Do Tortoises Smell Bad? (What to Expect + How to Prevent)

A lot of people believe that tortoises smell bad, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Tortoises don’t have a strong natural smell. Tortoises can end up smelling bad if their habitat or terrarium is not clean. If they live in unsanitary conditions the tortoises can end up picking up some of the bad smell of their habitat.

The good news is that tortoises don’t smell bad. The bad news is that their habitat can end up smelling really bad. So if you take good care of your tortoise and its habitat you should have no problems with smells. Now, let’s see how you can do that.

What Makes Tortoises Smell Bad

There are three main things that can cause bad smells: excrement, leftovers, and substrate.

Excrements

Poop smells, this doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody. Tortoise poop is not necessarily one of the smelliest ones out there. But if you leave it in the for too long, it will really stink up the pace.

It usually takes a day or two for the poop to really give off a very bad smell. Ideally, you would remove it until this will happen. But it can sometimes be tricky.

Tortoises don’t have a toilet, they will poop wherever they feel like. So, sometimes you will find it right in the middle of the enclosure, and sometimes you will have to look in caves, in the water, and sometimes you even have to dig a little to find it.

But most tortoises usually don’t make an effort to hide their poop. Typically you will find it somewhere easy to spot.

Food Leftovers

The longer they go unnoticed the more they will make the enclosure smell.

Sometimes tortoises like to hide or store away some food. And they don’t always remember to eat it before it goes bad.

And when they eat, they don’t always eat their whole meal, and small pieces can remain on the ground and after a while, they will start to make the whole place stink.

The Substrate

The substrate is the most important part of any tortoise habitat, It can make the difference between a clean and nice-smelling enclosure, and a dirty and smelly one.

Depending on what substrate you use, it can absorb some of the smell. It can help the excrement and leftovers become stinky faster or slower, and it can drastically affect the health of your tortoise. So choosing a good substrate is vital.

Now that we covered the most common things that affect the way your tortoise and its enclosure smell, let’s see what you can do to make it smell nicer.

What to Do if Your Tortoise Smells Bad

In the case of excrements and leftovers the solution is quite simple, remove them. There is no way around this, you have to remove them, otherwise, they will make the enclosure smell bad.

One thing that you could do to make things easier for yourself is to feed your tortoises somewhere else, like in a container. This way you won’t have to worry about any leftovers.

In the case of the substrate, things are a little bit different. And by choosing a good substrate, you can also ameliorate the smell caused by excrements and leftovers. So let’s take a look at what options you have for a substrate, and which are good and which are bad.

Wood, you should stay away from any kind of substrate that is made out of wood. Wood will absorb any unpleasant smell found in the enclosure. And then you will have to replace the whole substrate. Tortoises can also get stung by splinters. There is also the problem that they can eat it by mistake, and the wood can cause a lot of life-threatening problems while it’s inside the intestines of the tortoise. And there is also a good chance that it will catch fire if exposed to high temperatures, like the ones from the basking area.

Pine and Cedar, I know I just said that wood, in general, is bad but I want to evidentiate pine and cedar since they are much worse. Pine and cedar can be toxic for tortoises. Even if they are not ingested, the simple fact that they are present near the tortoise can have a very bad effect on them.

Sand is usually sold in a lot of pet shops as a great substrate for tortoises. This is not the case, even for tortoises that live in desert areas. Sand on its own is a terrible substrate for tortoises. It absorbs smells easily, and it can irritate the eyes of the tortoise, And if your tortoise ends up swallowing it, which happens a lot more than you might think, it will end up with intestinal problems. So, overall sand is a bad substrate.

Dusty substrates in general are also a very bad idea, the dust from the substrate can easily lead to respiratory problems for your tortoise.

Fiber substrates are also a popular choice, but unfortunately, they can become dangerous if they are not well maintained. Their biggest disadvantage is that they can easily become moldy which will lead to a lot of health problems for your tortoise. And if the fiber substrate is not kept wet it will become very dusty, which will lead to respiratory problems. There is also the problem that those kinds of substrates can easily catch fire if they are exposed to high temperatures, like the ones from a basking area. But fibers can be a good substrate if used with care and replaced regularly.

Paper, any kind of paper is bad, whether paper towels, newspapers or old magazines, they are all bad substrates. They don’t provide any kind of benefit for your tortoise, they can get moldy very fast, they will start to smell bad in just a few days, and they can catch fire in an instant. So stay away from any kind of paper substrate or bedding.

Alfalfa is another type of substrate that you should stay away from. Alfalfa is very absorbent, which is great for keeping the enclosure clean and smelling nice, but it can also easily dehydrate your tortoise. And there is also the fact that they usually contain a lot of protein, and this can be bad if your tortoise starts eating them.

Dirt is one of the better choices that you have. It will take a good while to smell bad, it will get rid of small leftovers on its own. It poses no danger to your tortoises. Overall, it’s one of the best choices. But, not the best.

The best thing that you can use as a substrate for your tortoise is a combination of soil with sand. The soil is perfect for digging, and it provides a lot of thermal benefits. And combining it with sand will let you adjust the amount of humidity that it will retain. Since you will be using more dirt than sand, you won’t have to worry about it absorbing smells, and it will continue to disintegrate leftovers and small pieces of excrements.

The exact proportion you should mix those two can vary depending on your area, if you live in an area with a lot of humidity you might need to add a little more sand than somebody who lives in a dryer area. But in general, the mix should be around 70% to 80% soil and the rest of 30% to 20% sand.

The soil and the sand that you use don’t have to be anything special, just make sure that the soil is 100% natural, with no added fertilizers, organic or chemical, and the sand has to be relatively small and soft.

Here are a few links to Amazon, for the sand and the soil that I use, both of them are perfect for a tortoise substrate:

For the warmer months of the year, I would also recommend you use some coconut fiber, but this means that you will have to be a little more careful than usual. As I mentioned before, if you keep them for too long they can get moldy, so I would recommend you change them after one month or two. Also, make sure that you don’t let them get dry, if they get too dry they will get dusty, and they can cause problems for your tortoise. And the last thing that you have to be careful about is to keep them away from the basking area.

Even if they require some extra care, coconut fibers can be really great at keeping the humidity high, during the hot summer months. So if you can spend a couple of minutes each day to check if everything is ok with them, then I suggest you go ahead and use them.

And here is a link to Amazon for the coconut fibers that I use for my tortoise: Zoo Med Eco Earth Loose Coconut Fiber Substrate

Final Thoughts

So, tortoises don’t smell bad, but their enclosure can, and some of that smell will inevitably get onto the tortoise as well.

The three most impactful things are excrements, leftovers, and substrate.

In the case of excrements the only thing that you can do is to clean them, you can’t potty train a tortoise (believe me I’ve tried).

As for the leftovers, you could feed your tortoises somewhere else, this won’t affect your tortoise in any way, and it will get rid of one of the main causes of bad smell.

Choosing a good substrate can be tricky, but with the help of the guide, I gave you it should be easy. Overall the substrate is one of the most important things when caring for a tortoise keeping the smell of the enclosure in check is just one of the many things that it does.

I hope this article answered all of your questions about tortoises and how they smell, but in case there is anything else that you would like to know, don’t hesitate to leave a question in the comment section below. I regularly check for questions and answer each and every one of them.