I am slowly getting prepared for my new baby eastern hermann to come. I already built a tortoise table for him, what substrate would you recommend for a hatchling?
I have Easterns Hermann's and other Testudo of all ages, including babies. For many years I have kept the younger ones on a substrate mixture of organic potting soil, play sand, leaf litter and sphagnum moss. The latter two are ground fairly fine and all the ingredients are mixed together well. I also include several flat stones for footing and to keep their nails and beaks well trimmed. There is also a hide box in the enclosure. I mist the substrate twice daily in order to keep it from drying out too much and to maintain the moisture in the substrate for the tortoises.
I use aspen and Hermy loves it. There are a couple of hides in Hermy's enclosure but one is a humid hide (a wet sponge is glued at the top) since the substrate is dry.
Although pet stores get you started, the online places really have the deals. Or, a local place which sells substrate in bulk. I go to a online store that will let me do a local pick up and save about 90% I'd say vs. the pet store! Depending on the substrate you decide on, aspen will come in very large bags (I get 45 lb bags), coconut coir will be sold in packs of bricks online and then you can get free shipping in addition to a discount for buying a lot, etc. Best wishes.
I have playsand and organic top soil in the entire enclsure and aspen bedding (usually sold for snakes) in 1/3 of the enclosure where the hide is and no problems so far -
thanks everyone for you input! as of right now i bought some organic top soil and playsand. i might add something else later but this is wut i am going to start with.