habitat

With warm weather coming, I wanted to share what I do about shade. You need sone DEEP shade, medium deep shade, and speckled shade. Ground temps can rise to 150°F here in the summer, which obviously isn't safe! I use 80% shade cloth (bought online - compare prices), one layer up high at a...

Hello! I am currently in the process of building a cement pond for my turtles. I have already added a waterproofing additive to the cement, but my question is do i have to seal the cement any other way? will it harm the turtles? I have seen several videos of people making cement ponds and they...

Since I took this photo to show one of our members how I do locking lids, I figure I'd post this so others can also see. :) Each of the habitats is 10ft x 10ft (I have a total of 4 for RTs, plus one for my junior leopards, and the area around them is inhabited by an adult leopard tortoise)...

Hi. I m new to this forum and I’m sure not posting this directly but we have a one year old leopard tortoise and are moving to the UK from western Canada. Wondered if there are any leopard owners on here in Uk and how do u manage to keep your tortoise inside and outside? Habitats etc. Much...

I am transferring my Russian Tortoise “Rex” to a new enclosure. I am going to use coconut husk fibers substrate in the below habitat. Should I put the substrate through out the entire habitat or just inside or just outside his cave. He loves to burrow. He is kept inside because it gets cold and...

Hi everyone. We have a Russian tortoise who is 20 and have had difficulty heating her tortoise table over the years because of its location. We recently tried some new changes, particularly low-power heaters which you can build yourself and wanted to share in the information in case anyone else...

Hi everyone! I recently, and a bit abruptly, acquired a Russian Tortoise. I temporarily have him in a 40 gallon tank which I know is not ideal for him so I was looking at some tortoise tables to get him into something more comfortable ASAP. I came across this Tortoise Table on Etsy and wanted...

Last year we moved from suburbian SW WA to rural central AR. Of course I brought my tortoises with me, and initially set them up in temporary enclosures. Over the Fall and Winter I then proceeded to build their permanent outdoor habitats. (Ps: if you don't feel like reading and just want to...

I thought this story might make you smile. First: My outdoor habitats are escape-proof, 10ft x 10ft each, with the walls sunken 12-18" into a trench, down to rock, and there are lids with hardware cloth on them, with locking latches with quick links. There is no way to get out. Here is a pic...

We are about to be first-time tortoise owners / parents. We have purchased a CH/RF hatchling from Ryan at Southern Reptiles (he has been amazing, BTW). He has given us some great info for starting out, but would love to get some feedback on our choices. Here’s what we have ordered, so far: Zoo...

So I recently bought a pair of redfoots from someone that could no longer care for them, one is about 7 and the other is a year and some months old according to the person we bought it from. They sadly have some pyramiding from before I got them. But my question is what are your guys opinions on...

Dad I want a pet. Definitely the scariest words in the English language. So my questions for the esteemed members of this forum: What breed of small tortoise would make the best pet for a 9 y/o boy? Considering both personality and ease of care is there any breed that would be a good...

Hello Im Richard, just recently got myself a lovely little sulcata fella named Coco (cho'-cho'). A month at most. So I've read couple of newbie guide from this forum, saw lot of youtube and taking advices from local tortoise farm owner (they're pretty nice guys). But, i would like more in...

Hey I was looking for some ideas to further update my tort enclosure. Was wondering if anyone would be willing to share some ideas or post pics of theirs. Also if you would share the dimensions of your enclosures too, I’m considering trying to make mine bigger but don’t know if it’s really...

Hello Everyone, My name is Marleine and I just moved to a house in Granda Hills, CA. Two desert tortoises were sprung on me-- age 4. I am loving these guys/girls but I just have so many questions to make sure I am giving them what they need. So, Id like to know their gender? How can I check...

So I've been upgrading my eastern box turtles setup to a bioactive setup and I've heard that you have to wait 2 weeks to a month to put your reptile back in, is there any danger to putting my boxie in early? I don't have any plants added btw, so that might affect things? Idk, any help would be...

Hi everyone! I recently adopted an eastern box turtle, Sammy, from a family member. He has been much less energetic than usual the past few days and I think (but am not sure) that his breathing may have changed. I'm not sure if I need to be concerned about a possible respiratory infection or...

this is his cage too i just want to make sure u guys think it’s a good home ? thank you

My 50lb sulcata has picked a spot that works for him and refused to try anywhere else, but once he hits about a foot down he can't dig anymore so he's just sitting in the sun. Can anybody recommend what they did? i'm thinking an auger with some kind of bit. i'm trying to find one but all i can...

Newt is still a little baby, but depending on wether he's male or female (too small for us to tell) we might need a pretty big tank in the long run. From the information we have found online, pink belly sidenecks can grow up to 11inches, which means a 110 gallon tank or more. Where could we find...