Meet Tortallis!

[Turbotort]

Hello everyone!

I would like to introduce my young Leo - Tortallis. I have had him/her sense 03/22/15. I aquired him from the yearly Repticon here in Tampa, FL. I've wanted a tortoise for a while now and decided to go ahead and get one. So I suppose first I'll go through a little history on Tort sense I've had him for two months now.

first of all I was told horrible information at reticon and sold really bad or inadequate items to house and raise my young tort. I was sold a 12x24 terrarium with a death trap water dish. Also the uvb buld I was given was a 5.0 zoomed coil type. I had no idea any of this was bad.

I was also told to keep the enclosure dry and to simply soak Tort once in a while. I only found this forums about two weeks ago and when I searched for info it was usually old and outdated. So this forum has certainly help a lot.

I didnt start tracking Torts weight until 04/13 and have been doing so every monday weekly. It's been a real struggle to maintain it's weight much less grow. only having gained 4 grams in 6 weeks. I made sure the basking temp was 95-100 in the old terrarium.

For food I have mostly been feeding romaine and spring mix lettuces. I've been trying to add carrot shavings but he avoids it and also absolutely hates calcium powder. I have sense added a small cuddle bone but no luck yet. He Defenitely eats everyday but not very much compared to all the other members torts I read about.

I have been soaking him in gerber carrot baby food/water for 15 mins each day for the past week. And I have been trying to get him in the sun for atleast 30 minutes everyday sense I've ditched the harmful uvb bulb. So I'm defenitely having some trouble.

Now for the new enclosure I purchased one of those roller tubs from walmart and got some 1/2inch pvc pipe and made this frame to set inside of the tub. I am hanging my double dome from the middle. it has a 75w basking bulb and a 100w che. The enclosure is so big now its going to be a challenge to have proper temps day and night. I'll be wrapping a plastic tarp around it to trap humidity and heat.

Sorry for the long post! I think I touched on everything. Please feel free to give me suggestions on anything. ill upload a bunch of pics as well

 

[lismar79]

Your baby is cute! Couple of things:
One, he needs high humidity levels to grow smooth so you will need a top or tent soon to keep it up. Second, he is going to also need more varitety to his diet. Carrots are ok for a treat once in a great while. Broad base leaves and weeds. Mulberry leaves hibiscus leaves and flowers, dandelion, mallow, plaintain ( the weed) and fresh cut grass. Mazuri tortoise diet is a good weight gainer. I give to my torts a few times a week in the winter and once or twice in the summer when I can get more weeds.

 

[Turbotort]

Ok I'll defenitely order the Mazuri stuff. I've seen this Testudo grass mix. Would that be adequate variety? I'm not sure where to really find all the other plants and what not specifically. Like just dandelions. Are people growing each individual thing or buying bags or pre grow things?

 

[Careym13]

Tortoisesupply.com has an African grazer seed mix that I feed to my Leo's. Also get the herbal tortoise hay and sprinkle that on top of his food whenever you can't get a good variety of weeds. Find a park, woods, or someone with a lawn who doesn't use fertilizers/pesticides and pick weeds there. I started my weed collection by digging up the whole plant and taking it home and re-planting. I did this with dandelion, plantain and grass. You can also get grass seeds and dandelion seeds online. I still go to a park near my job that is kind of like a nature preserve and pick fresh dandelion and other weeds when its nice outside. You can also get escarole lettuce, endive, frisee, radicchio, dandelion greens and other tortoise safe greens at the grocery store. I do this only when I cannot provide fresh weeds and grass (which is rare this time of year). You can get hibiscus plants at most garden centers. I picked up one but re-planted it in organic soil, let it weather a while and only feed new growth (you have to be careful about pesticides and fertilizers with garden center purchased plants). Go to the tortoisetable.org.uk for lots of help with safe food items and check out the pinned care sheets at the top of the Leopard forum page. Oh and welcome to the forum!

 

[Turbotort]

I appreciate the advice! I went this morning and got some radacchio and endive greens. I cut up those 2 with romaine and a few of the grassland pellets soaked. We'll see how he eats today. I'm just glad there is some variety finally. There was also escarole I could purchase to give him sometime as well. I'll be working on making my own garden of some sorts to grow a bunch of different things in the future.

Thanks!

 

[Mortis_thetortoise]

im in tampa too oldsmar area!

 

[Valerie0426]

St Petersburg here!

 

[Yvonne G]

This is a pretty old thread. @Turbotort can you give us an update on your little leopard? I neglected to mention it way back when you first posted, but I really like the stand you made for your lights. You can also drape plastic over it to tent in the moist warm air.