Maggie's hides

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Maggie Cummings

Guest
Regularly we get a newcomer who has made a nice tortoise enclosure but then doesn't know how to finish it off. So I would recommend TerryO for a great example of how to make it pretty and I have taken pictures of some of my hides just as examples of what I use for my animals.
You can use anything for a turtle or tortoise to sleep in. That's called a 'hide', a tortoise normally wants their hide to be safe and secure. Just barely bigger than the tort itself.

So to start this off, here is King Robert surveying his kingdom when he thinks it's too cold to go out...

seozdk.jpg


This is the average half log that my blind T. ornata, Bright Eyes prefers. I have tried other hides on her but she likes the log and then she half buries herself once she is in the log...

ao54x2.jpg


This is the cave that Abscess Nose prefers when he's inside. When he's outside he digs a burrow. He was my favorite Gopherus agassizii. I had to leave him behind when I moved to Oregon...
9zugrn.jpg


This is Queenie's house. Back around where we can't see she has stuffed it with hay and every night she digs herself down under all the hay and that's where she sleeps. Her tort table is in Bob's shed.

35n4q3b.jpg


This is Bob's hide or sleeping box. He has a pig blanket inside and he has been sleeping in this same box for 6 years now...

2447k8x.jpg


This is Ginger's hide. It's made with bricks on the sides and a big water dish that I can't use anymore as the roof. All my animals are too big for it, and I don't have any babies anymore...reuse and recycle!

25qes6c.jpg


This is my male 3-toed Goofball. He went thru numerous hides until I just cut an entrance in this post office box and he's used it as his hide for about 3 years. It's getting ratty, but look at how pretty he looks in his doorway! He sleeps in it all night and this is what I see first thing in the morning. He won't leave my females alone so he has to live by himself...

5b4uh3.jpg


This is one of my favorites. There are 3 hides in the box turtle's tort table and this female 3-toed digs herself in under a piece of wood that's leaning on the half log. All you can see is her head but she's quite comfortable there and she'll sleep there all night...

14kilnc.jpg


This is Hospital Girl, named that because for the first 3 years of her life she spent living in the hospital. Every time I got her ready for adoption she would get another URTI. So I just left her living in the hospital...

x0yh.jpg


Well, those are some of my hides, just to give newbies ideas on how to create a hide. You need to pay attention to your animal and eventually they will show you the kind of hide they want. Just like the Goofball did. I tried nice hides for him and he would tip them over and bury them in the substrate, tear them up and poop on them, and when I finally stopped giving him nice hides and gave him a crappy box he stopped tearing them up. That box was what he wanted. All my animals have shown me the kind of hide they want, all you have to do is pay attention to them.
I hope you have enjoyed this little thread, and I hope it gives ideas on how to create a hide. If you want ideas on how to decorate a tort table you need to look at TerryO's threads as she has beautiful enclosures.
 

Nay

Active Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 6, 2007
Messages
1,303
Location (City and/or State)
Belchertown Ma
Hey Maggie,
Nice of you to do that. (I think you missed putting in the right picture for your 'favorite' hide. Isn't that Queenie's? Or am I losing it?)
Nevermind!!!You just fixed it!!! Didn't you???? I had a chance to quick edit!



I get a little feeling like I am not doing all that nice work like TerryO's, when I look in my RF's top table and see they made a sewer of their water ,and every plant has been trampled and pooped on. Never mind the substrate is like cement. They are too big to have a nice looking place!!
Ah for a hatching that can't move a water bowl!
So many thanks
Nay
 

ripper7777777

Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Oct 7, 2011
Messages
289
Location (City and/or State)
Houston
Goofball is awesome, it may just be a box, but he sure looks proud of it.
 

terryo

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
8,975
Location (City and/or State)
Staten Island, New York
Thank you Maggie for the nice compliments, but we all know who the expert here is. I am in love with Goofball too. He's a beauty isn't he! If I didn't already have too many males, I'd be begging you for him.
And Nay....the only thing in Pio's vivarium that still looks good is her hide as she can't get to those plants that are in back of it, and hanging over the top. You are right, when they get that big, they either trash everything or eat it. Solo's still looks good because she' still so little. This was a great post Maggie. Thank you.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,405
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Nice job, Maggie...thank you.

All the pictures wouldn't open for me, but when I right clicked on the symbol it opened in a new window.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Posts

Top