Homes rescue progress

[Itort]

Last fall I adopted a couple of Homes from an exotic bird rescue. They were shy and retiring, never saw them eat, and seldom did they come out of hide. Over winter they have changed. Now when I lift the cover on the enclosure (I keep it 2/3 covered for humidity and security) they run out of hide to see what 'Food God 'has for them. They do turn around.

 

[Lynn DeVries]

Hi Larry!

That is great to hear
I have a keen interest in K.homeana and K.erosa and have a group of homeana that I just recently obtained.
How did you acclimate them? I am always looking for information from succesful keepers such as yourself.

Thanks,
Lynn

 

[Jacqui]

That's great to hear Larry! I know with my one group, they took a long time to "come out of their shell", but once they did, they are one of the friendlier groups. They still don't like you to handle them, that makes them still retreat and hide for awhile. I assume a lot of that, is caused by the simple fact that as a rule I don't handle my torts. I think learning they won't be harmed and most importantly associating humans with food is the key.

 

[Itort]

I too keep handleing to a minimum. Lynn, as Jacqui and myself say they don't enjoy handleing. I keep mine in a moist, humid enviornment with a a wading/soaking dish (1.5 x shell length) and feed fruit, invertebrate prey, and greens. Just ambient room light and a hide per tort.

 

[Lynn DeVries]

I too keep handleing to a minimum. Lynn, as Jacqui and myself say they don't enjoy handleing. I keep mine in a moist, humid enviornment with a a wading/soaking dish (1.5 x shell length) and feed fruit, invertebrate prey, and greens. Just ambient room light and a hide per tort.

Thanks Larry

I didnt realize you are a fellow Iowan
So if I understand correctly your homeana are at ambient room light and temperature also? What is the room temperature? Do they have an area that is warmer?
I have mine in a room that is 80F with 75% humidity. They are each in an individual enclosure. Each enclosure is aprox 20"x34" with a good layer of moist cypress mulch and a large shallow water dish. each enclosure has an undertank heater controlled by a thermostat, this provides a warmer area of aprox 95F. The temperature gradient within each enclosure is aprox 95-83. Is this too warm?

Lynn

 

[Itort]

I use a CME on one end of enclosure which brings temp to 85 on warm end and 75 on cool end. The room is at 72 but I have a variety of different herps in there, some like it cooler and some warmer. All have CMEs in the enclosures. If yours are eating and moving around, the temps should be ok. I personally don't care for undertank heaters as they are all in plastic basins. I have noticed in the outdoor pen at 90 and above they tend to move into shade and burrow or sit in their pool. I can't tell you what the room or enclosure humidity is now because my humistat is being used with incubator now but cover has condination on it.

 

[Jacqui]

I use the UTH, when I have Hingebacks in aquariums. (Yes folks, I do use aquariums for certain animals (high humidity) and have for years with no problems. I use the 40 gal breeder tanks mainly, tho my hatchling Russian is in a 20 gal long).

I have all of my groups of Hingebacks (Bells, Homes, Erosa, and Speks) currently in the large black plastic sheep waterers, so no UTHs in use. I find mine do pretty well without any heat source, just with the room being the higher 70s during the day and of course cooler during the nights. Winter I up the room temp during the day and then place it at 68 for the nights. I do the ceramic heater a couple of days a week to see if anybody really wants it and mine tend to ignore using it. When summer's heat moves in, my Bells especially tend to go into an estivation (sp) like slow down.

My Homes especially love their night crawlers. I use the worms to also make sure they get their powdered calcium and stuff if needed. Fruit often seems more enjoyed if slightly over ripe. Mangoes and muskmelon currently are the favorite fruits. When I have ones not wanting to eat, it seems bananas (very ripe ones) are the best starter foods. Also a nice fruit to mush in added vits/mins if needed. Mushrooms are normally well liked, but mine really don't like them much. Some Homes tend to also like fish, so be sure to give it a try. Mine aren't big greens eaters, but it's always offered. They do like the hibiscus blooms and some what the dandelions.

If your having troubles getting them to eat, try placing their food dish right next to their hides. That way they can eat and still feel safe.

So how many do you have? Curious also to why you have them seperate.

 

[Lynn DeVries]

I use the UTH, when I have Hingebacks in aquariums. (Yes folks, I do use aquariums for certain animals (high humidity) and have for years with no problems. I use the 40 gal breeder tanks mainly, tho my hatchling Russian is in a 20 gal long).

I have all of my groups of Hingebacks (Bells, Homes, Erosa, and Speks) currently in the large black plastic sheep waterers, so no UTHs in use. I find mine do pretty well without any heat source, just with the room being the higher 70s during the day and of course cooler during the nights. Winter I up the room temp during the day and then place it at 68 for the nights. I do the ceramic heater a couple of days a week to see if anybody really wants it and mine tend to ignore using it. When summer's heat moves in, my Bells especially tend to go into an estivation (sp) like slow down.

My Homes especially love their night crawlers. I use the worms to also make sure they get their powdered calcium and stuff if needed. Fruit often seems more enjoyed if slightly over ripe. Mangoes and muskmelon currently are the favorite fruits. When I have ones not wanting to eat, it seems bananas (very ripe ones) are the best starter foods. Also a nice fruit to mush in added vits/mins if needed. Mushrooms are normally well liked, but mine really don't like them much. Some Homes tend to also like fish, so be sure to give it a try. Mine aren't big greens eaters, but it's always offered. They do like the hibiscus blooms and some what the dandelions.

If your having troubles getting them to eat, try placing their food dish right next to their hides. That way they can eat and still feel safe.

So how many do you have? Curious also to why you have them seperate.

Hi Jacqui and Larry!
Thanks for the info, very informative! I have 16 K.homeana and they just arrived here. I had tried them before on different occasions and they didnt do very well. So this time I dont want to take any chances. Danny reccomended setting them up individually to destress and rehydrate. He said his started doing much better when he set them up individualy. Also i can readily identify who is eating and how much.
I am determined this time to acclimate them and eventually breed them.
I am concerned about the heat in my set up, as we often tend to keep tropical rainforest reptiles at the temps I described in my earlier post. But since homeana shun the sunlight and are creatures of the forest floor in what I assume is dense forest/Jungle. It reminds me of the type of habitat that Gaboon Vipers come from and they do not do well with high temps as the Jungle floor is dimly lit and much cooler. I spent some time in the Amazon Jungle in Northern Peru and I found this to be true. So again I am assuming the west African rainforest is very similar, if not identical.
So I find it very interesting that Jacqui's thrive in the high 70's as that is what I would expect, but havent found any information to back it up. So Thanks again Jacqui and Larry!!

Lynn

 

[Jacqui]

Hi Jacqui and Larry!
Thanks for the info, very informative! I have 16 K.homeana and they just arrived here. I had tried them before on different occasions and they didnt do very well. So this time I dont want to take any chances. Danny reccomended setting them up individually to destress and rehydrate. He said his started doing much better when he set them up individualy. Also i can readily identify who is eating and how much.
I am determined this time to acclimate them and eventually breed them.
I am concerned about the heat in my set up, as we often tend to keep tropical rainforest reptiles at the temps I described in my earlier post. But since homeana shun the sunlight and are creatures of the forest floor in what I assume is dense forest/Jungle. It reminds me of the type of habitat that Gaboon Vipers come from and they do not do well with high temps as the Jungle floor is dimly lit and much cooler. I spent some time in the Amazon Jungle in Northern Peru and I found this to be true. So again I am assuming the west African rainforest is very similar, if not identical.
So I find it very interesting that Jacqui's thrive in the high 70's as that is what I would expect, but havent found any information to back it up. So Thanks again Jacqui and Larry!!

Lynn

16, wow that's a large group at one time. Are they all adults? Are you going to be keeping them outside? How are they doing for you so far?

 

[Lynn DeVries]

Hi Jacqui

They are all about 4-5 inches as I wanted young animals so they could grow up here and be very acclimated. I dont like to buy imported Tortoises but if we hope to establish them in Herpetoculture then i felt I needed to start with a good sized group, while they are still readily available. I would have gotten more but I only had 16 empty enclosures.
Im not sure about putting them outdoors yet. I have a large greenhouse that is under construction and I may put them out there durring the summer we will have to see how they settle in. They all have good weight and are very healthy. And everyone of them has eaten. Some keepers warn me that worming is very important or they will die one by one over time. But they have been through so much that right now i am just feeding Butternut squash and after a week or so I will try some Flagyl hidden in mushy bananas.
I have 2 K.erosa that will arrive on Tuesday and I am very excited about that! I havent had any erosa around here for 25 years so i hope they do well. How many homeana and erosa do you have?

Lynn

 

[Jacqui]

Neat, are you getting a pair of Erosa?

 

[Lynn DeVries]

Neat, are you getting a pair of Erosa?

I am not sure of the sexes on the erosa yet. The owner thought they might be 2 males. If you ever have any extras let me know ok, as i need to get more of them
where is this thread by you and Larry on care? I have seen mention of it but I cant find it.
I am going to go and turn the heat down on the homeanas right now! Thanks for youre help and lets stay in touch

Lynn