Wood Shavings

[Zamric]

OK, As some of you know I have been tossing around the idea of removing a tree and re-building WalkingRocks Pad. As a reminder, this is how it used to look...

...Now, however, I have removed the tree that was eating away at my foundation and made more room for WalkingRocks NEW Place to be built this next spring. Here is my problem...

...Between the tree cutter, and the stump grinder I ended up with LOTS of Oak shaving! and thier mixed about 1/2 & 1/2 with dirt. At 1st I was just going to use it as bedding then thought better of it since it was all VERY fresh shavings (i.e. "sappy"). So I embank his house with the mixture to help with insulation from the elements.

However, his house sit directly over where the stump used to be and eliminating all the fresh shavings from inside is impossable. Here is a pic showing the inside and and the layer of surface mixture is about 6" deep. Can anyone tell me if Oak shavings as a bedding is bad for WalkingRock or not... He doesn't seem to like it much as it is now but it is new and he doesn't do "Change" well.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Frankly, there's probably nothing wrong with Oak shavings, I don't know for sure tho. I would not use them for Bob. Also Bob would have that heater knocked over and pulled out in a hot second. WalkingRock leaves it alone? Amazing. It's an alright house, but I don't think that any large tortoise needs substrate...In your situation I would use hay.

 

[Tom]

I don't think most of us have ever used oak shavings. I do know that there is some toxicity to green oak leaves.

On a side note: Where did you get that little mini oil heater? That would be perfect for some of my applications where the normal size big one is just too big.

 

[Zamric]

Search for Optimus Mini Portable Oil-Filled Radiator Heater. It is 5" wide 13" long and 17" tall. Walmart carries it online for $29.00 plus dilivery. It keeps his box nice and toasty!

the walls around the heater are braced at 45* angle and secured with deck screws to hold in place.... and the top is high enough to keep him from climbing over the top.... I plan on lifting the levels apart in deep winter to help heat the floor.... as you see, He LOVES the newest addition to his living room!

He doesn't need a substrait, but I like to let him dig a little burrow for his comfort. This is a prime spot, because the rest of the Oak roots will allow for some borrowing but not alot and his substrait will eventually pack down and harden up with the exception of any of his "dig" and it's burm