Feeding mushroom/green bean?

sorciere

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Vietnam
Hello. Here is some update on my terrace enclosure project.
040C1FD3-F682-4378-AD2F-B5BF18B0E56B.jpeg

AB9A8622-AB4F-49AD-B760-06491EC9340B.jpeg
Next week, I’m gonna get more gravel and a sand bath (or whatever it’s called, for the female to lay egg) in the black area behind the cactus pot.
CDDF033A-FF1F-40A4-8228-E88117FFEAA4.jpeg
Any suggest on what I should add to the enclosure?
 

Huckleberry

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2016
Messages
68
That looks AMAZING! Excellent work! Do the tortoises like it? It looks like they have plenty of shade on the right hand side of the picture. My elongs love to bury themselves in dry palm fronds, so I usually pile those up in a shady corner for them.

I'm not sure if you got your snail questions answered or not. I crack the larger snails with a rock and let the tortoises pick out the meat. They eat smaller snails whole. I haven't had any problems with them eating pieces of snail shell. Other sources of protein I sometimes offer are: earthworms, ground chicken (cooked and mixed with pumpkin or papaya), and high quality canned kitten food.
 

Huckleberry

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2016
Messages
68
You will need at least 20 centimeters of soil for the nesting area. They are very picky about where they lay their eggs. Mine often choose places where the soil is quite solid.
 

sorciere

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Vietnam
That looks AMAZING! Excellent work! Do the tortoises like it? It looks like they have plenty of shade on the right hand side of the picture. My elongs love to bury themselves in dry palm fronds, so I usually pile those up in a shady corner for them.

I'm not sure if you got your snail questions answered or not. I crack the larger snails with a rock and let the tortoises pick out the meat. They eat smaller snails whole. I haven't had any problems with them eating pieces of snail shell. Other sources of protein I sometimes offer are: earthworms, ground chicken (cooked and mixed with pumpkin or papaya), and high quality canned kitten food.
Thanks for the suggestion. I searched in TFO and found someone used dry indian almond leaves or mulberry leaves for substrate.
We do have a lot of those trees here, but people clean the fallen leaves every day so collecting enough dry leaves is a problem. But I'm thinking about it.
And you mean 20 centimeters is the depth of the soil? That's a lot! I'll try my best then. Do you think the soil on river bank is solid enough?
About feeding them snails, I got the answers. ParkourMexican even showed me a video. Unfortuately, there is no garden snail in my garden so I have to buy Pila snails from the market.
 

sorciere

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Vietnam
12am I’ve just come up to check on them and saw this. ? The little girl’s having a revenge for day time.
9C75D7DB-5750-4279-9A59-C56690F2B16F.jpeg

And this is the new girl in town, actually an old lady. She’s bigger than the 2 old torts. She seems to be more active at night, while the other 2 settle down pretty early by sunset.

20AA09C5-30EA-4132-997C-7C285E24B03F.jpeg
76C91486-CE78-4232-93B0-0B2F9A12F91C.jpeg
I feel lucky that my torts love opuntia cactus, so I don’t have to worry about their calsium input.
 

KronksMom

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
347
Location (City and/or State)
Illinois
I LOVE what you've created! Masonry has always interested me and I think your wall is very impressive. There's something about that process of starting with just one brick and then creating a whole wall that really appeals to me, but I've never done it. You should be proud.
 

Huckleberry

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2016
Messages
68
Thanks for the suggestion. I searched in TFO and found someone used dry indian almond leaves or mulberry leaves for substrate.
We do have a lot of those trees here, but people clean the fallen leaves every day so collecting enough dry leaves is a problem. But I'm thinking about it.
And you mean 20 centimeters is the depth of the soil? That's a lot! I'll try my best then. Do you think the soil on river bank is solid enough?
About feeding them snails, I got the answers. ParkourMexican even showed me a video. Unfortuately, there is no garden snail in my garden so I have to buy Pila snails from the market.

I pile all kinds of leaves in my tortoise pens. Mostly mango and longan leaves because I have those trees in my yard. I think any kind of leaf is probably fine for them to dig in.

I just put up a short video of one of my females nesting. The soil is a mixture of clay/sticky soil and potting soil. The tortoises dig nests up to 20 centimeters deep. So the soil should probably be deeper than that. Here is a link to the video:

Have you given your tortoises cuttlebones to chew on? My females eat many of these during the nesting season. I break the shell off with a knife so it is easy for them to eat.
 

sorciere

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Vietnam
I LOVE what you've created! Masonry has always interested me and I think your wall is very impressive. There's something about that process of starting with just one brick and then creating a whole wall that really appeals to me, but I've never done it. You should be proud.
Thank you. I also like the color of bricks. That’s why I left it bare, without cement covered.
 

sorciere

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
42
Location (City and/or State)
Vietnam
I pile all kinds of leaves in my tortoise pens. Mostly mango and longan leaves because I have those trees in my yard. I think any kind of leaf is probably fine for them to dig in.

I just put up a short video of one of my females nesting. The soil is a mixture of clay/sticky soil and potting soil. The tortoises dig nests up to 20 centimeters deep. So the soil should probably be deeper than that. Here is a link to the video:

Have you given your tortoises cuttlebones to chew on? My females eat many of these during the nesting season. I break the shell off with a knife so it is easy for them to eat.
I love your torts! The shell color is so bright and shine. They are like that from the begining or it’s the diet? People here say that feeding them bright color food like pumpkin, carrot helps but I doubt it.
I totally forgot about the cuttlebone. ?‍♀️
I have the soil but it will take time to bring to the 3rd floor. I have never carry that much weight upstair before this project. ?
 

Huckleberry

Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2016
Messages
68
I love your torts! The shell color is so bright and shine. They are like that from the begining or it’s the diet? People here say that feeding them bright color food like pumpkin, carrot helps but I doubt it.
I totally forgot about the cuttlebone. ?‍♀️
I have the soil but it will take time to bring to the 3rd floor. I have never carry that much weight upstair before this project. ?
Thanks! The color is genetic and doesn't change with diet. It's funny, I like all the different colors, but my favorites are the dark ones like yours.
Wow, I didn't realize you were carrying everything upstairs.
That's amazing! Keep up the excellent work!
 

New Posts

Top