Reptilian Feline
Active Member
Starting off... sorry no pics yet.
I thought it was time to move my little leopard tort from the "hospital box" to a larger setup, I've dubbed the "rehab centre". The new box is about twice the size of the hospital box, but still too small for a regularly growing healthy leopard tort. Mine might not be healthy, its sibling died, this is the replacement, and my thoughts on survival is going up and down like a roller coaster. So, that's why the rehab centre is small.
I bought a UVB tube light and a fixture where the ballast sits outside the box. Very nice equipment, even came with clips for securing the light to the lid or side. I put it in the lid. Bad move. It has to be on the side, or I have hell removing the lid when I need better access. The little one seems to like the UVB light. It's kind of soft and I usually find him sleeping with at least his head and front legs in the light.
The CHE is attached to the lid on the inside. I still use a dimmer to get the heat right, but will change that to a thermostat when money allows. (I never knew how much expensive stuff I needed before I got my leopard tort, the curse of the old care sheets). I've placed the water bowl below the CHE to keep the water warm, and sometimes the daily soak consists of me putting him in his bath in his enclosure.
I cut a round hole in the lid so the light from the basking light would flow inside. I regulated the heat using a second dimmer. I had noticed that he didn't like the basking light in the hospital box, but figured that the larger setup would be OK and that he might be a bit bored. He kept his eyes closed a lot before I moved him to the rehab centre. He still didn't like the light. He ran and hid under the "bridge", and still kept his eyes closed a lot. I dimmed the light to a soft orange glow, and that helped a little. Then I read through 16 pages of discussion about pyramiding, including pictures of tort shells under basking lights, and that freaked me out a little. So I replaced the basking light witha heat mat, covering the hole in the lid. It has helped a little, but he is still not very active and he still hides under the bridge. I put the bridge there for him to climb on, not to hide under.
As for food... I know I had this idea of feeding him protein rich food to make sure he would grow. I gave him some luzern and he didn't touch it. That was good. He likes a bit of white clover, but luzern or red clover doesn't interest him. I won't try it again. I've rethought my plans for a healthy tort. I don't care if he grows or not! I only care if he is active and eats and seem happy! That's it! He eats his mixed weeds and radicchio and opuntia, and sometime I guess that some ZooMed grassland gets eaten too. I mix his food with vitamins and calcium and have some extra lumps of calcium for him to gnaw on.
I want him bright eyed and bushy tailed. He is not at the moment. I think I need to bring down the humidity and push up the CHE a bit. It's dripping wet inside the enclosure, My hygrometer freaked out. I think he needs more ventilation. His eyes sometimes looks swollen, but when he wakes up and walks around outside (we have a lovely day for that today) the swelling goes away.
I think I need to make better ventilation, move the UVB light so it's attached to the side, add some aluminium foil as reflectors, and up the temp even more. The temp is about 27 celcius to 29 or 30. I think it needs to go higher just under the CHE.
I thought it was time to move my little leopard tort from the "hospital box" to a larger setup, I've dubbed the "rehab centre". The new box is about twice the size of the hospital box, but still too small for a regularly growing healthy leopard tort. Mine might not be healthy, its sibling died, this is the replacement, and my thoughts on survival is going up and down like a roller coaster. So, that's why the rehab centre is small.
I bought a UVB tube light and a fixture where the ballast sits outside the box. Very nice equipment, even came with clips for securing the light to the lid or side. I put it in the lid. Bad move. It has to be on the side, or I have hell removing the lid when I need better access. The little one seems to like the UVB light. It's kind of soft and I usually find him sleeping with at least his head and front legs in the light.
The CHE is attached to the lid on the inside. I still use a dimmer to get the heat right, but will change that to a thermostat when money allows. (I never knew how much expensive stuff I needed before I got my leopard tort, the curse of the old care sheets). I've placed the water bowl below the CHE to keep the water warm, and sometimes the daily soak consists of me putting him in his bath in his enclosure.
I cut a round hole in the lid so the light from the basking light would flow inside. I regulated the heat using a second dimmer. I had noticed that he didn't like the basking light in the hospital box, but figured that the larger setup would be OK and that he might be a bit bored. He kept his eyes closed a lot before I moved him to the rehab centre. He still didn't like the light. He ran and hid under the "bridge", and still kept his eyes closed a lot. I dimmed the light to a soft orange glow, and that helped a little. Then I read through 16 pages of discussion about pyramiding, including pictures of tort shells under basking lights, and that freaked me out a little. So I replaced the basking light witha heat mat, covering the hole in the lid. It has helped a little, but he is still not very active and he still hides under the bridge. I put the bridge there for him to climb on, not to hide under.
As for food... I know I had this idea of feeding him protein rich food to make sure he would grow. I gave him some luzern and he didn't touch it. That was good. He likes a bit of white clover, but luzern or red clover doesn't interest him. I won't try it again. I've rethought my plans for a healthy tort. I don't care if he grows or not! I only care if he is active and eats and seem happy! That's it! He eats his mixed weeds and radicchio and opuntia, and sometime I guess that some ZooMed grassland gets eaten too. I mix his food with vitamins and calcium and have some extra lumps of calcium for him to gnaw on.
I want him bright eyed and bushy tailed. He is not at the moment. I think I need to bring down the humidity and push up the CHE a bit. It's dripping wet inside the enclosure, My hygrometer freaked out. I think he needs more ventilation. His eyes sometimes looks swollen, but when he wakes up and walks around outside (we have a lovely day for that today) the swelling goes away.
I think I need to make better ventilation, move the UVB light so it's attached to the side, add some aluminium foil as reflectors, and up the temp even more. The temp is about 27 celcius to 29 or 30. I think it needs to go higher just under the CHE.
