Our pretty Leopard tortie, Dragon, is a year old now and my adult son and I have some disagreements on her care/needs as well as questions. I have been a steady advocate for a varied diet of greens and veggies with a little fruit and even some grasses and weeds offered. He says he read they should be only fed lettuce and that should be romaine. Who is right? He said if we give her too good of a diet it could kill her and in the wild they have a poor diet and are made to thrive on that. My son does a lot of research but I beg to differ.
We are also planning on putting her outside in the next week or so. I'm advocating for a large enclosure against the house inside our back yard that is enclosed by a six foot high fence. I want to put a wire fence around her enclosure that is 36" high and we plan on putting something around the outside base so she didn't get any ideas that she needed to get out. Not sure what that will be yet. I'm making her den and following the wonderful ideas in the stickied info post on this board. We have talked about putting a net over the whole thing to keep any birds of prey out but I'm not so sure that's necessary with it right against the house where there is a LOT of traffic from us and our dogs are in and out, and she's not exactly a tiny baby any more.
Big issue between us is the ground. I say she will be fine with a terracotta pool or two or more, and various plants and places to crawl and play. I plan on planting more grass even though there is quite a bit there and planting more greens and weeds. Putting in shade areas of plants and wood and things for her to climb on and play. My son says that he read that the fact that the dirt in GA is clay will not work for her and she will get shell rot and we need to get a new ground cover for her as well.
One question we both have, or should I say "fear" is about ants. We have lots of them in GA. Even though we keep our yard as free of fire ants as possible for the sake of the dogs, cat, and my little girl... ants happen. Do we need to worry and if so, any suggestions? My son has nightmares that he'll find her covered in ants and they will be eating her alive. Any reality to this fear?
Thank you for helping us do the best we can for Dragon!
PS: This is actually my little girl's tortoise. LOL
We are also planning on putting her outside in the next week or so. I'm advocating for a large enclosure against the house inside our back yard that is enclosed by a six foot high fence. I want to put a wire fence around her enclosure that is 36" high and we plan on putting something around the outside base so she didn't get any ideas that she needed to get out. Not sure what that will be yet. I'm making her den and following the wonderful ideas in the stickied info post on this board. We have talked about putting a net over the whole thing to keep any birds of prey out but I'm not so sure that's necessary with it right against the house where there is a LOT of traffic from us and our dogs are in and out, and she's not exactly a tiny baby any more.
Big issue between us is the ground. I say she will be fine with a terracotta pool or two or more, and various plants and places to crawl and play. I plan on planting more grass even though there is quite a bit there and planting more greens and weeds. Putting in shade areas of plants and wood and things for her to climb on and play. My son says that he read that the fact that the dirt in GA is clay will not work for her and she will get shell rot and we need to get a new ground cover for her as well.
One question we both have, or should I say "fear" is about ants. We have lots of them in GA. Even though we keep our yard as free of fire ants as possible for the sake of the dogs, cat, and my little girl... ants happen. Do we need to worry and if so, any suggestions? My son has nightmares that he'll find her covered in ants and they will be eating her alive. Any reality to this fear?
Thank you for helping us do the best we can for Dragon!
PS: This is actually my little girl's tortoise. LOL