New addition- Koopa
- Thread starter Janel
- Start date
Hi Janel and welcome. Looks cute.Hello! I have just gotten a beautiful little cherry head tortoise. She is my first tort, only aquatic in the past. I must say I fell in love. More than likely I will be posting a few questions. The info on here is amazing! Thanks for all the future tortoise love
But to verify the cuteness im afraid more photos will be required. Hee hee hee
Have you got the enclosure all set up and ready?
Anyfoot- great name!
Her enclosure is all set. She has an extra large under bed container with a water dish, hiding spots, and plenty of Spanish moss to burrow in. She is outside on our porch and we are in Florida so the humidity stays perfect. Both a uv bulb and a heat bulb are installed but since she is outside I have not used the heat, just uv. I could blab on for days about her!!! Not shy at all. I have been called tortoise drunk!
Her enclosure is all set. She has an extra large under bed container with a water dish, hiding spots, and plenty of Spanish moss to burrow in. She is outside on our porch and we are in Florida so the humidity stays perfect. Both a uv bulb and a heat bulb are installed but since she is outside I have not used the heat, just uv. I could blab on for days about her!!! Not shy at all. I have been called tortoise drunk!
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Hello! I have just gotten a beautiful little cherry head tortoise. She is my first tort, only aquatic in the past. I must say I fell in love. More than likely I will be posting a few questions. The info on here is amazing! Thanks for all the future tortoise love
She's beautiful Welcome to the world of the wonderful Cherryheads. I have one myself, and I am obsessed with her care. Enjoy her and post more photos,
Very cute. Please give your cutie daily soaks in warm water.
How long should I let her soak? She isn't too keen on sitting in the water but eats like a monster after she gets out!
I agree about the soaks. My little girl gets at least a 20 minute bath every morning. Just in case the humidity isn't perfect. And separate from that, she almost always poops in the water. I'd much rather her poop outside her habitat, than inside where I can't readily find it to clean up.
Don't worry: torts do NOT ike change. Therefore they take time to adapt. About 20-30 minutes in warm water.Please keep us updated.
Oli does that too, but my case is different as I live in a flat. So there is no other choice.
Oh my tort poo! She has not pooped yet (3rd day) and that I have seen. She did however pee quite a bit. I have been following feeding instructions as given to be by Vickie at Tortoise yard. Is there a quantity of food that is best for 3 month old? I would hate to over/under feed.
What are you feeding? I work on the principal they eat however much they want. But I control fruit,mushroom and protein intake. They eat as much weeds/greens as they want. So for example today I fed my 14wk old hatchling a piece of strawberry and a pile of weeds. S/he ate the strawberry first then moved onto the weeds.
She has had just weeds the first day, weeds and zucchini yesterday and today she has had a little mushroom piece and again... Weeds! Anything green seems to draw her attention. I attempted a earth worm but she wasn't having any of it. Koopa drinks a bit when she is in her bath but no poops. She could have very well went in her enclosure. I will be sure to look when I clean it out.
Everybody has different feeding methods. All have one thing in common, veriety.
I feed weeds every day, with that I alternate fruit and mushroom every day. This way he eats the fruit or mushroom then weeds. If I piled fruit up he would likely pig out on that and ignore the weeds. At 12 wks old I started with protein too. So one day a week I give him one piece of catfood(the size of his head) with weeds.
They are just like kids, can't eat all sweets
I really appreciate the advice! How do you feel about people who take their tortoise 'out' into the world? I don't have an opinion myself, just curious.
What do you mean 'out into the world. Where you live you could build a safe outdoor enclosure and let the little guy out. If that's what you mean. Hope you don't mean take it to the shopping mall. LolThey are just like kids, can't eat all sweets
Hello Janel and Koopa! Welcome from rainy Texas! I have yearlings: RF named Shellie and cherryhead named Tucker. They beling to my daughter but I'm the one on this forum all the time. Glad you found us, great place to get all the reliable info you need to raise a healthy cherryhead tort. Koopa is very cute!Hello! I have just gotten a beautiful little cherry head tortoise. She is my first tort, only aquatic in the past. I must say I fell in love. More than likely I will be posting a few questions. The info on here is amazing! Thanks for all the future tortoise love
In my view there is no such thing as overfeeding a baby tort. I fed mine 3 times a day and to this day there's always left over food which I just clean up. I think I read somewhere that the portion should be about size of their shell but that depends on what/how you feed. I still chop up the food for mine and at this point feed 2x day. One of my babies was not eating the first few wks so I was spending lots of time researching and trying different things, watching them eat (which I do to this day). I started a thread with some tips for baby tort feeding. If you are interested you can find it through the SEARCH feature by typing "Pearly's tips on feeding picky eater" or something like that. There are lots of pictures there and detailed description of what and how. I include cactus in their diet almost daily. It helps with poop. Also if you are worried you can feed aloe and cucumber. Definitely soak every day! The little babies need it. Once you develop good soaking schedule Koopa will pee and poo in the bath. My babies used to freak out in bath when I used a container. Then I saw one of tfo members pics of their torts in human size tub and I started doing that in my tub that the kids never use anyway. And omg!!! Bath time is fun now! They always get a little treat in there and they just chill for about 20-25 min, pee/poo few times, we clean up, change the water... Sometimes I put one of the infrared lamps over them when worried about the temp. Anyway, keep trying different things till you nail it to what works for little Koopa and you both
Ha, shopping mall! I could not imagine people's faces. Unfortunately, out in the public is pretty common. I have seen it quite a bit and always thought it was dangerous but I never assume. My girl has plenty of ground time and pen time though she prefers to sleep!
Ah great info!!!! I will try out the human tub tomorrow.
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