Agathaade
Active Member
Hi all,
I’ve been avidly browsing this forum for a few weeks, this is my first post.
I am getting an eight week old baby Greek Ibera in August from Chris Leone at gardenstate tortoises. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to care for a tortoise so I am preparing everything for it to live well.
I live in Los Angeles, so in a dry climate. Eventually I will build an outdoor enclosure for my tortoise to live outside, but as a baby it will be indoors.
Outside for now I am starting seeds in a container garden for dandelion, plantain, chicory, clover, thistle, mallow, wild strawberry and a few other weeds and seed mixes I hope to feed it. I have a few cuttlebones and some mazuri diet (small pellets). I hope to be able to grow what I feed my pet exclusively, or close.
Inside where it will live for a few years, I have collected what I thought was a thorough baby tortoise kit. A cement mixing tub (it sits in a fir wood garden planter that is just slightly larger), cypress mulch, a 100 Watt MVB bulb and fixture, terra cotta saucers, a slate plate, various hides (resin, terra cotta and wood, rocks, a few safe plants (spider plant and praying hands) a driftwood log for enrichment.
I have a UV meter and hygrometer/thermometers to make sure I set everything up right and can keep monitoring.
I have included a photo below, it’s not all assembled but gives you an idea of how it was going to be an open air enclosure.
And then I started digging around this forum and finding out about closed chambers for babies...
After reading so many testimonies from many of you with decades of experience in multiples threads on here, I want to go that route.
I have an idea for ‘closing’ my habitat, based on a diy cold frame I saw online. Would you take a look and tell le what you think? Attached below is a pic of what inspired me, and my sketch.
I’m thinking of using corrugated plastic board in the back, and vinyl plastic sheet (thick, clear, flexible with a little bit of weigh to it) for the sides and front ‘curtains’. I would line the inside of the planter the tub sits in too so no humidity escapes through the bottom. Possibly forgo the plastic tub then, that would have the benefit of making the bottom of my enclosure bigger.
My enclosure questions
- Does this look like a good design?
- Any sorts of plastics I should avoid for toxicity or heat resistance reasons?
- How long does the baby need to be housed in the closed chamber?
- How long would a baby Greek be happy in a 24x36 closed chamber?
(Asking those two last questions because I am wondering if I should just use my planter outside and get a different larger enclosure altogether?)
I apologize if this is a lot of questions at once!
The last thing I want to do is get an animal and not treat it the way it deserves.
Reading about tortoises is a quest, I am probably not be the first person to come here with this sort of realization, and I appreciate the dedication, patience and support I have seen here so far.
I’ve been avidly browsing this forum for a few weeks, this is my first post.
I am getting an eight week old baby Greek Ibera in August from Chris Leone at gardenstate tortoises. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to care for a tortoise so I am preparing everything for it to live well.
I live in Los Angeles, so in a dry climate. Eventually I will build an outdoor enclosure for my tortoise to live outside, but as a baby it will be indoors.
Outside for now I am starting seeds in a container garden for dandelion, plantain, chicory, clover, thistle, mallow, wild strawberry and a few other weeds and seed mixes I hope to feed it. I have a few cuttlebones and some mazuri diet (small pellets). I hope to be able to grow what I feed my pet exclusively, or close.
Inside where it will live for a few years, I have collected what I thought was a thorough baby tortoise kit. A cement mixing tub (it sits in a fir wood garden planter that is just slightly larger), cypress mulch, a 100 Watt MVB bulb and fixture, terra cotta saucers, a slate plate, various hides (resin, terra cotta and wood, rocks, a few safe plants (spider plant and praying hands) a driftwood log for enrichment.
I have a UV meter and hygrometer/thermometers to make sure I set everything up right and can keep monitoring.
I have included a photo below, it’s not all assembled but gives you an idea of how it was going to be an open air enclosure.
And then I started digging around this forum and finding out about closed chambers for babies...
After reading so many testimonies from many of you with decades of experience in multiples threads on here, I want to go that route.
I have an idea for ‘closing’ my habitat, based on a diy cold frame I saw online. Would you take a look and tell le what you think? Attached below is a pic of what inspired me, and my sketch.
I’m thinking of using corrugated plastic board in the back, and vinyl plastic sheet (thick, clear, flexible with a little bit of weigh to it) for the sides and front ‘curtains’. I would line the inside of the planter the tub sits in too so no humidity escapes through the bottom. Possibly forgo the plastic tub then, that would have the benefit of making the bottom of my enclosure bigger.
My enclosure questions
- Does this look like a good design?
- Any sorts of plastics I should avoid for toxicity or heat resistance reasons?
- How long does the baby need to be housed in the closed chamber?
- How long would a baby Greek be happy in a 24x36 closed chamber?
(Asking those two last questions because I am wondering if I should just use my planter outside and get a different larger enclosure altogether?)
I apologize if this is a lot of questions at once!
The last thing I want to do is get an animal and not treat it the way it deserves.
Reading about tortoises is a quest, I am probably not be the first person to come here with this sort of realization, and I appreciate the dedication, patience and support I have seen here so far.
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