Hi all,
If anyone has followed my previous posts about my Hoppy a leopard tortoise, you’ll know he’s never been a great eater or grower. Anyways, he’s about 11 months old now and just at 96 grams. I read all the time that tortoises need exercise and should be provided with a large enclosure with lights and UV and heat. But Hop never does anything inside his enclosure except pick at his food and go hide under the sphagnum moss. He’s rarely out basking or exposed to the UV light. So recently when I moved back to my house with a safe chemical free yard, I’ve been taking him out at partial cloudiness to get some natural UV. Someone mentioned a long time ago just a few hours outside a week should be enough. Anyways, I noticed that he’s really active when outside walking around on my lawn or driveway, interested in his surroundings and picking at weeds he stumbles across...basically acting like how I thought a tortoise should, he’s been getting about 2-3 hours of sun per day for the past few weeks and already put on more than 10 grams, which is the most he’s ever gained in such a short period. And I always weight him after a massive poop too just to keep things consistent. So just wondering if anyone can explain why he doesn’t do anything in his enclosure but very active when outside. He’s in a 4 foot long sterility tub...I know that’s smaller than recommended but he literally stays in one corner of his enclosure so I never bothered upgrading. I did recently add some dichondra from his grazing garden outside cuz I know he likes munching on that but he doesn’t even bother with it . Here’s his current setup plus extra pics of him being active outside.
If anyone has followed my previous posts about my Hoppy a leopard tortoise, you’ll know he’s never been a great eater or grower. Anyways, he’s about 11 months old now and just at 96 grams. I read all the time that tortoises need exercise and should be provided with a large enclosure with lights and UV and heat. But Hop never does anything inside his enclosure except pick at his food and go hide under the sphagnum moss. He’s rarely out basking or exposed to the UV light. So recently when I moved back to my house with a safe chemical free yard, I’ve been taking him out at partial cloudiness to get some natural UV. Someone mentioned a long time ago just a few hours outside a week should be enough. Anyways, I noticed that he’s really active when outside walking around on my lawn or driveway, interested in his surroundings and picking at weeds he stumbles across...basically acting like how I thought a tortoise should, he’s been getting about 2-3 hours of sun per day for the past few weeks and already put on more than 10 grams, which is the most he’s ever gained in such a short period. And I always weight him after a massive poop too just to keep things consistent. So just wondering if anyone can explain why he doesn’t do anything in his enclosure but very active when outside. He’s in a 4 foot long sterility tub...I know that’s smaller than recommended but he literally stays in one corner of his enclosure so I never bothered upgrading. I did recently add some dichondra from his grazing garden outside cuz I know he likes munching on that but he doesn’t even bother with it . Here’s his current setup plus extra pics of him being active outside.