Recent content by Tom

As long as the basking lamp is near the UV tube, it should all work. The minimum distance recommended for the 12% HO tubes is 45cm above the top of the tortoises' shell. I often have to have them closer to 50cm.

Does this tortoise have a heat lamp or a CHE? That looks like a "slow burn". I would not recommend store bought soil for a tortoise. There is no way to know what it is made of and it could be dangerous. The makers and sellers do not intend for small animals to be living on or in it. Its made...

We can only guess. Foaming at the mouth like that can be from over heating or from eating something toxic.

Mark, One thing I have not been able to find is which direction to face the door. Which way did you face your door? Is it better to get the morning sun? Or south facing for sun all day? Or north facing for shade all day? Owls nest earlier than other birds, so it will still be "cold" when their...

The plans that Mark linked have a built in "heat shield". Essentially, the box has its own shade umbrella on the top and the back.

That is so weird. I was literally looking up dimensions and where to place these yesterday. Found a great site from the UK. Mark, this is awesome. You've motivated me to do this too. I've got that lone empty telephone pole down toward the bottom of my ranch. I put a kestrel box there years ago...

I vaguely remember talking about this in the past. It does appear that all of your assessments are correct. Did you have a question? I would not do it this way. That substrate is eventually going to end up on the Kane mat, and we know that that can be a problem. Raising the heat mat up off the...

They sell coco based products in many forms: Mulch, chips, fiber, coir, etc... You want the coir, or the "coco peat". You don't want chips or fibers. If you use coir, make a thick layer and hand pack it down. Dump water into the substrate periodically to keep it damp. How much water and how...

What is a "Motometer"? I suspect when we learn what that is, we will also understand why it has a cap...

Looks normal and fine to me. Is it a female? Mature females grow longer back nails to be able to reach further down into the dirt when digging nest holes.

No sir. The battle is won. That war will rage on forever... :D

The material the soil is made of is literally detritus. Food for detrivores. It was a Phorid fly smorgasbord up in there!

I've never seen it anywhere near that bad. I wonder what the difference is. You could feed hordes of baby chameleons with all those!

This is a very cool thing. I'm aware of this concept and I've seen in it in action twice before. They did a study like this in Hawaii with big giant sulcatas, and found similar results. The behavior of the sulcatas changed the landscape for the better. The best examples I have seen of both the...

Yes. This is the correct substrate. You'll need a thick layer and you'll need to hand pack it down. Then you have to maintain the correct level of moisture by periodically adding water as needed.