Hello all,
i know some of you may have read my other post, but i wanted to see if i could get some answers to my tortoises behavioral problems.
Like i said before i rescued this tortoise from inter city Chicago. they said she was 20 years old ( I don't believe it ) and that she had been kept in their basement ever sense. when i went down in their basement she was in one of those stainless steel water troughs ( like for horses ) with a light on one end and no substrate. there was rotting lettuce, what looked like weeks of feces and about a quarter of an inch of water.
i at first designed a tortoise table for her to live on. it was a 8ft by 4ft table with 10 inch sides. it had a full spectrum UVA/UVB merc light, basking spotlight temps were around 100F, with the rest of the table in the mid 70's. it had 2 hides, one near the light, and one on the opposite side. for substrate i used livestock quality hay. i was attempting to feed her timothy hay but i could never get her to eat it, so i was feeding her primarily leafy greens. the problem was she was never content in the table and would pace around and around until the scales on her forearms and feet became raw.
i decided to get rid of the table and let her just have free roam of the entire apartment, keeping the light on and a pile of hay in one corner, i figured if she got cold or hungry she would just go over and sit in the hay. the problem is she would routinely go to the coldest darkest part of the house and sleep there for weeks ( i once let her sleep for 2 weeks with out bothering her, but she never moved so i got worried and moved her back to her light ) i soak her at least once a week in our sink filled with luke warm water, and i would imagine she defecates about once every week or so.
we have a small back yard and i let her live out there last summer. she spent 90% of her time under a bush and i only saw her grazing in the back yard twice, both times in the early morning.
is this typical behavior? ive read that the tortoise should eat its body size per day, and she has never come close. she also goes to areas of the house that are in the low 60's and sleeps forever there, which i dont think is normal. i have had her for over a year now and she has been acting like this ever since. i hope some one could give me some advice on what to do.
Very Respectfully,
NavyDT
i know some of you may have read my other post, but i wanted to see if i could get some answers to my tortoises behavioral problems.
Like i said before i rescued this tortoise from inter city Chicago. they said she was 20 years old ( I don't believe it ) and that she had been kept in their basement ever sense. when i went down in their basement she was in one of those stainless steel water troughs ( like for horses ) with a light on one end and no substrate. there was rotting lettuce, what looked like weeks of feces and about a quarter of an inch of water.
i at first designed a tortoise table for her to live on. it was a 8ft by 4ft table with 10 inch sides. it had a full spectrum UVA/UVB merc light, basking spotlight temps were around 100F, with the rest of the table in the mid 70's. it had 2 hides, one near the light, and one on the opposite side. for substrate i used livestock quality hay. i was attempting to feed her timothy hay but i could never get her to eat it, so i was feeding her primarily leafy greens. the problem was she was never content in the table and would pace around and around until the scales on her forearms and feet became raw.
i decided to get rid of the table and let her just have free roam of the entire apartment, keeping the light on and a pile of hay in one corner, i figured if she got cold or hungry she would just go over and sit in the hay. the problem is she would routinely go to the coldest darkest part of the house and sleep there for weeks ( i once let her sleep for 2 weeks with out bothering her, but she never moved so i got worried and moved her back to her light ) i soak her at least once a week in our sink filled with luke warm water, and i would imagine she defecates about once every week or so.
we have a small back yard and i let her live out there last summer. she spent 90% of her time under a bush and i only saw her grazing in the back yard twice, both times in the early morning.
is this typical behavior? ive read that the tortoise should eat its body size per day, and she has never come close. she also goes to areas of the house that are in the low 60's and sleeps forever there, which i dont think is normal. i have had her for over a year now and she has been acting like this ever since. i hope some one could give me some advice on what to do.
Very Respectfully,
NavyDT