Substrate

[Whitmore]

Hello recently i had a thread in the enclosure section showing my tortoises indoor house
i had rabbit pellets and received some feedback about it
today i changed it to just normal dirt and it hasnt worked out great
he does seem to really like it and he gets excited with something new but he is getting very very dirty
he has to be washed twice today all ready and will proably need to be bathed again later

do other people that use dirt struggle with him getting too dirty too quickly?

Is there a way to prevent this?
Is there something that i could mix which may solve the problem?

 

[Fernando]

You can try cypress mulch as a top layer

 

[jeffbens0n]

I have never liked the dirt just for that reason, some people don't mind it as much I guess but it just seems to make a big mess for me. Another popular substrate is cypress mulch, I use this exclusively indoors, its neat and easy to clean. The only problem with this is that it is harder for them to burrow into. You could also try a combination of the two. What I am thinking of doing when I bring my Russians back in is to have a large tray on one side of the enclosure where the hide is that will have dirt in it to let them go into their hide and burrow down.

 

[DixieParadise]

I have topsoil/peat moss mixture with cypress mulch covering the dirt. Works great and my tortoise like the cool dirt mixture when it gets too hot for them.