Enclosure Update

[kai.oki]

Just wanted to post a few photos of my enclosure as it's had a few updates. We put a ceramic heat lamp in by the hide our tortoise sleeps in, to help keep the night temps higher (upping the heating in the whole apartment by 3 degrees at night was not very cost-efficient!) That seems to be working well.

We also managed to get hold of some plants grown specifically for consumption, with no pesticides or herbicides. She's been going to town on those! We've had Oki for 10 weeks now- I still think she's trying to hibernate. I have to get her up and out of her hide every morning or she will stay in there and sleep all day. I give her a soak every other day, she spends a few hours each morning basking and eating before she digs in to sleep for about 20 hours...I'm hoping she will get more active again soon. But she seems quite content, which is good

 

[Yvonne G]

That's really nice.

 

[Bambam1989]

Looks good. Really like the sight barriers.

 

[Alex Z]

That is a great looking enclosure.

 

[RosemaryDW]

Wow, a lot better than anything I could hope to do!

 

[Rhea]

What are the plants in the enclosure? I want to get some but have a hard time with finding organic and non chemical fertilized plants. I’m so afraid they are going to have something on them. Your enclosure looks awesome. I want to do that with mine.

 

[kai.oki]

That is a great looking enclosure.

Thank you very much!

 

[kai.oki]

What are the plants in the enclosure? I want to get some but have a hard time with finding organic and non chemical fertilized plants. I’m so afraid they are going to have something on them. Your enclosure looks awesome. I want to do that with mine.

Yes I know, it can be really difficult! We're lucky to live very close to a specialist reptile store, and the owner was able to order plants that were grown specifically for enclosures and to be safe for eating. The smaller shrubs (which she eats from time to time) are Callisia, which is also known as turtle vine. The taller ones are a dragon tree and a fountain palm. She doesn't / can't eat from either of those as they are too high (they are both safe, but not really good to feed.) They're there to provide some shade and cover

Thanks so much for the lovely comments too!

 

[Jimothythetort]

Can I ask where you got your big rocks?

 

[kai.oki]

Can I ask where you got your big rocks?

They're from a friend's garden. Just gave them a thorough clean before putting them in there!

 

[libscoot]

I missed previous post(s), what is the size of your enclosure? I'm still making do with the 50-gallon I inherited, and will probably have to do so until fall (tho my tort will live outside during the summer). This is a great inspiration for an indoor habitat!

 

[kai.oki]

I missed previous post(s), what is the size of your enclosure? I'm still making do with the 50-gallon I inherited, and will probably have to do so until fall (tho my tort will live outside during the summer). This is a great inspiration for an indoor habitat!

Thanks so much! This is 4.5 x 4.5 feet. At the moment our tortoise is still quite small (3.5 inches long) so it's a decent size for her, but we will probably upgrade to a bigger one next year