New family member (and enclosure)!

[DoctorCosmonaut]

My good ol' Millie girl, just got a new baby sister (89% sure is a sister)!!

And about two months ago I built this new enclosure (its about 18 sq ft):

Sleeping area:

 

[Meg90]

She's very pretty. Was she quarantined first? Vet checked?

Nice enclosure! I'd love to see more pics of it.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Congrats! I love that enclosure. It looks like just another piece of furniture. Is it working out well so far? I'm sure you spent a lot of time planning it out.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

I quarantined her. I'm gonna take them both to the vet soon for checkups. And yes it took me a while, but its working out fantastically. It stays humid (about 90%), its warmer at one end (about 80f on one end and 90f on the other), and it works great as a plant shelf lol

Millie still isn't sure what to make of her... She mostly just watches her, but I'm keeping a close eye on them.

 

[K9KidsLove]

Hi...Just a suggestion...put casters on the legs of your enclosure so you can move it around when you want to without tearing up the floor.
Patsy

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Your pictures vividly illustrated that first meeting between big sister and the "new kid". That must have been fun to watch.

I hope they get along well. Do females fight as males do?

 

[katesgoey]

Pretty "sisters," very nice enclosure! Thanks for sharing

 

[Candy]

I love the enclosure it is very nice and I am very jealous now. Wow the one is so much bigger than the other one I'm surprised she doesn't pick on her/him. Good luck with both of them. Do you have moss or moss and dirt in the enclosure and do you also have plants planted in there?

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

I have an 1" layer of lava rock with 2-3" of soil and then a mix of sphagnum moss and bark on top (with some leaf litter from whenever my tropical plants lose them). I do have live plants in there, one (forgetting the type its in the first pic on the top left) is in its pot which is buried 90%, then I have two air plants/bromeliads that don't need much light, and then I have some fake vine around the full-spectrum bulb so its more filtered.

I am worried that Millie might dominate her, but I'm sure they'll work things out and I'll try and keep on top of them. I've been told that females don't... I hope I was informed correctly. I didn't realize how big Millie was until I set them next to each other. Shell length and body size aren't good correlations in that sense. Anyone else had torts of such varying sizes? I would feel a lot better if I'm not the first person here to have two that are so different in size.

PS K9KidsLove, casters are a great idea!

 

[Kadaan]

Beautiful tort and enclosure! I'll second the request for more photos of life inside . It looks big enough that they could avoid each other if they wanted to, unlike a smaller enclosure without many plants or hides.

 

[terryo]

Jordan...that's beautiful. It's like a piece of furniture. Did you make it and then paint it? I love it! And it fits perfectly in front of that window. Wow!.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Thanks Terry! I did make it. It was my summer project. My apartment isn't huge, but I tried to maximize the space without making my roommate feel like I had a pen in our place. Luckily I grew up making crafts/projects with my dad, and had a jigsaw.

PS I can never get over how supporting, positive, and intelligent (posing critical questions) the people on this board are!

Tort update:
Millie is sleeping in one shelter, Gertrude is in another. I hope that Millie doesn't wake up hoping that yesterday was all a bad dream.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Great job! Your tortoises will love living there...

 

[llamas55]

I am redoing my enclosure and am wondering, did you water proof your enclosure? I love the idea of bromeliads and it is fun to see your set-up. From what I read here, just monitor for food bullying and they should be fine. thanks for sharing

 

[jdawn]

What a great enclosure for them and done so respectful of your roomie's space! (Your roomie must be impressed too I hope!) Thank you for sharing the creative & hard work of your summer project!

 

[George]

Tort update:
Millie is sleeping in one shelter, Gertrude is in another. I hope that Millie doesn't wake up hoping that yesterday was all a bad dream.

This made me laugh out loud - i pictured Millie waking and shouting 'Noooooooooooo'

 

[Isa]

Congratulations!!
Your new little one is a real cutie

 

[sammi]

LOVE your names for your torts =] I have an aunt named Mely and my great grandmother was named Gertrude

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Patricia, I did caulk everything and then put down linoleum (or whatever its called). It definitely doesn't leak and shouldn't rot, but I haven't filled it with water either lol

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

An update:

3 Days later:

The girls seem to be getting more and more comfortable around each other, and Millie does not seem interested in asserting her dominance