The wife and I recently obtained two desert tortoise hatchlings. We have named them Taco and Hatch, and we are absolutely enamored!
I built them a tortoise table, which is lined and has a layer of cypress mulch, some rocks from the outdoors, enclosures to hide/sleep, a reptile specific combo heat/UVB lamp, and a pond with ramp and shallow layer of water. The table is 4' long, 2' wide, and has 9" tall walls with an open top. I measured the temperature directly under the heat/UVB lamp, and it is 93 deg F. The lamp is on a timer from 7 AM to 7 PM. We keep the house around 74-75 deg F, with no additional heat supply (minus the already mentioned lamp) for the tortoises. We still need to soak some of the mulch to create humidity though.
We just received them the other day, I'm currently out of town/country for work but the wife is loving having them around! She's been feeding them, taking them outside to enjoy the AZ heat for short periods of time, and enjoying watching them move around their new enclosures.
They seem to be loving their new home, and for the most part seem pretty healthy and active. The wife did mention that Hatch seems to be having issues with one of it's front legs - she mentioned that it is slightly discolored and Hatch seems to drag that leg underneath it's shell and fall to the side of that leg when walking. Any ideas on what that is about? And what we can do to remedy any potential issue(s)? I did mention to her that we should be soaking the hatchlings everyday, I don't think she has done that yet.
I built them a tortoise table, which is lined and has a layer of cypress mulch, some rocks from the outdoors, enclosures to hide/sleep, a reptile specific combo heat/UVB lamp, and a pond with ramp and shallow layer of water. The table is 4' long, 2' wide, and has 9" tall walls with an open top. I measured the temperature directly under the heat/UVB lamp, and it is 93 deg F. The lamp is on a timer from 7 AM to 7 PM. We keep the house around 74-75 deg F, with no additional heat supply (minus the already mentioned lamp) for the tortoises. We still need to soak some of the mulch to create humidity though.
We just received them the other day, I'm currently out of town/country for work but the wife is loving having them around! She's been feeding them, taking them outside to enjoy the AZ heat for short periods of time, and enjoying watching them move around their new enclosures.
They seem to be loving their new home, and for the most part seem pretty healthy and active. The wife did mention that Hatch seems to be having issues with one of it's front legs - she mentioned that it is slightly discolored and Hatch seems to drag that leg underneath it's shell and fall to the side of that leg when walking. Any ideas on what that is about? And what we can do to remedy any potential issue(s)? I did mention to her that we should be soaking the hatchlings everyday, I don't think she has done that yet.
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