My Russian likes to hide under his tarp

[sheilae04]

I am looking for suggestions on how to protect my wood enclosure from damage. I have layered the bottom with a thin tarp and then covered the tarp with coco coir substrate.. I placed rocks around the edges to keep it down. It seems that my Russian's favorite pasttime is to push the rocks to the middle and dig the tarp up and hide under it. Sometimes I see a moving bump in the substrate, and there he is, walking under the tarp! He loves to sleep there and play hide and seek with me. It's cute, but the problem is that he tends to go to the bathroom on the wood and if I don't catch it right away, it soaks in. I've always been able to clean it up well so far. Any suggestions?
By the way, he has a 4'x8' enclosure with 2 ends that are dark and 2 hides that would be perfect for sleeping. He is active and climbs all over during the day, up and over his logs, over his teracotta flower pot, and of course, under the tarp. I bring him outdoors when it's warm and supervise him indoors where he walks in circles on his blanket. His diet is mainly romaine, endive, radiccio with minerall once a week. He'll get a treat once a week of either a piece or two of broccoli or butternut squash. Saturn is quite a character!

 

[JoesMum]

The tarp needs to be big enough to come up over the walls of the enclosure so your tort cannot get under it. You need a bigger tarp.

 

[sheilae04]

It's funny that I'm noticing this post from exactly one year earlier! I purchased a bigger tarp and extended it as high as I could and stapled it. I even doublelayered it. I have a cover that fits and locks, so it would be hard to bring it over the edge. Saturn has spent the majority of his time once again ripping it down and crawling in between the layers. At least the wood is protected. He seems to be a creature of habit, so I'm hoping that the problem is just that I let him get used to it for a while. He will come out and eat, but is definitely not as active as he once was. I have kept the basking temperature on his rock at 90 degrees, and have tried different temperatures throughout the rest of the enclosure thinking he is either too hot or too cold. Currently, he has two lights of 75 watts each along with UV (not coiled). He has hides to go under as well. Is this common behavior? Is it harmful or a sign of impending brumation? He's always cold when I fish him out from under the tarp.

 

[Tom]

It's funny that I'm noticing this post from exactly one year earlier! I purchased a bigger tarp and extended it as high as I could and stapled it. I even doublelayered it. I have a cover that fits and locks, so it would be hard to bring it over the edge. Saturn has spent the majority of his time once again ripping it down and crawling in between the layers. At least the wood is protected. He seems to be a creature of habit, so I'm hoping that the problem is just that I let him get used to it for a while. He will come out and eat, but is definitely not as active as he once was. I have kept the basking temperature on his rock at 90 degrees, and have tried different temperatures throughout the rest of the enclosure thinking he is either too hot or too cold. Currently, he has two lights of 75 watts each along with UV (not coiled). He has hides to go under as well. Is this common behavior? Is it harmful or a sign of impending brumation? He's always cold when I fish him out from under the tarp.

His basking area needs to be closer to 100, and his diet needs a lot more weeds and high fiber foods, along with much more variety.

As far as the tarp goes, that is just a tortoise being a tortoise. Little buggers.

 

[sheilae04]

Where do you recommend buying your tort "broad leafed weeds"? I've scoured farmers markets and coops for organic produce, flowers, veggies on the recommended list, and even let dandelions grow heavier in some areas of our garden for the past few years. He will try a bite here and there, but generally turns the other direction and begins eating his substrate instead. I swear he's snubbing me! Lo and behold, if I throw a piece of store - bought romaine in, he's suddenly hungry and picks around everything else to get to it. Hmm.

 

[JoesMum]

Torts are picky like children that only want chips and chocolate. A hungry tortoise will eat.

Make sure the substrate doesn’t have white bits in it that make it attractive to eat and make sure there’s no coloured bulb making it look tasty. Try changing the substrate to something different.

Your tort only eats Romaine because you offer it. If the choice is healthy stuff he he will have to eat it.

Here's a step by step guide to changing bad habits:

1. Chop the foods your tort will eat very small and wet them

2. Chop a tiny amount of new food very small and mix it with the rest. The water will stick it together so the new stuff cannot be picked out.

3. If your tort eats everything, at the next feed increase the amount of new food very slightly and decrease the liked food by the same amount.

4. If your tort refuses to eat then leave the food in place for 24 hours and then replace with fresh in exactly the same proportions.

Very gradually, over weeks not days, your tort will start accepting the new food as normal. Take it slowly and don't try to hurry it. A hungry tort will give in and eat.

Your tort can go a long time without food, but not water. A thirty minute soak is essential on days when there is a hunger strike.

 

[RosemaryDW]

@sheilae04, where do you live and what kinds of markets, including farmers markets, do you have access to?

Getting the temps and lighting right is most important. After that you can get more invested in weaning him off the romaine. Once you have everything in place we can direct you to better foods (weeds and otherwise). I like to start with knowing what you have access to, grocery wise.

 

[Carol S]

You could use linoleum self sticking squares to cover the bottom and sides of your enclosure. You can purchase them per square at Home Depot. They have some nice looking patterns. I bought some that have a rock type look to them. Just make sure that the wood is vacuumed very good and no coir is sticking to the wood. Also keep the linoleum at room temperature for a couple of days before you apply it.

 

[sheilae04]

@sheilae04, where do you live and what kinds of markets, including farmers markets, do you have access to?

Getting the temps and lighting right is most important. After that you can get more invested in weaning him off the romaine. Once you have everything in place we can direct you to better foods (weeds and otherwise). I like to start with knowing what you have access to, grocery wise.

I live in Wisconsin, and our Farmers market season is over. I rely on grocery store produce during the winter. Besides the romaine,Saturn's diet varies with what is fresh, mainly endive, escarole, radiccio, and bok choy. I have easy access to all of these, but it depends on what looks healthy in the store that week. I have tried (but he hasn't liked) collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, spring mix, leaves of turnips, carrots, and radishes. In the summer, I've dabbled with geranium and hibiscus, dandelions,mazuri and zoomed tortoise food. I took a photo of my enclosure. Right now I have one heat lamp above his basking rock (temp 100 F), and one UVB. Neither of my bulbs are the coil ones. The temp in the rest of my enclosure is 70s on the ends and 80s in the middle. I use a temp gun to check. the lights are on a timer from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. When it first got colder at night a few weeks ago, I added another lamp in the morning thru early afternoon, but I haven't needed that now since the heat is on. Substrate is coco coir which I mist often, but still feel like it gets dusty easily. Last time I checked humidity was only at 30%. I tried adding a "humid hide" ( a rubbermaid container with a wet sponge velcroed to the top and vines surrounding it), but after crawling in and out once, he never went back in. He actually stayed away from that side of his enclosure until I removed it just a few hours ago. In the past, I've added reptibark. I will probably do that again. Maybe it will deter him from eating it! You'll notice in the picture that he has managed to create for himself a little "tarp tunnel". I need to add more substrate at the moment.

 

[sheilae04]

Torts are picky like children that only want chips and chocolate. A hungry tortoise will eat.

Make sure the substrate doesn’t have white bits in it that make it attractive to eat and make sure there’s no coloured bulb making it look tasty. Try changing the substrate to something different.

Your tort only eats Romaine because you offer it. If the choice is healthy stuff he he will have to eat it.

Here's a step by step guide to changing bad habits:

1. Chop the foods your tort will eat very small and wet them

2. Chop a tiny amount of new food very small and mix it with the rest. The water will stick it together so the new stuff cannot be picked out.

3. If your tort eats everything, at the next feed increase the amount of new food very slightly and decrease the liked food by the same amount.

4. If your tort refuses to eat then leave the food in place for 24 hours and then replace with fresh in exactly the same proportions.

Very gradually, over weeks not days, your tort will start accepting the new food as normal. Take it slowly and don't try to hurry it. A hungry tort will give in and eat.

Your tort can go a long time without food, but not water. A thirty minute soak is essential on days when there is a hunger strike.

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely try this. Do you think it will work with my kids too? LOL

 

[JoesMum]

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely try this. Do you think it will work with my kids too? LOL

Hahaha! [emoji23]

I promise not to report you to the authorities

It’s the same theory though... “No dessert unless you eat all your dinner and I’m NOT going to give in”