Turtle Table Question

[turtlewurx]

Grr... Computer crashed 1/2 through composing this post. Let's try again:

Okay, I'm about 99% done with my turtle table, complete with growing grass. (Just need to finish the lighting.)

Looks like my deal with a breeder will end up working after all... But it'll be several weeks before the torts are ready for pick up.

I'm also working on a habitiat for my wife's hedgehogs. However it'll also be a few weeks before I get a chance to finish it.

The wife wants to let her hedgies have run of my turtle table until I get my turtles or finish their habitat.

Since the substrate (mostly organic topsoil) is full of grass & edible plants, I can't just throw it out & replace it when I get my turtles. (Here's the question part...) So, is it dangerous for my forthcoming hatchlings to be in a habitat that hedgehogs had been in previously?

Thanks guys! Y'all have already been loads of help!

 

[Honey]

I would personally not want to have any kind of critter making use of my tort table until my tort/s were moved in. If you're 99% done with the table... could you promise her to get the habitat for her hedgehogs done more quickly? Are the hedgehogs ok for the time being as far as their enclosure is concerned?

 

[wellington]

I would not do it. Could be taking a big risk with the torts health.

 

[turtlewurx]

I would personally not want to have any kind of critter making use of my tort table until my tort/s were moved in. If you're 99% done with the table... could you promise her to get the habitat for her hedgehogs done more quickly? Are the hedgehogs ok for the time being as far as their enclosure is concerned?

The problem is that with work & such, I'm just not going to have time to build another table for a while. The hedgies have some cages, but I have to agree with Mel, they really ARE too big for them.

I think for the most part, critters are a lot tougher than we give them credit for. I mean, they manage to all coexist in the wild, while dealing with predators & more harm than help from humans. And they are all African species, (The Hedgies & Torts) so it's not like I'm introducing a Russian animal into a habitat that, say a Brazillian animal was in.

However, I'm no biologist. I don't want to put the babies in a potentially lethal habitat. I don't know if Hedgies carry parasites that would be harmful to turtles, etc. If they do, how long can those parasites survive before it would be safe to put another animal in there?

If it's dangerous, they're just going to have to deal with the small cages until I can build something better. But if there's little or no risk, I know they'd be much happier with some room to move around for the next couple of weeks.

 

[Madkins007]

There are not a lot of diseases or parasites that cross between mammals and reptiles. There may not be any real risk at all here but I don't know anything about the pathogen loads of hedgehogs.

Can you pen off part of the table and replace the affected substrate when the torts arrive? Also- are you using UVB bulbs? They have a mild disinfecting property when used correctly.

 

[Honey]

I agree that critters can be/are a lot tougher than we give them credit for... but hatchlings are more fragile than some think. I would consider it dangerous, but that's just my opinion. I had a close friend who had one hedgehog, and that things urine stunk to high heaven. She always kept the hedgie's enclosure clean, but there was always a smell... I've never owned one - I am by far no expert. I just wouldn't want to somehow contaminate the hatchlings' enclosure - at all.

Do both you and Mel work a lot? Perhaps she could work on the hedgehog's enclosure between the times that you're there to help/do it.

I hate to see any kind of critter unhappy in their enclosure. I can understand where you're coming from with how busy your schedule is, too.