Substrate Eater

[thecrawlingchaos]

I seem to have an issue with my pardalis eating it's substrate. There haven't been any other issues, but I noticed him trying to eat some cypress after I gave him his bath and Mazuri/greens this morning.

It seems that cypress and coco coir are the preferred substrates on the forum and until about a week ago I'd only used the coir. Personally, I'd rather use nothing and have the tortoise eating what I feed it and nothing else.

I'm housing the tortoise in 2 connected zoo-med tortoise houses when indoors and a planted baby pool outdoors when it's above 80 for a few hours a day. I've cleaned all substrates out of the indoor enclosure save for some coir in a humid hide. He's over a year old and weighs a hair over 9oz.

basically, I'm asking if it's okay to keep the tortoise on a bare wood floor. I'm bathing him daily and have a shallow pan in at all times for soaking. I'm also keeping a humid hide. I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to potential impactions. He's also a very robust tortoise and has a well-rounded shell. I'd be willing to go back to coir full-time as well, but I really want to be in full control of what this guy is eating.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Matt:

Sometimes when a tortoise eats rocks or dirt, it means that they are lacking something in their system. I use a product made by Sticky Tongue Farms called Miner-All. Just sprinkle a pinch of this mineral supplement over his food every morning for a week or so, then you can go to every other day, and finally just a couple times a week.