Hello from CT

[Robert]

Hello. My name is Rob. I am from CT. My wife and kids and I just adopted a leopard tortoise. She is our first tortoise. Princess Leia. (Yes, I also happen to be a proud Star Wars geek!). We are extremely excited about the new addition to our family. She is roughly three years old. 9.5 lbs. She seems to be adapting to our home very nicely.

She has a medium sized indoor enclosure. 5 ft x 5 ft. 80 - 100 degrees depending on which area of the enclosure. She is eating well and seems to be adapting nicely to her new home.

I have lots of questions. I've been doing a ton of reading over the last few weeks, but I have always enjoyed forums for sound advice from real experts. I look forward to looking through the forums.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Rob

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[moswen]

nice to have you!! i think the coolest area of your tort home should be aroun 70 degrees, 80 is still a little too hot to help her cool down if she gets too hot on accident.

i love the name princess lea! how cute!! and we look forward to helping you with your questions!

 

[Robert]

Here are a few pics of Princess Leia and her winter home. Any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum Rob

Danny

 

[Mao Senpai]

Welcome! What part of CT?

 

[Robert]

Welcome! What part of CT?

Tucked up in the Northwest Corner. You?

 

[Mao Senpai]

Near the Hartford area.

 

[Torty Mom]

Welcome to TFO We have chickens named, Rock~vader, and chicken~vader My son named them and just comes unglued when I say "Luke I am your Father" yah we have seen the movies 100 + times.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome Rob. We usually take it really easy on the newbies, but since you asked...

1. Ditch the sand and use all coco chips instead. Sand is an impaction risk, eye irritant, its dry, and it serves no purpose.
2. Ditch the red bulb during the day and use an MVB (mercury vapor bulb) instead. Especially over your cold winters.
3. That's a very small enclosure for a tort that size. Start planning something bigger as soon as you can. They need a lot of room to walk around. It helps with digestion.
4. It looks pretty dry in there. As long as you keep the temps up around 80 all the time, a little moisture is a good thing. DON'T let her get cold and damp at the same time.
5. I hate those water dishes. They are too deep and too steep. And yours is too small for The Princess to sit in. I like to use terra cotta plant saucers from Lowes for this. They are shallow and offer good traction. If you bury it flush with the substrate they will drink and or soak much more.
6. She needs a hide. She's all hunkered down on the corner trying to look small and inconspicuous. Give her one or two hiding spots and she'll feel less exposed and more secure, thereby reducing the stress that can hamper her immune system.

She looks nice and healthy. Congrats. I'm really glad you found us and I hope we can all help and continue to see more pics of her as time goes by.

... may the force be with you.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Rob:

Welcome to the forum!!

I second everything that Tom said.

The folks who raised the Princess have done an excellent job with her. Raising a smooth leopard tortoise is pretty hard and she's pretty smooth!

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

 

[Robert]

Hello and welcome Rob. We usually take it really easy on the newbies, but since you asked...

1. Ditch the sand and use all coco chips instead. Sand is an impaction risk, eye irritant, its dry, and it serves no purpose.
2. Ditch the red bulb during the day and use an MVB (mercury vapor bulb) instead. Especially over your cold winters.
3. That's a very small enclosure for a tort that size. Start planning something bigger as soon as you can. They need a lot of room to walk around. It helps with digestion.
4. It looks pretty dry in there. As long as you keep the temps up around 80 all the time, a little moisture is a good thing. DON'T let her get cold and damp at the same time.
5. I hate those water dishes. They are too deep and too steep. And yours is too small for The Princess to sit in. I like to use terra cotta plant saucers from Lowes for this. They are shallow and offer good traction. If you bury it flush with the substrate they will drink and or soak much more.
6. She needs a hide. She's all hunkered down on the corner trying to look small and inconspicuous. Give her one or two hiding spots and she'll feel less exposed and more secure, thereby reducing the stress that can hamper her immune system.

She looks nice and healthy. Congrats. I'm really glad you found us and I hope we can all help and continue to see more pics of her as time goes by.

... may the force be with you.

Tom: thanks for your response. This is exactly why I came here.

- Sand will come out tomorrow. Certainly sounds like the cons far outweigh the pros. ( I had read that the calci-sand helps with calcium levels, but I am supplementing her food.)

- Mercury vapor bulb also being swapped for the red heat lamp.

- I was concerned about the water dish. (This one is a loaner from a friend.). I like the terra cotta idea and will head over to Lowes tomorrow and check out what they've got.

As for humidity, what is an ideal range?

On the topic of size: my hope is that this table will last until May. Her outdoor enclosure is in the planning phase and will be much larger and more diverse with live plants and a large grazing area. Then, over the summer, I can reconstruct her indoor enclosure.

Thanks again.

Rob

 

[coreyc]

Welcome to the forum Rob nice to see another leo in the area

 

[Robert]

Based on some great advice, I made some major changes to my tort's table. All I can say is WOW, huge improvement right away.

First I removed the calci sand. Not easy getting 25lbs of sand out. I immediately understood the issue of eye irritant!

I swapped my bulb for a mercury vapor bulb. Health benefits aside, the light looks much more natural. So far she seems to enjoy it. Also makes for better photos! It doesn't seem quite as hot as my old basking bulb, so I am going to keep an eye on temps.

I replaced my store bought non tip-able water dish with a terra cotta shallow dish. Huge difference. Within 30 minutes she was drinking and treated herself to a five minute soak. I feel I really dropped the ball with that store bought dish.

I also built a hide for her. Loves it!

She was curious throughout the whole process and even helpful. She was nudging the water dish as I was removing it.

Thanks for the great advice. So far she seems to be very happy with the changes.

I will add pictures later this afternoon

 

[Tom]

As for humidity, what is an ideal range?

On the topic of size: my hope is that this table will last until May. Her outdoor enclosure is in the planning phase and will be much larger and more diverse with live plants and a large grazing area. Then, over the summer, I can reconstruct her indoor enclosure.

Thanks again.

Rob

Sounds like a great plan.

For humidity on one her age and size, I would actually leave the majority of the enclosure relatively dry, but create a large humid hide box area for her to sleep and hang out in. Even though she's not a tiny baby anymore, you can still spray her shell several times a day and soak her daily. The hydration will help keep her healthy and smooth.

 

[Robert]

Some pics of Princess Leia drinking from her new dish.

 

[coreyc]

She looks happy now

 

[Tom]

Wow! Look how much is gone in the second pic! Did she drink that much? Holy cow. Time for some daily soaks for a while.

 

[Robert]

Been doing daily soaks and she seems to enjoy it. Hopefully adding some plants and a new temperature measuring system within the next few weeks.

On the topic of pyramiding: she has a few raised scutes in the center of her carapace. Straight down the middle. The rest of her carapace seems to be pretty smooth. We have drastically increased her soaking regime from her prior owner and I have been misting her with a squirt bottle a few times a day. Are these few raised scutes anything to be concerned about?

 

[Mao Senpai]

From my understanding, its not uncommon for them to be a little bumpy. You just don't want... really triangular shaped points on each scute. I am trying to get mine to be as smooth as possible so we'll see how that goes