After 15 years of owning snakes and lizards, have decided to switch to torts. I have finally found myself in the right place to take on this long term commitment.
I have spent many hrs reading posts and care sheets and anything else I can get my hands on. I have 2 hatchling leos (9-06-2010) and I have several general questions that I would love some advice on.
There are in a temporary enclosure with a heat lamp and a UV tube. I have successfully created a temp gradient of 85-95 in the hot side to 80ish on the low.
First--I am feeding them several different types of greens that I have seen on the lists that people have posted.
Spring Mix--no spinach or chard
Mustard greens
turnip greens
Endive
small amounts of dandelions
Rabe-Rabini
I make a big chopped of bowl of this and then feed them the mixed salad each day. I have also been giving them thinly sliced prickly pear pads every other day or so.
Once a day I sprinkle timothy hay (finely chopped up to almost a powder in the blender).
That being said, my question is about Calcium vs. Calcium w/ D3. Which one is best? How often? I work during the day, so they currently don't get too much real sun, but they have the UV bulb about 12-15 inches from them.
Second--Substrate and Humidity
I have read "The end to pyramiding," and am going to try to keep my humidity up in their enclosure, but I'm just not sure what type of substrate will best help me accomplish this.
I currently have fine coco coir in their enclosure. I am able to spray it down a couple times a day to keep the humidity up, but it gets everywhere. On their food, in their water and all over bodies. I'm sure that torts get dirty in the wild, I guess that I just want to make sure that they don't become impacted.
Any thoughts? Please...I just want to do whats best for the Leos.
I have spent many hrs reading posts and care sheets and anything else I can get my hands on. I have 2 hatchling leos (9-06-2010) and I have several general questions that I would love some advice on.
There are in a temporary enclosure with a heat lamp and a UV tube. I have successfully created a temp gradient of 85-95 in the hot side to 80ish on the low.
First--I am feeding them several different types of greens that I have seen on the lists that people have posted.
Spring Mix--no spinach or chard
Mustard greens
turnip greens
Endive
small amounts of dandelions
Rabe-Rabini
I make a big chopped of bowl of this and then feed them the mixed salad each day. I have also been giving them thinly sliced prickly pear pads every other day or so.
Once a day I sprinkle timothy hay (finely chopped up to almost a powder in the blender).
That being said, my question is about Calcium vs. Calcium w/ D3. Which one is best? How often? I work during the day, so they currently don't get too much real sun, but they have the UV bulb about 12-15 inches from them.
Second--Substrate and Humidity
I have read "The end to pyramiding," and am going to try to keep my humidity up in their enclosure, but I'm just not sure what type of substrate will best help me accomplish this.
I currently have fine coco coir in their enclosure. I am able to spray it down a couple times a day to keep the humidity up, but it gets everywhere. On their food, in their water and all over bodies. I'm sure that torts get dirty in the wild, I guess that I just want to make sure that they don't become impacted.
Any thoughts? Please...I just want to do whats best for the Leos.