Substrate

[tangale]

Hi Everyone,

Does anyone have any recommendations for a not so messy substrate for RF's?
I currently use something like eco earth, but looking for something that doesn't dirty the water and food as much whenever the rf walk through/into it.

Does anyone use liners/carpets?

Thanks,
Alex

 

[Yvonne G]

You need to keep a moist substrate for your RF tortoise, so carpeting wouldn't work. I like cypress mulch. It isn't messy.

 

[Defiant]

I use cypress mulch (Zoo Med-Forest Floor) and Mosser Lee sphagnum moss. It doesn't stick him and keeps humidity up. It stays moist without feeling soaked. The best stuff IMO

 

[tangale]

Just picked up a bag of mosser lee sphagnum moss. Do you think this over carpet is okay?
The RF's likes to dirty up the drinking water with the eco earth. It's possible that it's because I mist my enclosure and so the eco earth sticks to the RF. And then when it goes for a drink or soak, there goes the water.

 

[terryo]

You could put something around your water dish, like frog moss, or some other kind of moss.

 

[Madkins007]

I tried carpet- both 'reptile' and indoor/outdoor- very messy, hated it. Drug feces everywhere and ground them in.

About the only things I recommend anymore is long-fibered sphagnum moss for young'uns and cypress mulch for bigger places. Dragging some of this into the water dish does not worry me much, but I also wash the dish daily to prevent scum and such.

 

[llamas55]

I know I'm the only one doing this (I think) but I have no fertilizer garden soil mixed with sghagnum moss, then over that rubber chips from Menards (like Home Depot) which smelled for about 3 days of rubber, but do not hold the water, but the under part does, but has not gotten mold. If I keep her I am adding the cypress mulch with the rubber chips.