thought it was as well, this is what @Tom has indicated in the past, it's fine Fir bark. He's also said before that substrate eating is often an indicator of a mineral deficiency, which can be remedied by feeding the supplement Miner-All. @KarenSoCal talked about her Burmese star eating cyprus mulch in the past, which I've also seen with my Greek tortoise, which is why I switched to the Reptibark. I thought the consensus was that the bark was the best option over sand or soil etc to reduce impaction risk. Maybe this is only a concern for poorly cared for box turtles? Are they more prone to eating substrate compared to tortoises?
I think you got it here. Poorly cared for animals, it’s not the reptibark.
 

TeamZissou

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I think you got it here. Poorly cared for animals, it’s not the reptibark.

That, and feeding on a clean dish should prevent the substrate sticking to the food. Box turtle food (like worms) is also a lot stickier than greens for tortoises. I could definitely see this being a problem if someone feeds their box turtle worms directly off the bark. This just goes to show that any substrate can be an impaction risk under the wrong conditions.
 
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