My male Russian tortoise Franklin (aprox. 6 years) has a habit of pacing through his water (not a problem on its own since he uses his water) but it puts a lot of water into his substrate, I use reptibark and keep it 4-5 inches deep for burrowing. I try as often as I notice to mix up the bark to bring the soggy stuff to the top to dry. After a while small fruit flys start to take up residence in his enclosure. I'm not sure if it has to do with the water or perhaps they come in with the food I pick from outside.
My questions on that are, could they come in on the food? Would rising the food help? What would be the best substrate to not raise humidity when Franklin splashes? Are these flies harmful to him or just annoying? And is there any way to clean his mulch and dry it (without baking it.. My mom will not allow tortoise housing in the oven she makes food in).
Also my second topic is, I've heard mixed things, are hibiscus flowers a dietary addition or are they a treat? Since its blooming time here my girlfriend has been bringing over 1 or 2 flowers on days she comes over, he loves them and I feed them to him but do still feed him breakfast/dinner greens but is it ok to give him the flowers this often?
Also since I just notice last night that his beak seems to be getting a little long. What's the best way to trim it? I've read to file it like you would a fingernail, but how do you get them to keep their heads out and make it as least traumatizing as possible for him? And does his mouth need to be open, will it hurt if I'm filing against his lower jaw? It's not severely long I'd just like to file it before it gets too long and I can do anything.
My questions on that are, could they come in on the food? Would rising the food help? What would be the best substrate to not raise humidity when Franklin splashes? Are these flies harmful to him or just annoying? And is there any way to clean his mulch and dry it (without baking it.. My mom will not allow tortoise housing in the oven she makes food in).
Also my second topic is, I've heard mixed things, are hibiscus flowers a dietary addition or are they a treat? Since its blooming time here my girlfriend has been bringing over 1 or 2 flowers on days she comes over, he loves them and I feed them to him but do still feed him breakfast/dinner greens but is it ok to give him the flowers this often?
Also since I just notice last night that his beak seems to be getting a little long. What's the best way to trim it? I've read to file it like you would a fingernail, but how do you get them to keep their heads out and make it as least traumatizing as possible for him? And does his mouth need to be open, will it hurt if I'm filing against his lower jaw? It's not severely long I'd just like to file it before it gets too long and I can do anything.