Which Is the Best Bedding for a Tortoise? (Beginners Guide)

Choosing the bedding for your tortoise is one of the most important things that you have to do as a tortoise owner. But when you look at all the available options out there it is easier said than done. So to make things easier for everybody who has to make this important choice I decided to create this beginners guide that covers every aspect of a tortoise bedding.

A good tortoise bedding will allow your tortoise to safely burrow in it. Will help maintain a proper humidity level for your tortoise, without facilitating the growth of bacteria and mold. And won’t pose any danger to the health of your tortoise.  

So, overall there don’t seem to be that many requirements for a bedding to be considered good. But if you look at all the available options, you will see that more than 90%of the options don’t meet those criteria. Now, let’s have a look at the possible tortoise beddings and see which ones are good, and which ones you should avoid.

Tortoise Beddings

Wood, you should stay away from any kind of bedding that is made out of wood. Tortoises can, and will 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 bedding / bedding for tortoises. This is not the case, even for tortoises that live in desert areas. Sand on its own is a terrible bedding / bedding for tortoises. However sand can definitely be used in combination with different types of soil, but it’s not good on its own. If you use only sand, your tortoise will end up getting eye irritation/infection. And if your tortoise ends up swallowing it, which happens a lot more than you might think, it will end up with intestinal problems.

Soil is an overall good choice. It does a decent job of retaining humidity, it allows your tortoise to dig in it and will naturally get rid of small pieces of food and excrements that you might have missed when cleaning. The problem is that soil is a very general term. Depending on its origin it can have a lot of things in it that you don’t necessarily want. And a lot of plant soil has some form of fertilizant in it, so you might have to search a while to find a good one.

Dusty beddings are also a very bad idea, the dust from the bedding can easily lead to respiratory problems for your tortoise.

Fiber beddings (hay/straws) 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 bedding is not kept wet it will become very dusty, which will lead to respiratory problems. There is also the problem that those kinds of beddings can easily catch fire if they are exposed to high temperatures, like the ones from a basking area. But fibers can be a good bedding if used with care, and replaced regularly.

Paper, any kind of paper is bad, weather is paper towels, newspapers, or old magazines, they are all bad beddings. They don’t provide any kind of benefit for your tortoise , they can get moldy very fast, and they can catch fire in an instant. So stay away from any kind of paper bedding or bedding.

Peat moss is a safe option. But far from the best. One of its main selling points is that tortoises can safely eat it, so it’s both a bedding and a snack. But if your tortoise is on a strict diet, this will definitely mess it up. It’s very good at absorbing humidity. Depending on where you live this can be a good or a bad thing. If you live in a low humidity area the moss will help you keep a constant high humidity level. One disadvantage that is worth mentioning is that it’s quite expensive compared to the other options, and needs replacing more often.

Alfalfa is another type of bedding that you should stay away from. Alfalfa is very absorbent, which is great for keeping the enclosure clean, 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 it.

Those beddings that I just listed can be very dangerous for your tortoise,but this doesn’t mean that every single possible bad thing will happen to your tortoise if you use them, but for me personally, just knowing that there is a real risk of something bad happening to my tortoise makes me want to avoid them. Especially since there are better alternatives.

I know I eliminated some of the most common commercially available beddings with this list, but don’t worry there are a lot of solutions out there that are very cheap and accessible. So let’s talk about them.

The Best Bedding for a Tortoise

The best thing that you can use as a bedding 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.

While sand by itself is a terrible choice, combining it with soil should solve any problem.

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 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 bedding:

• Exo Terra Plantation Soil
• 2 lbs. Natural Sand
• 5 lbs. Natural Sand

For the warmer months of the year I would also recommend you to also 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 two long they can get moldy, so I would recommend you to 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.

How Deep the Bedding Should Be

Tortoises like to dig. They sometimes dig to get away from the heat, sometimes they can dig just for the fun of it. So it’s important to make the bedding as deep as possible.

Ideally you could make the depth of the bedding around 6 inches (15 centimeters). But realistically that’s not possible for everybody. To make the bedding that deep you will need a lot of space and not everybody has that kind of space at their disposal.

But you should always make sure that the depth of the bedding is at least 2 inches (5 centimeters).

How Often to Change the Bedding

How often you should change the bedding of a tortoise really depends on the specific circumstances: the depth of the bedding, the size of the terrarium/habitat, etc. So it’s really hard to give you an exact answer, but I will give you some pointers that will help you know when it’s time to change it.

The most important thing that you have to ask yourself when you are thinking of changing the bedding is: Is it clean? If the answer is yes, then you probably don’t.

If the bedding looks clean, and there are no bad smells coming out of it, then it’s most probably fine, and it doesn’t need a change.

If you have 2 inches of bedding , then you will usually need to change it after 3 or 4 months. And you will need to change all of it.

If the bedding is 6 inches deep, you will probably need to change it after 5 or 6 months. And most probably you won’t even need to change all of it, just the first 3 inches that were on the top.

Those two cases are usually the most common, and are for people who have only one tortoise. If you have more than one then the time will probably be half of what it would have been if you had only one tortoise.

But as I said a lot of factors can come into play. If you have an enclosure that is 40 inches wide, you will probably need to change the bedding once a year, even if the depth is only 2 inches.

The Humidity Level of the Bedding

At first it might not seem as much but the humidity level is really important. Tortoises spend almost their entire life in contact with the bedding, so it will have a very powerful impact.

One of its most important roles is that of helping the tortoise maintain a proper body temperature. In general a bedding that is wet will be slightly colder than a dry bedding. And since tortoises rely on their surrounding environment to adjust their body temperature, the humidity becomes very important.

Getting the humidity level wrong can have very unpleasant consequences. If the humidity is too high, the tortoise will most likely end up with shell rot or an infection. And if the humidity is too low, their skin will start to get dehydrated and flaky, and there is also a good chance that they will have breathing problems. But for all of those things to happen you need to get the humidity levels really wrong.

DIfferent tortoise species require different humidity levels. But on average 60% will do for most tortoises. So if you have 50 instead of 60 it’s not ideal but not the worst thing possible.

As for how to measure and maintain a certain humidity level,

There are a few ways in which you can increase or decrease the humidity level. But the best and simplest way to increase the humidity is to simply pulverize some water over the bedding. To do this you can use any kind of bottle with a pulverizer. You can even use an empty window cleaning spray bottle, as long as you make sure that you disinfect it completely, you don’t want any of the chemicals in there in the bedding. But the safest thing would be to just buy a new empty bottle with a pulverizer, like this one from Amazon.

As for decreasing, simply don’t add water to the bedding until it reaches the right humidity level.

To measure the humidity of the beddin you will need a soil humidity meter. Without one it’s impossible to properly know the humidity level of the bedding, so I strongly recommend you to get one. In general you can find them at some gardening shops, and online. Here is a link to the one that I use: Dr.Meter S10 Soil Moisture Sensor Meter. I personally really like this model because it doesn’t take up any space, it doesn’t use any kind of electricity, so the tortoise is in no danger, and the best part is that my tortoises don’t interact with it at all, so I don’t have to worry about that.

Final Thoughts

So the best bedding is a combination of soil and sand. On its own soil is the best choice but its ability to retain humidity could be better, and this is where the sand comes in. Sand on its own doesn’t have many qualities, but it’s great at maintaining humidity. So combining the two of them will give you the best possible bedding for your tortoise.

Common Questions

Can I grow plants in my tortoise’s habitat? Yes, you can try to grow plants in your tortoise’s habitat, but they won’t last very long. Tortoises tend to eat every plant that they can find, so as long as you plant the plants for your tortoise to eat everything should be fine. If you plant them with the intent of looking nice, your tortoise will still be fine, but you will probably end up disappointed.

Why do tortoises dig holes? In the wild, tortoises dig holes to search for food, to make a place to hide from predators, and to get underground where the temperature is colder. Pet tortoises dig holes for the same reasons, even if there are no predators around, or anything like that, they just maintain their natural instincts.

Can tortoises eat soil? When tortoises eat food off the ground they will usually also eat some soil, so it happens pretty often. In general if the soil is not chemically treated, the tortoise should be completely fine after eating small amounts.

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