conflicting 'substrate' recommendations

hey guys, not sure if anyone can help... but here goes.

i took shelly to a knowledgable tortoise vet today and had him registered, and he then had a check up... luckily everything was fine, but i was asked a number of different questions about the way i keep shelly.
i was asked what substrate i keep shelly on, and i explained that he was currently on playsand and top soil.... and i was told to get him off that as soon as possible. they told me they had seen so many tortoises coming in to them with problems and when they had been scanned, they found that their stomachs were clogged up full of sand/woodchips, or whatever the tortoises had been on, due to the tortoise eating the substrate.

i then went on to ask, what she recommends i use, and she said astroturf, or in the vet there was stuff called cage carpet, which is a flooring for the cage which looked a bit like felt, or just newspaper on the bottom with some hay which would have to be cut up in to small pieces to prevent it tangling around a tortoises kneck/legs etc

i know have no idea what to put shelly on, lol, and what to do for the best, ahhhh! lol!

any advice much appreciated!
xx

[Pies]

Nothing wrong with topsoil, but I wouldn't put play sand in with it.
I use just screened & sterilised topsoil, large, flattish pieces of slate & granit, large limestone chippings and wall lining paper with shredded newspaper for bedtime insulation.

[wildlifewarrior]

if we were talking lizards then i wud agree witht he vet as lizards strike there food and take in bits of substrate which build up over tiem and cuase impactions. i think ur vet ment that if food is placed on the floor witht he substrate underneath it then bits will stick to it and have the same effect as with lizards.....but if there being fed in a bowl then shud not be a problem. both astro tuft type stuff and rpeitle carpet is crap.....i have tried both...the astro is sharp and gives reptiles a reddish rash....and the carpet stains and doe snot come out and it skinks, it also gets damp and then goes very hard. it is very fuzzy aswell after it's been cleaned and can be easily eattena nd is very irrrating for the reptile. if they eat the substrate they are on on purpose then by changing it won't stop the problem ,just give it somthing differnet to eat. ask hannah , a customer of hers had a snake that ate the whole of it's kittchen towlubstrate and poo'd the whole thing out whole. i think ur doing fine....plus how do u cope when the tort is out side , u can't up cling film over the grass.....if u do chnage substrate then don't go for one of these carpet things as they can become more toruble than there worth.

she definatly didnt say that it is the fact that it sticks to the food, she said that they shouldnt be on it altogether, as tortoises tend to eat any type of substrate or something.

i did think that about them carpet things mind, wouldnt fancy any nice poo stains all over it, EW, lol!

aw i dont know what to do now, dont fancy putting shelly just on newspaper either... gives me the impression of not being very comfortable, lol! but then again i aint a tortoise?!? hehe

[wildlifewarrior]

well see what any off the other member son here say.....but if torts do eat all there substrates then it's much harder and deadiler to remove carpet from there gut than it is to remove a soil/sand impaction. i doubt the always eat it.........................from reading these comments on other sections with pumkin and such torts eat thing they like, and i don't think soil is one of them. i highly doubt it wud eat soemthing it doe snot like on perpose......torts are one of the few animals that need to be kept as realistic and as natural as possiable in captivty. even if u use hemp or soemthing else then it's still gonna eat it....and if it is eatting dried newspaper then if that does not kill it then the ink posioning wud. have u seen her eatting it.......if not then i wud keep it rhe same really

no i have never seen shelly eat his substrate at all..... hes a fussy eater at the best of times.... but mud and sand i dont think is his thing, lol!

just a little confused weither i should change it or not?1

thanx for you help! x

[wildlifewarrior]

no worries......stick with what u no personally others on here use it .

[DAISY]

Was thinking the same thing .

Rach

[hbvet]

Avoid newspaper and astroturf and cage carpet sooo much!! Your tort needs to be able to dig if he wants, and none of the previously mentioned do anything for the tortoise's microclimate. Soil/hemp/loam mix is quite good, though impactions have been seen with hemp alone. There is no perfect substrate, many torts will either accidently or deliberately ingest it whatever you use.
Impactions often occur when a tortoises gut isnt well for other reasons.

[sandy]

Who gives them carpets in the wild?
They need to dig down.