substrate advice CDT

[LittlefootNCera]

Hi friends! quick advice please

my torts are fully grown, and nearly 2. they are ofcourse in seperate enclosures. They both go outside daily for atleast a few hrs.
I recently changed my small torts substrate to orchid bark(small pieces, but not ground) I wanted the ground stuff but sent spouse to the store, so I decided to just try it since thats what she got. well little tort LOVES it and burrows all the way under it(in her hide) everyday(never ever burrowed in topsoil)

anyway today I am going to expand big torts indoor enclosure(currently 4x6 going to expand to 4x10/12' by adding a second hexpen) anyway the topsoil is dry and dusty...should i be adding water for a 30+yr old tort, sorry if this is common sense..im new to tort keeping so im still learning all the rules. I was thinking of switching to the orchid bark. otoh I have a pacman frog who lives in ecoearth...so i was considering that too, but it seems like it would be very dusty/messy too. What do you think????

 

[Shelly]

Bare dirt is fine.

 

[Yvonne G]

You should consider throwing out a bunch of grass seed then it wouldn't be dusty, dirty. ANd it would give the tortoises something to graze on. Your tortoises can live outside full time, with a protected house for inclement weather.

 

[ascott]

Yard dirt or organic soil would be my choice....and for the adult I would not wet the dirt down....you can every so often give her and the enclosure a misting...but I would not get it "wet" ....

 

[LittlefootNCera]

I have the hardest time finding soil that doesn't have perlite(sp) or vermiculite(sp) sorry don't know how to spell those, and those that don't have manure and gross, who wants that in their house? I went w orchid bark this time, he seems fine on it, though to me it seems uncomfortable, its small softer pieces but not ground. He seems much happier in his 4x12 enclosure, I also planted 3 large blue fescues for him. I change it monthly so ill be looking for a better dirt between now and then...the last one I bought had lots of wood shavings in it that were stick like and got stuck in his skin more than once, so that wont do.

 

[Laura]

2 Years old and full grown? I think not.. unless i read that wrong..
Dirt is best... See if your nursery sells planting soil.. plain.. or find a yard where you can go get a few buckets without leaving a huge hole.
Mine are all outside.. and they are on dirt. no extra substrate added..

 

[ascott]

Renee...we are talking about the small CDT and the adult female? CDT right? The adult CDT is the one you are discussing here as the topic of your thread right? If yes, then my prior suggestion still remains

 

[LittlefootNCera]

sorry, I have two cdts. one is 2yrs old. the other is 30+. for now the substrate in the indoor enclosure is orchid bark, ill change it to something else when i find something i like. hopefully the orchid bark wont cause any problems in the meantime.

as i mentioned the enclosure is 4feet by 12feet and will take more than a few buckets of yard dirt! I bought 12 bags of orchid bark and it wasnt enough, LOL