CATortoiseFamily
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2015
- Messages
- 10
Hello everyone! We are new to the tortoise world and I am totally freaking out. My sweet 10 year old daughter fell in love with the Salcata Tortoises at the zoo and spent a month researching them before we finally let her get one. I am scared to death we are going to kill this sweet thing because we don't know what we are doing. I was very reluctant about doing it but my husband was sure we were ready to take this on.
We bought our little leopard tortoise from a local reptile shop who supposedly helped us select everything we needed for it. (We are calling it a her for now since we don't know the sex) I am attaching images of our setup and a picture of our baby, Squirt.
The bottom of the tank has about 1 1/2 " of a mix of about 1/2 and 1/2 of some sort of reptile "dirt" and a bark type stuff (sorry, I don't have the specifics). We have a daylight bulb and another bulb that is for heat. The heated side of the tank stays in the mid 80s. On that side of the tank there are some artificial plants and a little log thingy for her to hide in. And on the other side of the tank is her water and food dishes.
I think we are doing this totally wrong and like I said before I am terrified that we are going to end up killing this baby. Here are some specifics things that I am freaking out about tonight......
1. She paces back and forth the front of the tank. We taped up a strip of paper because we thought that the glass cage was making her a little coo coo. But then she keeps doing it even after that paper is up.
2. We don't see poop in her cage, but every time my daughter holds her (she holds her on an old shirt so it doesn't go anywhere) , she poops TONS. Is that normal?
3. Tonight she is burrowing into the dirt/bark. Which is really freaking me out because I don't know if that is normal either.
We have been feeding her spring mix with a few carrot pieces cut up small. We add calcium every other day, and she gets a couple tiny pieces of banana a couple times a week. We have not been soaking her everyday because the people at the store said that wasn't necessary, but then I was reading on the care sheet here that they should be soaked for 20-30 min everyday. I just feel like we aren't doing this right. We have had her for 2-3 weeks now, please help us so we can give this baby a great life.
Thanks everyone!
We bought our little leopard tortoise from a local reptile shop who supposedly helped us select everything we needed for it. (We are calling it a her for now since we don't know the sex) I am attaching images of our setup and a picture of our baby, Squirt.
The bottom of the tank has about 1 1/2 " of a mix of about 1/2 and 1/2 of some sort of reptile "dirt" and a bark type stuff (sorry, I don't have the specifics). We have a daylight bulb and another bulb that is for heat. The heated side of the tank stays in the mid 80s. On that side of the tank there are some artificial plants and a little log thingy for her to hide in. And on the other side of the tank is her water and food dishes.
I think we are doing this totally wrong and like I said before I am terrified that we are going to end up killing this baby. Here are some specifics things that I am freaking out about tonight......
1. She paces back and forth the front of the tank. We taped up a strip of paper because we thought that the glass cage was making her a little coo coo. But then she keeps doing it even after that paper is up.
2. We don't see poop in her cage, but every time my daughter holds her (she holds her on an old shirt so it doesn't go anywhere) , she poops TONS. Is that normal?
3. Tonight she is burrowing into the dirt/bark. Which is really freaking me out because I don't know if that is normal either.
We have been feeding her spring mix with a few carrot pieces cut up small. We add calcium every other day, and she gets a couple tiny pieces of banana a couple times a week. We have not been soaking her everyday because the people at the store said that wasn't necessary, but then I was reading on the care sheet here that they should be soaked for 20-30 min everyday. I just feel like we aren't doing this right. We have had her for 2-3 weeks now, please help us so we can give this baby a great life.
Thanks everyone!