Meet our adopted Leopard tortoise

OkAdiza

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Hello, I just picked her up a few hours ago. The previous owner needed to rehome her reptiles and had been trying to find a place for this Leopard. She is 2 1/2 years old and the original owner got her as a hatchling in December of 2017.
We are constructing a closed enclosure for her similar to one like I saw on Michael Scott’s page: Leopardtortoises.com. Is this ok for a two year old? I haven’t seen any posts for housing a juvenile. I was also starting an outdoor for my Hermann’s, but I think I’ll change directions and make it for this Leopard. I’m not sure if you can see from the picture, but does her beak look chipped?
Her original owner was a very kind woman and was very sad to have to rehome her. I can see though that she was housed on some older information and has quite a lot of pyramiding. I hope I can give her a better home with help from the forum.

152ABD53-007C-4C64-A9E9-FFC558356E09.jpegF90DB675-9497-46C2-99A9-47906DB0C0E9.jpeg6F4F4B77-025B-417B-ABBE-422680D0E7AC.jpeg22E1D246-6974-459F-A38D-1BE6846AFFAA.jpeg3B019CCE-F906-4FC5-A7EE-7CBF236B5217.jpeg
 

Ink

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Congrats on your new family member! So pretty. Do you have a name yet?
 

OkAdiza

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Hello, I just picked her up a few hours ago. The previous owner needed to rehome her reptiles and had been trying to find a place for this Leopard. She is 2 1/2 years old and the original owner got her as a hatchling in December of 2017.
We are constructing a closed enclosure for her similar to one like I saw on Michael Scott’s page: Leopardtortoises.com. Is this ok for a two year old? I haven’t seen any posts for housing a juvenile. I was also starting an outdoor for my Hermann’s, but I think I’ll change directions and make it for this Leopard. I’m not sure if you can see from the picture, but does her beak look chipped?
Her original owner was a very kind woman and was very sad to have to rehome her. I can see though that she was housed on some older information and has quite a lot of pyramiding. I hope I can give her a better home with help from the forum.
Yes. So my family is from Ghana and I named my Hermann’s Otsokrikri (oh-choh-kri-kri), which is the name for the month of March in the Ga language. This leopard is going to be the Ga word for May. It is actually spelled with a different Alphabet, but the closest I can spell it in English is Agbiena (Ahhg-bee-ena).
 

OkAdiza

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Also about her beak and nails, they need trimming don’t they?
 
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Ink

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I would just leave it for now and put her food on some slate. Unless she is having a problem eating. You don't want to stress her ot. Miss. Dexter Persimmons was having problems biting off his food. Little triangle shapes left on the greens. But I was able to clip some of if off. Is she able to eat alright? I like her name. Good luck and keep posting pictures of her please
 

Tom

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Congrats on the new tortoise!

Definite yes on the closed chamber. To stop pyramiding in progress you need high humidity, go for 90+% humidity, soak daily for an hour, spray the carapace with RO, distilled, or collected rainwater several times a day, and make sure to use low wattage basking bulbs to minimize desiccation. A warmer ambient temp, 85-90F, during the day, will discourage basking under the desiccating lamps.

I gave Michael's site a cursory read. His basking temps are too high, and this is why one is still pyramiding and the other didn't. We also now suspect that our indoor UV lamps are causing some pyramiding too. Experiments are underway evaluating this aspect.

Beak and nails should not need trimming.
 

OkAdiza

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Congrats on the new tortoise!

Definite yes on the closed chamber. To stop pyramiding in progress you need high humidity, go for 90+% humidity, soak daily for an hour, spray the carapace with RO, distilled, or collected rainwater several times a day, and make sure to use low wattage basking bulbs to minimize desiccation. A warmer ambient temp, 85-90F, during the day, will discourage basking under the desiccating lamps.

I gave Michael's site a cursory read. His basking temps are too high, and this is why one is still pyramiding and the other didn't. We also now suspect that our indoor UV lamps are causing some pyramiding too. Experiments are underway evaluating this aspect.

Beak and nails should not need trimming.
Thanks so much Tom! This all so very helpful. I’ve got her soaking right now. I’m working on everything else. Is an indoor flood light 65 watt ok for basking for her?
 

OkAdiza

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I would just leave it for now and put her food on some slate. Unless she is having a problem eating. You don't want to stress her ot. Miss. Dexter Persimmons was having problems biting off his food. Little triangle shapes left on the greens. But I was able to clip some of if off. Is she able to eat alright? I like her name. Good luck and keep posting pictures of her please
Thanks! She eats way better than my Hermann’s, lol. Wasn’t picky at all.
 

Tom

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Thanks so much Tom! This all so very helpful. I’ve got her soaking right now. I’m working on everything else. Is an indoor flood light 65 watt ok for basking for her?
Should be fine, but only your thermometer can tell you for sure. Raise or lower the fixture to get the correct temperature under it.
 

gedong

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Congrats on the new tort, would like to see Otsokrikri's update in the future...
 

OkAdiza

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Congrats on the new tort, would like to see Otsokrikri's update in the future...
Thank you! This is Otsokrikri several weeks ago. He has been doing pretty well in general, although I am still concerned about his eating recently. He is so picky that over the last couple of weeks he has shunned his food if there isn't any Mazuri in it (which I was only doing once a week originally). I might take a poop sample to the vet to make sure he doesn't have parasites again. The only time he didn't really eat was a month after I first got him, took him to the vet for a check up, and he did have parasites.

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Tom

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Thank you! This is Otsokrikri several weeks ago. He has been doing pretty well in general, although I am still concerned about his eating recently. He is so picky that over the last couple of weeks he has shunned his food if there isn't any Mazuri in it (which I was only doing once a week originally). I might take a poop sample to the vet to make sure he doesn't have parasites again. The only time he didn't really eat was a month after I first got him, took him to the vet for a check up, and he did have parasites.
I got confused by your pics for a minute there. I was like: "That's not a leopard tortoise!" I had to go back and re-read the original posts about your other tortoise.
 

OkAdiza

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I got confused by your pics for a minute there. I was like: "That's not a leopard tortoise!" I had to go back and re-read the original posts about your other tortoise.
Yeah, sorry about that. I was responding to gedong’s inquiry about the Hermann’s. Probably should have just made another post, lol.
 
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OkAdiza

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Agbienaa is doing really well. Pooping and eating up a storm and not picky at all. Ironically, she does not seem to like the Mazuri, lol. More for Otsokrikri I guess;). I haven't had a chance to get distilled water, but have been using rain water for the shell, as we've had a bit of rain.
 

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OkAdiza

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Just a quick update on Agbienna. When we got her in April she was 629 grams. This month she is 765 grams and still eating like crazy. We were able to build her a closed chamber enclosure and so far humidity has held between around 90% on average. Her beak has trimmed down fairly well just from eating on the slate and terra-cotta we have in her enclosure. She's still a bit shy, but has been doing very well. She and our Hermann's, Otsokrikri, both have their own new outdoor enclosures that are pretty much done, and have been enjoying the weather.
 

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Ink

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They are looking really good. Is the Hermann eating better?
 

Lokkje

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Your leopard has beautiful markings and you have adorable tortoises. I like the stones that you put in the enclosure.
 
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