Substrate Information needed

[BoxingTortoise]

Ok so my indoor enclosure i have a mix of top soil and play sand, anyway it is starting to get really dry i was wondering if i should mist it so it is not so dry or should i leave it dry.

 

[Ozric]

Yes this substate can get far too dry. What I do is to add really quite a lot of water but I don't do it every day or anything like as much as that. The thing with misting is that we just wet the very top of the substarte which dries very quickly. If you do a soaking it goes down deeper and lasts longer. But its important that the substrate is not saturated and that a dry area is always available. Above all we must avoid damp and cold conditions. So if you are watering the substrate it needs to be reasonably warm.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Many people find that pouring water in and mixing it up is better than misting as it will get more of the substrate moist, and sometimes the misting just isn't enough water and can splatter the enclosure walls. Yes, it does need to be warm water, and make sure the temperatures in the enclosure are appropriate.

 

[GBtortoises]

A major drawback of soaking the substrate throughout is that you will be introducing moisture to the bottom layers of substrate that don't dry as easily depending upon how deep the substrate actually is and how often it's stirred up. The constant trapped moisture, combined with fecal, urinary and food wastes is a breeding ground for bacteria and possibly mold if kept too wet too long. Depending upon how large (square footage-wise) the enclosure is it would be better off if you didn't saturate the entire enclosure. What would be better is to spray or soak the half or a third of the substrate farthest from the basking light. Provide a hide box in the moist area and one in the dry area (just not so close to the basking area). This will give the tortoise a choice of which area that it wants to rest in based on it's hydration needs.

 

[littlefeat]

If you change the substrate every 4-5 weeks then there is no need to add water. They come from a moderately arid landscape so bare this in mind and you should be clearing out the substrate anyway to remove bacteria every 4-5 weeks.