Is this harmful to a tortoise?

Question

One of my tortoises may be laying eggs in the near future so I have added a plantation soil to the substrate instead of dark bark. The soil is a coconut husk expandable type. I want to know if it is harmful for the tortoise to eat this? They do not eat big lumps of it, but, if you own tortoises you will know that they walk in to their food bowls the whole time. This in turn deposits small amounts of the soil across their food. Would that amount be harmful for them to ingest?

Answer 1

The fact that it is expandible would probably suggest that it would probably cause problems when swallowed and possibly cause a blockage. The best substrate for egg laying and as a general substrate is a playsand and soil mixture. Egg laying females like it on the damp side to it sticks together and place a heat lamp over it so the surface temp is around 30 degrees celcius. Make sure it is very deep, at least as deep as the length of your tortoise. This will hopefully stimulate her to lay.

Answer 2

i have used a forest bed (similar to bed a beast)  for years with my tortoises and never had any problem, you have to remember that in the wild tortoises would not have plates so would ingest small amounts of soil, their bodies can handle a small amount so don't worry too much, they do much better on soil rather than bark and it is safer for them, your tortoises will be fine honey, best of luck

EDIT yes it expands but once it is fully soaked it just goes soggy it won't carry on expanding and it wont go back to the brick state once water has been added so it is just a sterrile soil once water has been added so is safe, as for the egg laying what you should look for is the female will patrol the boarders of the enclosure more than usual this might start about a week before she is ready to lay her eggs, she may dig more than one nest so don't worry if she digs more, she may also go off her food for a few days but if she goes off her food for more than a week you need to get her to a reptile vet as she may be egg bound, she may lay one egg before she lays her whole clutch and you are looking at between 5-10 eggs but if she lays just one then it is best to get her xrayed to make sure there are no more stuck inside her