What brand of top soil do people use not expensive

[odonnell1978]

Need help i used soil before but made tortoise eyes swell breeder said wooden pellets which they have become much better but people are saying i should not use it so which brand and where is the best stuff to use and not.expensive

[Nina]

Hi Odonnell1978,

We always recommend using ordinary screened topsoil mixed with some children's play sand (you can buy both at garden centres and DIY places like Homebase), as that is the sort of substrate they live on in the wild. I think when people get problems it is because the soil gets too dry and dusty and some particles have got into the tortoise's eyes, so we recommend that you spray it lightly every couple of days to stop it from getting dusty, or you can pour a bit of water on it and mix it up well every 3 or 4 days. What you want to end up with is soil that is just the teeniest bit damp, but not at all wet. If you take a handful of soil and make a fist, it will just about start to cling together.

Is your tortoise in an open topped tortoise table, or a vivarium? Also what species is you tortoise (sometimes that can make a difference).

Wood chips are not a natural surface for a tortoise, plus if wood gets damp it can go a bit mouldy. Also, if your bulb blows and hot pieces of glass falls down onto the floor then there is a slight risk that they could catch fire (we know of a case where that happened). If you are using wood chips make sure that they aren't made of pine because when pine get hot (like under the lights), it can give off bad fumes.

I hope that helps, but please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any more questions or problems, and if you'd like to post a photo of your set-up, please do.

Nina



odonnell1978 wrote:
> Need help i used soil before but made tortoise eyes swell breeder said
> wooden pellets which they have become much better but people are saying i
> should not use it so which brand and where is the best stuff to use and
> not.expensive