A newbie from Hong Kong

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erosal

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Hi All,

Firstly, I would like to thank this forum. Its members and admin. Ive been a member in less than 24 hrs and I have learned a lot from the community.

My name is Elmer. My family lives in Hong Kong but we came from the beautiful island of Cebu, Philippines.

We recently purchased 2 Leopard Tortoise (shop keeper said its about a month old). And we are learning on how we could give the best care for Simon and Lewis ( my daughter named them). This forum so far has been of great help.

Hoping that I could interact more and share/learn from all of you.

Thanks,

Elmer
 

wellington

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Hello and Welcome:) If you haven't come across Toms threads yet on raising smooth, healthy leopards, take a look at them. They are at the bottom of my post. The sulcata thread will apply to leopards also.
 

Yvonne G

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Welcome to the Forum, Elmer!
 

erosal

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Hi guys, thanks for the warm welcome...

Here is my 2 Leopard Tortoise (Simon and Lewis). Please help to comment anything that can help me give my tortoises a better/correct environment.

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Substrate: Coconut Compressed Fiber and Corn Cob
Temperature/Humidity: around 70-85F , 70-90%
Food : Letuce/Chinese Kale/Water Spinach/Broccoli/Pak Choy/White Choy Sum/Yu Choy Sin
 

shanu303

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hello and welcome to the forum :D Simon and Lewis are really cute:) and they have really nice shell pattern :):tort::tort: nice enclosure you got there ...
 

jhongsen

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welcome to the forum :D , you tort are amazing and so are the enclosure , i love that enclosure
 

N2TORTS

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Welcome to the Forum ..! .... Dig your intro and how cool is that folks .. we are getting more and more members from all over the world!.....Very cool!
:)
 

graine

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Hi. My name is Gary from the OC, I have been reading the forum for few months. It took me a few weeks to work up the nerve to join and a few more days to introduce myself. I really like the forum it has been a great source of information for Helmut (female RT) and Shield (male RT) both wild caught. The pet store told me they were one year old. The Vet (the Greek) told me the female could be 20 years old and the male was at least that. I am loving my torts!!!!!!!!!


Gary tortise fan
 

erosal

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thanks for the replies.

both Simon and Lewis are doing fine. the whole household enjoyed watching them (specially when eating). they are quite playful and explores a lot. i grazed them regularly and warm soak them in a tub every other day...
 

Tom

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erosal said:
Hi guys, thanks for the warm welcome...

Here is my 2 Leopard Tortoise (Simon and Lewis). Please help to comment anything that can help me give my tortoises a better/correct environment.


Substrate: Coconut Compressed Fiber and Corn Cob
Temperature/Humidity: around 70-85F , 70-90%
Food : Letuce/Chinese Kale/Water Spinach/Broccoli/Pak Choy/White Choy Sum/Yu Choy Sin

Hello and welcome. I have a few tips.
1. They need a much bigger enclosure. 4-6 times bigger than that one.
2. Get rid of the corn cob as soon as possible. It poses a mold and an impaction risk.
3. 70 is much too cool, and 85 is not warm enough for a basking spot. The ambient in the enclosure should not drop below 80, day or night, and their basking spot should get up to around 100 for 12 hours a day.
4. The best diet for them is broadleaf weeds, a few types of leaves, some succulents and spineless cactus pads. All the grocery store food is okay as part of a varied diet, but they need more than that, and they need more fiber.


What have you got in those lighting hoods? Is one of the bulbs a coil type florescent UV bulb?
 

erosal

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Hi Tom, thanks for the helpful tips.

Some update I have done.

I have removed the corn cob and used coco coir and sphagnum moss for the substrate. By the way, can I use cypress mulch as well?

substratek.jpg



For the enclosure I plan to build or buy a 24"x 36" enclosure. I will update this as soon as this materialized. Im thinking of getting this:
tortoisehouse.jpg


For the temperature, the hide is around 80-81F while their hot spot is around 86-88F.

hider.jpg

hotspots.jpg


It seems that this is still not enough. How can I reach 90-100F? Increase wattage of my heat bulb?

I am using the following light fixtures: UVB10.0 15W and ZooMed 60W Heat bulb.
imageygbz.jpg

imagelyhb.jpg
 

erosal

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Location (City and/or State)
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UPDATE:

1. I have moved them to a much bigger terrarium. I got myself a 40"x18"x18 glass terrarium.
2. I have changed my basking and UVB lamp to a Powersun 160w
3. My ambient temp now is at 80-85F and my spot at 100-110F.
4. I have changed my substrate to coco coir and sphagnum.
 
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