dry tortoise shell?

[Yingg]

Aw her beak looks loads better! That’ll wear down now if you continue serving on slate😁

If you’re in a climate that allows you to safely let her out for that long, that would be great! Something like a 4x3 would work when you have to bring her in, come winter she would ideally need a bigger space though

i've got a piece of slate already! let's hope it works. i'm in california so i think i can let her out during the warm hours

 

[Yingg]

Beak looks okay now. It will file down on its own at this point.

If she looks for a safe place outside - it's okay. They need to hide somewhere when it's too hot/too cold/too open/too strong sunlight. Also they need some time (from weeks to months) to get used to a new space and then start exploring.

With a whole day outside you don't need much indoors space, 4x3 feet will be enough. In the winter time outdoors is limited, so you have to think what to do. Maybe some kind of temporary extension.

Her edema/fat looks a bit better to me (at least on one of the photos).

oh okay!! thank you

 

[EppsDynasty]

@Yingg .... Great job taking this on and being attentive to your tort. Mom's don't always know best so don't be discouraged, this is teaching you how to deal with adversity. One thing that has not been said yet is "Nothing happens fast with Tortoises." Patience is hard to have when you care so much but your on the right track. @Alex and the Redfoot ... Right on for being there for this tort and owner.

 

[Yingg]

@Yingg .... Great job taking this on and being attentive to your tort. Mom's don't always know best so don't be discouraged, this is teaching you how to deal with adversity. One thing that has not been said yet is "Nothing happens fast with Tortoises." Patience is hard to have when you care so much but your on the right track. @Alex and the Redfoot ... Right on for being there for this tort and owner.

i'm really grateful for this forum and everyone that helped! everyone here is so amazing and kind. sometimes when i ask in other online spaces, i get a lot of hate and i believe that kind of threw me off ^^; this place is very welcoming though !

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

i'm really grateful for this forum and everyone that helped! everyone here is so amazing and kind. sometimes when i ask in other online spaces, i get a lot of hate and i believe that kind of threw me off ^^; this place is very welcoming though !

That’s so sad to hear, please take no notice! We’ll always welcome you here no matter what❤️

 

[EppsDynasty]

i'm really grateful for this forum and everyone that helped! everyone here is so amazing and kind. sometimes when i ask in other online spaces, i get a lot of hate and i believe that kind of threw me off ^^; this place is very welcoming though !

If ANY way you feel not welcomed just say something! I'm sure you may get things said that you may not 100% agree with but never should you get any hate here.
By asking questions and learning you contribute to this place just as much as you get. Glad you're here

 

[Yingg]

That’s good! I don’t think they’ll need sedation either if it’s been done before without🙂

Yes that sounds good! I can’t remember if I’ve ever pasted how I’d personally set up for an adult Russian, so figured I’d include it here if it can help give you an idea on how to upgrade your indoor enclosure as cost effectively as possible, hopefully it helps😊

I’m including the appropriate indoor uv, if your guy is primarily housed outdoors, you may not need it, but if housed inside for a good portion of the year, I’d add it.

Basking light should be an incandescent floodlight(example attached) on a 12 hour timer.

Basking temperature directly under the floodlight should be 95-100f. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80 during the day.

You may also wish to add ambient lighting on the same timer, providing shady areas with hides and safe plants.

Then CHE/CHE’s(ceramic heat emitters) always on a thermostat, for night heat if your house drops below 60’s at night. Set the thermostat for a night temperature place the probe in their cooler end, plug the che into it and the thermostat into the mains, it’ll be plugged in 24/7 but will only turn on when the temperature drops. If your house stays in the 60’s don’t worry about this!

Uv should be a t5 fluorescent tube, avoid the compact and coil uv bulbs, they don’t give out enough uv and can hurt the tortoises eyes. The uv can be on a 4 hour timer from noon. I’ve attached examples of the two brands to go for and some examples of how to mount them.

With lighting always avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour.

For substrates, either coco coir, dampened and packed down by hand as a base, with a layer of orchid(fir not pine) bark or forest floor on top, or just the orchid bark/forest floor. Never use anything with sand mixed in, no top soils and no kinds of moss.

You want to aim to have the bottom layer of substrate damp, to do this pour lukewarm water into the corners, not loads but enough to dampen the entire bottom layer. To stop that top layer getting a little too dry/dusty, mix the substrate now n then. Check your monitors and substrate to do the pours as and when needed.

I’d personally recommend making your own base to go as big as you can go for the space you have. The closer you can get to a 8x4 size the better, but again if yours is primarily housed in a large outdoor space, you’ll get away with something a bit smaller for whilst they’re inside. They still do need plenty of roaming room though.

When making your base, just make sure the material is safe, some use flower beds, or take a large bookcase, take out the shelves and lie flat, or just make their own, for all these options I’d line with cheap pond liner to protect the base, making sure the liner goes up the sides too and make sure those sides are deep enough! They can be professional escape artists😂

I’ve also included examples of stands people make/buy to hang their lighting, use a temperature gun to determine how high the basking bulb needs to be, the uv I suggested needs to be mounted 18-20 inches from the substrate. Dome fittings help project the heat downwards in an open top design, just never rely solely on the clamp fittings that come with them, always hang securely.

For a water dish a shallow terracotta saucer is considered safest, they have grip in the event your tortoise flips themselves, most pet store options are a known hazard.

I’d also always recommend getting your hands on a temp gun, they’re SO handy when setting up a new environment or for checking your monitors are correct🙂

hello, do you perhaps have amazon links to everything you get? i'm worried i'll get the wrong thing, and frankly, a lot of it is expensive so i was wondering if you knew cheaper options >< mostly for the substrate and lamps!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

hello, do you perhaps have amazon links to everything you get? i'm worried i'll get the wrong thing, and frankly, a lot of it is expensive so i was wondering if you knew cheaper options >< mostly for the substrate and lamps!

I think because we’re from different areas, my links may not work.. but I can tell you everything to search and if you want to screenshot what you find and run it by here first that’s a good idea to save you time and money😊

For a grow tent enclosure, try searching up ‘greenhouse with base’ in your desired size, a bunch should come up
For the basking light type in ‘75w basking floodlight’ they should be a pear shape, again run by on here first.
For the uv, you can either search up ‘Arcadia proT5 kit 12%’(I always personally recommend that one) or, ‘zoo med t5 reptisun 10.0’ and you’ll need to purchase the fitting separately if you go with that one, I believe if you type in ‘t5 reflector hood’ something should come up.
For the thermostat, type in reptile thermostat into Amazon and see if you can find a 1000w one
For timers type in ‘plug in wall timer’ and again a bunch of cheaper options should come up
For liner, type in ‘pond liner’ on Amazon, find the cheapest for the size you need
For ambient lighting, you can either go with an led strip, or led light in the colour range I suggested
Light fitting wise, you want wide domes that aren’t deep, kind of like the example attached, 10.5” with a ceramic fitting, I’d use a dome for your ceramics and basking, then any old dome fitting for a screw in led if you use one for the ambient
Substrate wise, type in ‘coco coir’ into Amazon and some bulk listings should come up for you, again run by here, orchid bark wise, I’ve seen folks say they find it cheaper in big bags from the garden stores, just make sure it’s 100% orchid fir bark with nothing added to grow plants like fertiliser or anything
You can find terracotta saucers and slate serving plates pretty cheap in store/online🙂
For monitors, some people use govees, but you can get digital humidity and temperature monitors from the hardware store for pretty cheap

I think I covered everything, have a mooch round, see what you can find, take screenshots and double check everything here before buying anything!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Oh for ceramics, type in ‘100w ceramic heat emitter’ again a bunch should come up, once you post your findings we can all help making sure it’s the right stuff🙂

Also it’s dawning on me yours doesn’t need the greenhouse topper(forgive me, I juggle lots of threads lol) so for the base, just simply look at some raised garden beds, or even an 8x4 shelving unit laid flat would work if it’s deep enough😊

 

[Yingg]

Oh for ceramics, type in ‘100w ceramic heat emitter’ again a bunch should come up, once you post your findings we can all help making sure it’s the right stuff🙂

Also it’s dawning on me yours doesn’t need the greenhouse topper(forgive me, I juggle lots of threads lol) so for the base, just simply look at some raised garden beds, or even an 8x4 shelving unit laid flat would work if it’s deep enough😊

lolll thank you so much! don't worry about it. i already have the "base", which i made to be 44x34. it's small, but it's the most my mom will allow... for the basking lamp, do you recommend zoomed powersun mercury vapor? (i don't know why mercury vapor is) but it's quite expensive ^^; it has UVA and UVB all in one. (i'm looking at 80W one right now, which is 72$ USD for two.) i think i can definitely go and buy the other stuff though, i'll go down to a garden supply store for orchid bark. hopefully they have some, aha.

i know my enclosure is small, but on the bright side, i might be able to take the whole thing off to college when i move out in a year.

 

[Yingg]

lolll thank you so much! don't worry about it. i already have the "base", which i made to be 44x34. it's small, but it's the most my mom will allow... for the basking lamp, do you recommend zoomed powersun mercury vapor? (i don't know why mercury vapor is) but it's quite expensive ^^; it has UVA and UVB all in one. (i'm looking at 80W one right now, which is 72$ USD for two.) i think i can definitely go and buy the other stuff though, i'll go down to a garden supply store for orchid bark. hopefully they have some, aha.

i know my enclosure is small, but on the bright side, i might be able to take the whole thing off to college when i move out in a year.

for the basking lamp (powersun mercury vapor UVA UVB 80w), i was planning on having it on from 12-4 and a normal fluorescent (Exo Terra Repti Glo 10.0 14W, with UVB too) for the rest of the day. is that okay? i'll try to get the ceramic thing for the other basking lamp as well.

 

[Yingg]

for the basking lamp (powersun mercury vapor UVA UVB 80w), i was planning on having it on from 12-4 and a normal fluorescent (Exo Terra Repti Glo 10.0 14W, with UVB too) for the rest of the day. is that okay? i'll try to get the ceramic thing for the other basking lamp as well.

oh and i might need help buying a structure which will hang the lighting system, since the tortoise table is basically a glorified wooden box. should i make one, or are there specialized "hangers" to hang lights from? (for the fluorescent tube and the basking lamp)

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

for the basking lamp (powersun mercury vapor UVA UVB 80w), i was planning on having it on from 12-4 and a normal fluorescent (Exo Terra Repti Glo 10.0 14W, with UVB too) for the rest of the day. is that okay? i'll try to get the ceramic thing for the other basking lamp as well.

Hello!
No need to get mercury vapour bulb for basking. An incandescent bulb and good fluorescent tube (Arcadia, ZooMed Reptisun or Reptile Systems) for UVB is a better combination - more flexible and cheaper in the long run (MVB lamps last for 6 months, on average). Basking bulb should be on for 12-14 hours and UVB lamp for 4-6 hours.

To hang the lights you can make a frame from PVC pipes or wood planks.

 

[Yingg]

Hello!
No need to get mercury vapour bulb for basking. An incandescent bulb and good fluorescent tube (Arcadia, ZooMed Reptisun or Reptile Systems) for UVB is a better combination - more flexible and cheaper in the long run (MVB lamps last for 6 months, on average). Basking bulb should be on for 12-14 hours and UVB lamp for 4-6 hours.

To hang the lights you can make a frame from PVC pipes or wood planks.

oh okay, how many lights is that total ^^; sorry i'm confused. basking light is the warm one, fluorescent is the long one right? and UVB is a whole different one? do i also need a UVA source?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

oh okay, how many lights is that total ^^; sorry i'm confused. basking light is the warm one, fluorescent is the long one right? and UVB is a whole different one? do i also need a UVA source?

Hello sorry for the delay. So for your set up, it’s a floodlight which is your basking light. The t5 fluorescent tube light is your UV. Then there are ceramic bulbs which are non light emitting heat bulbs that make up ambient heat/give night heat. Then there’s ambient lighting which is just leds, you can either go with a screw in led or strip light, in the colour range 5000-6500k.

Always avoid anything labelled mercury vapour or halogen👍

Hope this helps🙂

 

[Yingg]

I think because we’re from different areas, my links may not work.. but I can tell you everything to search and if you want to screenshot what you find and run it by here first that’s a good idea to save you time and money😊

For a grow tent enclosure, try searching up ‘greenhouse with base’ in your desired size, a bunch should come up
For the basking light type in ‘75w basking floodlight’ they should be a pear shape, again run by on here first.
For the uv, you can either search up ‘Arcadia proT5 kit 12%’(I always personally recommend that one) or, ‘zoo med t5 reptisun 10.0’ and you’ll need to purchase the fitting separately if you go with that one, I believe if you type in ‘t5 reflector hood’ something should come up.
For the thermostat, type in reptile thermostat into Amazon and see if you can find a 1000w one
For timers type in ‘plug in wall timer’ and again a bunch of cheaper options should come up
For liner, type in ‘pond liner’ on Amazon, find the cheapest for the size you need
For ambient lighting, you can either go with an led strip, or led light in the colour range I suggested
Light fitting wise, you want wide domes that aren’t deep, kind of like the example attached, 10.5” with a ceramic fitting, I’d use a dome for your ceramics and basking, then any old dome fitting for a screw in led if you use one for the ambient
Substrate wise, type in ‘coco coir’ into Amazon and some bulk listings should come up for you, again run by here, orchid bark wise, I’ve seen folks say they find it cheaper in big bags from the garden stores, just make sure it’s 100% orchid fir bark with nothing added to grow plants like fertiliser or anything
You can find terracotta saucers and slate serving plates pretty cheap in store/online🙂
For monitors, some people use govees, but you can get digital humidity and temperature monitors from the hardware store for pretty cheap

I think I covered everything, have a mooch round, see what you can find, take screenshots and double check everything here before buying anything!

can i use a temp gun instead of thermostat?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

can i use a temp gun instead of thermostat?

No, the thermostat is what keeps any ceramics you use at a safe temperature by turning them on/off as and when needed. I wouldn’t run them without. If your enclosure stays an appropriate night temp (around 65f) and your floodlight keeps your day temps good, you may not need a che, you can check that with a temp gun🙂

 

[Yingg]

No, the thermostat is what keeps any ceramics you use at a safe temperature by turning them on/off as and when needed. I wouldn’t run them without. If your enclosure stays an appropriate night temp (around 65f) and your floodlight keeps your day temps good, you may not need a che, you can check that with a temp gun🙂

ohhhh okay, so the thermostat helps you regulate it. do you have a link for the ceramics, or anything i can search up?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yeah they keep the ceramics at a safe temperature😊
If you type in reptile ceramic heat emitter, a bunch should come up, free feel to double check them here, I can’t say for certain on the wattage, sometimes people have to test different ones, most go with 100w

 

[Yingg]

No, the thermostat is what keeps any ceramics you use at a safe temperature by turning them on/off as and when needed. I wouldn’t run them without. If your enclosure stays an appropriate night temp (around 65f) and your floodlight keeps your day temps good, you may not need a che, you can check that with a temp gun🙂

the kit (second image) is something i'm buying only for the fixture, since it's the only one i could find. (34 inch fixture). it comes with 5.0 UVB which i doubt i'll use, so i put two reptisun t5 10.0 34" in my cart to use instead. for the cococoir, that's the brand i usually use. i will have to check out garden supply for orchid bark ^^ is everything here alright?