Recent content by Mabelthetort

That’s horrendous! I’ll look into preventative measures and keep a VERY close eye on her!

Thanks for the advice! She’s a marginated. The last couple of weeks the garden has been 35-38’c. I think it’s because half the garden is taken up by a poorly constructed conservatory that heats up and then gives off heat in the later afternoon. The temperature got to 34’c at the peak of the...

Hi everyone, (tldr at the end) I was originally told by Mabel’s breeder that she can’t go outside until she’s 3-5 years old, but have since read on TF that lots of experienced keepers allow them time outside much younger than this. Half of Mabel’s indoor enclosure is positioned in front of a...

Hi, her pooping has still not gone back to pre-heatwave levels and she has stopped pooping when she’s soaked entirely! Otherwise she is happy, healthy, has a good appetite and enjoys roaming around and climbing in her enclosure. I’ve done more research into tortoise poop 😂 and have realised...

Hi Tom, thanks for your response. Yes LEDs are on. I have searched through her substrate and hides and can’t see any poo. Obviously it is easy to miss so I may have missed one…but three/six? The problem with heat in the UK is that our houses are designed to trap heat inside to keep us warm...

Hi everyone, we have a heatwave in the UK and our homes are designed terribly so the temp inside has been around 30-36 nearly constantly for three days. Mabel hasn’t pooped this entire time. She normally poos once or twice daily while soaking. During this time I’ve been keeping the blinds...

Great, thanks! She passed the hair and I’ve been soaking her for 30-45 minutes daily since this incident. Kind of unrelated, but the other day I was brushing some coir from her shell and she did that little butt wiggle I’ve seen some tortoises on social media do when they get their shell...

That’s great news actually, because I ordered some opuntia from the tortoise hut last week and it should get here tomorrow! Thanks!

Ah right, I’ve been doing twenty minutes a day. The breeder said no more than ten minutes twice a week, which I quickly learnt was wrong when I joined the forum, but didn’t realise it should be half an hour at least. I’ll extend it from now on. Thank you! She does get bored after about fifteen...

So I’ve searched the forum and google and have noticed this isn’t a rare occurrence, but my eleven month old marginated tortoise has somehow ingested one of my hairs. She only leaves her enclosure to soak so I must have accidentally lost a hair while interacting with her or feeding her and she...

I use non-stringy coco coir, but I was having the same issue of my tort treading it onto her feeding slate so I switched to orchid bark in that half of her enclosure. She spends more time on the coco coir side (maybe because she’s familiar with it already) but she does go to the orchid bark side...

Wow. 50 respondents is a big ask for a-level students. I remember the struggle trying to get participants for my dissertation so I will absolutely take part 😊

Well, you’re doing better than me! New tortoise mum here, and I planted my seeds nearly two months ago and have yet to see a single flower 🤦‍♀️ I kept them too hot in the conservatory and half wilted, then I moved the survivors out and I think they’re stunted by the cold because they just...

I read that they can find pellets more palatable and become ‘addicted’ kind of like humans with sugar or junk food. Maybe soak them until they’re soggy and mix the weeds back in to the Komodo, slowly decreasing it until your tort is back onto just weeds and healthy greens again?