Why my tortoise hate loose coconut soil? See picture

[vincent-cm]

This is my temporary testing environment to see how tortoise react for the changed environment. At first week I used a bag of garden soil then put some dried grass/food as top layer, like below pic;
Her activities are fine and finding food and water, but after days the soil becomes mold and dirty, I discovered the tortoise does not active as before. the temp is always set to 27 in C and 22 at night; since the near distance from the heater I won't go up to 28 - 29; Moist is set to 65% accordingly.

But the tortoise becomes dull-eyed in the whole day, eating but no pooping. She come out in the morning for drink and food and just about 1 hr she crawed back to the dark side and fall asleep; sometimes I noticed she sleeps under the light/heat and dull-eyed like below, I move her to the dark. Above are all happened based on the garden soil

......

After I noticed the garden soil has perlite and can be harmful I replaced the whole enclose to loose coco coil. Like the video link below. I mixed with two Brita bottle of water. It seems activate the tortoise movement.

But.. The tortoise moves and crawed and walked all around the enclosure, seems trying to find a place without the coco; what I did! I think that would be wrong direction even the tortoise is pooping on it and peeing on it after changing to this coil. The poop is dark green and looks good. However she does not very happy with the coco. She keeps walking around the enclosure; and I got a CCTV with night mode; To my surprise she woke up at night and continue to walking, then she stood on the water plate in the corner and fall asleep... It obviously she does not like the bedding, is it too wet or too loose that hurt somewhere?

I am become worried since I am not sure what the environment bedding to set for my large enclosure that needs spend a lot. Please help.





After changing to coco:



It seems right direction as she starts to pooping about 5-6 pieces like above.

However, she never react my touch so disregarded! see below video. it seems she has something else important stuff to resolve, the soil..

See below:
video after changing to coco

See woke up and continue to walk.. and try to find somewhere without soil...

 

[wellington]

Not real sure about your experiment but that enclosure, is way too small for that tort and if not enlarged asap you will have bigger problems then substrate.
Besides the stress a too small of an enclosure can cause, which can then cause illness or death, he will not be able to walk properly and his growth could get stunted. I rescued a leopard kept in too small of an enclosure and all I mentioned happened except he didn't get sick or die. Luckily I rehabbed him and he finally was able to walk correctly and grew to the size he should have been before I rescued him.

 

[wellington]

Oh I forgot to add, what you observed is likely not soil as much as the lack of room and possibly temps. I didnt see a basking temp of 95-100F

 

[wellington]

Please read this caresheet and maked needed adjustments
Thread 'Captive Maintenance of the Radiated Tortoise' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/captive-maintenance-of-the-radiated-tortoise.188626/

 

[vincent-cm]

Please read this caresheet and maked needed adjustments
Thread 'Captive Maintenance of the Radiated Tortoise' https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/captive-maintenance-of-the-radiated-tortoise.188626/

Yea i mean the experiment is just for which soil I need to buy since I will buy a large amount for the larger enclosure. I don’t want to waste too much on a wrong soil. But current does changed a lot i just don’t know the reason. With garden one she is quite steady and sleeping at night. But coco one. She is awake the whole night..

 

[wellington]

Get your temps right. The night temp is too cold. You also need a basking spot. Read the link I posted and get the temps correct, specially at night and then see if she wakes up at night. Coconut coir or orchid bark is the best and safest substrates to use. Either one or both together is fine.
More important though is the temps and size of the enclosure.

 

[vincent-cm]

Not real sure about your experiment but that enclosure, is way too small for that tort and if not enlarged asap you will have bigger problems then substrate.
Besides the stress a too small of an enclosure can cause, which can then cause illness or death, he will not be able to walk properly and his growth could get stunted. I rescued a leopard kept in too small of an enclosure and all I mentioned happened except he didn't get sick or die. Luckily I rehabbed him and he finally was able to walk correctly and grew to the size he should have been before I rescued him.

thanks for the resource. I set up the temp and basking area exact like the link mentioned. Just the space is too narrow. I put her a soak tub twice a week and I put her into the larger enclosure at day. Just because they are not setup yet, no heat no soil. I need to do it asap.

 

[dd33]

Maybe she is just stressed out because the temporary enclosure is different than her normal space and also too small. Can you get Orchid Bark where you live? It is good to cover the the coco with that.

 

[vincent-cm]

Get your temps right. The night temp is too cold. You also need a basking spot. Read the link I posted and get the temps correct, specially at night and then see if she wakes up at night. Coconut coir or orchid bark is the best and safest substrates to use. Either one or both together is fine.
More important though is the temps and size of the enclosure.

Great thanks

I think it is because the coco soil. She is happy compare to the garden one. I think the intensive activity cause by the empty stomach and just pooped another few after two weeks of no pooping. The time is not right to put her into new env since I did it at late night after a whole day of work.

and she is hungry. After I feed her she fall asleep now.

also the cctv may spread infrared that she may actually think it is at day?

 

[vincent-cm]

Maybe she is just stressed out because the temporary enclosure is different than her normal space and also too small. Can you get Orchid Bark where you live? It is good to cover the the coco with that.

Right I used pine bark for years for her. But now recently moved house and everything needs an update and migration. Current set up is fine coco coil.

I don’t like to mix different type of soil somebody says it’s hard to maintain and messy. Also causing problems like bacteria, fungi

 

[TeamZissou]

Good looking Radiated. Congrats.

Radiated are said to be particularly resistant to change and may go on lengthy hunger strikes until they get situated. @zovick had a Radiated that did not eat for 30 days after being moved.

The care sheet linked by Wellington is the best around. Getting a bigger enclosure is key.

 

[zovick]

Right I used pine bark for years for her. But now recently moved house and everything needs an update and migration. Current set up is fine coco coil.

I don’t like to mix different type of soil somebody says it’s hard to maintain and messy. Also causing problems like bacteria, fungi

Forget the coco coir for that tortoise. It is large enough to be put on a substrate of 100% mulch. If you can get cypress mulch, use that. If you can get eucalyptus mulch, that would be even better.