Kinixys Homeana videos and photo's

poohbear

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Yes I can. I tried composting a long time ago and having to rotate a large composter was difficult. I like what I saw on that thread so I will start looking in to getting the container. I was going to look on line. I like simple and not time consuming. I have container to put veggie scraps and uneaten critter (veggie) food in.
 

poohbear

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I noticed a typo in my post on tortoise ages. I got them in September of 2016.
 

poohbear

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This is today's meal. Kale, parsley (new), red bell pepper & cucumber. Today's meal.jpg I change it up most days otherwise they will only eat favorites.
 

Anyfoot

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This is today's meal. Kale, parsley (new), red bell pepper & cucumber. View attachment 198446 I change it up most days otherwise they will only eat favorites.
Will all that kale a parsley be eaten?
How big are these torts?
Where did you get them from?

I'm trying to work out why mine don't eat greens, or they eat very very little greens.
 

poohbear

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To answer your questions:
No. When they are out for their dusk feeding they may eat some of it if none of their favorites are available and they are hungry. I read somewhere that it wasn't good to overfeed them and have them growing to fast. I also limit their fruits as they will eat them first/only.
Seymour is 3 3/8" across and weighs 68 grams
Otis is 3 1/8" across and weighs 58 grams

I got them from a friend who is an impulse buyer. She will acquire a tortoise, lizard, bearded dragon etc and either quickly loses interest or does not provide the proper diet or housing for it.
The following is why I ended up with these tortoises:
She had a sulcata when I met her. It lived in her pantry. She found a new home for it with someone who knew how to take care of it.
She purchased a Uromastyx lizard and had it 1 week and gave it away.
She purchased a bearded dragon and did not provide proper diet or lighting. It developed MBD and had to be euthanized.
She purchased these tortoises from someone she knew who was moving and selling some of his reptiles. I don't know how she convinced him to let her have them. They were hatchlings. When I saw them I told her that she knew nothing about them and should not have gotten them. I convinced her to let me take them as the person she got them from had moved. I went on line looking for information but was not sure which species they were other than a hingeback tortoise.

I have always given them greens since they were tiny. I found articles on different web sites on diets. I have never joined a forum and was hesitant to do so but realized I need expert help with them.

I realize this is rather lengthy but wanted to give you as much information as I could.
 

Anyfoot

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To answer your questions:
No. When they are out for their dusk feeding they may eat some of it if none of their favorites are available and they are hungry. I read somewhere that it wasn't good to overfeed them and have them growing to fast. I also limit their fruits as they will eat them first/only.
Seymour is 3 3/8" across and weighs 68 grams
Otis is 3 1/8" across and weighs 58 grams

I got them from a friend who is an impulse buyer. She will acquire a tortoise, lizard, bearded dragon etc and either quickly loses interest or does not provide the proper diet or housing for it.
The following is why I ended up with these tortoises:
She had a sulcata when I met her. It lived in her pantry. She found a new home for it with someone who knew how to take care of it.
She purchased a Uromastyx lizard and had it 1 week and gave it away.
She purchased a bearded dragon and did not provide proper diet or lighting. It developed MBD and had to be euthanized.
She purchased these tortoises from someone she knew who was moving and selling some of his reptiles. I don't know how she convinced him to let her have them. They were hatchlings. When I saw them I told her that she knew nothing about them and should not have gotten them. I convinced her to let me take them as the person she got them from had moved. I went on line looking for information but was not sure which species they were other than a hingeback tortoise.

I have always given them greens since they were tiny. I found articles on different web sites on diets. I have never joined a forum and was hesitant to do so but realized I need expert help with them.

I realize this is rather lengthy but wanted to give you as much information as I could.
OK, thank you for your reply.
I'll tell you how I care for ours and then maybe it will ring alarm bells for you on things you may be seeing. We have 5 adults(was 6 but one female basically choked to death). We have hatchlings from all 4 females. 11 now as I sold 3 of them. I'm reluctant to let any more go because people don't care for them correctly. We will be building a big indoor and outdoor enclosure this yr for the homeana.
We feed mushrooms every day. On alternate days we feed fruit or worms/slugs and snails with the mushrooms. I also put greens in, but they don't eat many of the greens. It seems to me they prefer old greens, like 3 days old. I've caught ours eating dried leaves rather than fresh greens. For calcium I just have a cuttlebone in and we throw egg shell in too.
Earth worms are a good source of calcium.
They will also eat other bugs, its funny watching them chace down woodlice and dig for worms. If you feed the correct diet you shouldn't need any calcium powder IMO.
If you are feeding only greens and fruit and they are turning down most of the greens you are missing the protein part of the diet(amongst other vitamins too).
Cucumber is no use nore ornament. It offers zero nutritional values, same as iceberg lettuce. It's OK as a small part of a mixed diet, but really IMO there is no point other than it's a treat or medicinal purposes.
Can you put some pillbugs in the enclosure, they will help clean up poop and offer a good source. I've also seen our licking up the little white mites that collect food.
For fruit we feed, mango, papaya, plum, strawberry, persimmon and on occasion I give our adults tangerine(like one tangerine between them once a month maximum).
They don't like it super hot either, I have my enclosure around 80f , they seem to favor the lower end, my adults seem to favor it even cooler(70f) Also forget having a basking spot. Keep the enclosure with low lighting. A 5.0 or 2.5 UVB strip light set to one end of the enclosure will do. Very high humidity to, 90%. You want your substrate to look like the jungle floor, basically a mess of rubble. Sticks, orchidbark, cyprus mulch,moss,dried leaves, objects for them to climb under and hide, I use bits of fern hanging over plant pots. Any foliage out of the garden can create a canopy.
Spray your torts every day morning and night.
I'm guessing your climate is ideal for this species.
 

poohbear

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Wow! Great information. I definitely want to provide the best environment and diet for them. I will stop the cucumber. I read that mushrooms are a large part of their diet. I feed them mushrooms in the evening after they have finished eating the other foods otherwise they only want mushrooms. I offer shiitake & portobello mushrooms. The parsley was a new addition. I try to offer different types of greens. I will be giving them turnip and mustard greens in the spring. I never feed or buy iceburg lettuce. They get butternut squash which is a favorite. Should I just feed them a mixture all of the different foods at the same time and see what is not eaten at the end of the day? I will get red worms tomorrow and work on raising them. I can order pill bugs on line. We don't seem to have any here. To much pesticide being used by lawn care on neighbors yards.

I have a 5.0 UVB strip light on them and a heat emitter. The humidity on one side of enclosure is 80% and temp is 80 degrees. Other side is 70% humidity and 70 degrees. The heat emitter is a little right of the center of terrarium over soaking bowls.

Terrarium is work in process as I am given more information from you. I have someone who has a nursery who will grow safe pesticide free plants for me to put in the terrarium and for them to eat. I also take wet hand towels and place over part of terrarium with plastic and heating pad which keeps the humidity and moisture up for them. The other side is drier but still moist. I spray them several times a day. Their terrarium is 36" L x 18" W x 12" H. They cannot be housed outdoors during winter months. I put piece of cuttlebone in terrarium.
 

Anyfoot

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Sounds like you have it covered, keep feeding a mixed diet and see what happens.
You don't want the light full length of enclosure, only half length maximum. Put food in the UVB light area.
 

poohbear

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The UVB light is above the food dishes. Only on about 1/4th of terrarium. Trying need feeding process. Seymour went past the greens straight to the papaya. Are terracotta plant saucers ok for food and soaking?
 

Anyfoot

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I use terrocotta dishes for water and slate orca flat Rock to feed off, a tile upside-down is good too, anything so they dont have to reach over it to eat.

My substrate for babies is a 2" layer of coir then Cyprus mulch/orchid bark, moss, dried leaves and even Brocken twigs off trees on top of the coir. So it looks a mess and they can camouflage in it. There are worms, slugs and pillbugs(woodlice) in there. They eat all these at will. The messy floor gives the bugs and slugs somewhere to live too.
 

poohbear

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I will work on my terrarium to add some of these additional items. I have coconut coir, cypress mulch & orchard moss. I'm hesitant to add leaf litter from my yard. I have mostly oak leaves but can find magnolia tree leaves. Is there a way to make sure these are safe to add to my terrarium? I also bought some red wiggler worms. The person told me where he gets his and I am going to go see him. I think I can get everything I need to get started from them. These are organically raised worms. Yay! Still looking for pill bugs.
 

Anyfoot

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I will work on my terrarium to add some of these additional items. I have coconut coir, cypress mulch & orchard moss. I'm hesitant to add leaf litter from my yard. I have mostly oak leaves but can find magnolia tree leaves. Is there a way to make sure these are safe to add to my terrarium? I also bought some red wiggler worms. The person told me where he gets his and I am going to go see him. I think I can get everything I need to get started from them. These are organically raised worms. Yay! Still looking for pill bugs.
I find it amazing that people have to buy pillbugs, can't you just lift a rock up in the garden and find some. I saw some for sale on eBay a while back and was quite shocked. I could be a millionaire with the amount we have. Lol.
 

poohbear

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I have not seen a pill bug in a very long time where I live. I will go out to one of the nature preserves and look there for them. At least they don't use pesticides.
 

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