zentort
New Member
Had my little tort three weeks now, he's 8 months old. I don't think these count as beginners mistakes so much as they're all round stupidity on my part (and maybe Gemini, a little).
1. Gemini learned how to climb a brick wall next to his tort table. I only realised when I saw him fall from about 4 feet up onto a wooden floor.
2. Realising he liked to climb, I moved his table but got him some little toy steps which doubled as a hide. Can't see Gemini when I go to put him outside, start to panic, pull everything out of the tort table, no sign. He's clutched on to the underside of his hide stairs (which I'd taken out about 30 minutes earlier) with his leg trapped in one of the seals.
3. He escaped from his indoor enclosure, no idea how, and walked straight into a human carpet gripstick (with tacks every few milimeters).
4. I'm cleaning out the substrate, idly tossing it into a box. Gemini was RIGHT UP THE TOP OF HIS ENCLOSURE three seconds beforehand. Then he wasn't. I'd thrown him into the box with the substrate (lil guy only weighs 50g).
5. Put up wire mesh on his outdoor enclosure & think I'm a hero. Kneel down to lift it & take Gemini out the first night, wire mesh bounces back & falls on us,scratches my wrist so badly it bleeds for an hour... lord knows how much it hurt my tort.
Little guy is fine, no shell damage, not off his food or anything, still climbing & burrowing, although he's been a bit more placid since the throwing into a box incident... convinced he'll 'death by misadventure' before he reaches his 1st birthday at this point, but certainly don't want to keep him restricted to a table for the rest of his life..!
Please tell me I'm not alone...?
1. Gemini learned how to climb a brick wall next to his tort table. I only realised when I saw him fall from about 4 feet up onto a wooden floor.
2. Realising he liked to climb, I moved his table but got him some little toy steps which doubled as a hide. Can't see Gemini when I go to put him outside, start to panic, pull everything out of the tort table, no sign. He's clutched on to the underside of his hide stairs (which I'd taken out about 30 minutes earlier) with his leg trapped in one of the seals.
3. He escaped from his indoor enclosure, no idea how, and walked straight into a human carpet gripstick (with tacks every few milimeters).
4. I'm cleaning out the substrate, idly tossing it into a box. Gemini was RIGHT UP THE TOP OF HIS ENCLOSURE three seconds beforehand. Then he wasn't. I'd thrown him into the box with the substrate (lil guy only weighs 50g).
5. Put up wire mesh on his outdoor enclosure & think I'm a hero. Kneel down to lift it & take Gemini out the first night, wire mesh bounces back & falls on us,scratches my wrist so badly it bleeds for an hour... lord knows how much it hurt my tort.
Little guy is fine, no shell damage, not off his food or anything, still climbing & burrowing, although he's been a bit more placid since the throwing into a box incident... convinced he'll 'death by misadventure' before he reaches his 1st birthday at this point, but certainly don't want to keep him restricted to a table for the rest of his life..!
Please tell me I'm not alone...?