New home for mosey

[movealongmosey]

Hey everyone!
I'm going to be moving into my dorm on september 16, and I'm planning on bringing my tort mosey. I wont have too much space, so the space I do have will be dedicated to mosey. So here are some plans for mosey's new home.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Katie

 

[Yourlocalpoet]

I'm amazed they allow you to keep pets! I had to leave Esmerelda in the capable hand of my parents when I went to University, even if I had been able to take her with me I doubt she would have survived all the chaotic behaviour that went on in my halls of residence!

 

[movealongmosey]

Haha yeah..."allow" He's not going to stay with me all the time, Me and my rents will be switching on and off.

 

[tortoisenerd]

How big is Mosey? Where will the water dish go? I don't agree with using heat pads in any situation for small torts. If you need additional heat, I'd use a CHE or black light bulb. Make sure you have discussed this rule breaking with your roommate (and the general keeping of the tort), as they could potentially be on the hook as well as you. I would try to reduce the amount of switching homes & enclosures to keep the tort's life as low stress as possible. I think the dorms will be tricky as constant vibrations such as doors slamming and music can cause stress for a tort, and dorms tend to have more noise than homes. Just things to consider. Since redfoots are kept more one temp, around 85 F, you don't have to worry about having hides in each temp zone such as for other types of torts, but I would want to see more than one hide--fake plants and all sorts of things can be hides. The plants especially won't waste much floor space. I shop at Michael's with coupons from online or the newspaper. Good luck!

 

[movealongmosey]

Haha yea, I can imagine there will be quite a bit of drunk people lol. The first couple of weeks i'm just going to settle in while mosey stays at home. My bed in the dorm is going to be lofted so I'm planning on keeping him nice and cozy under there. I am a little worried about noise too, but i'm going to look into maybe sound proofing his enclosure...some how. Right now I do use a heating pad but I never put it inside the cage where it can burn and harm tortoises, I was planning on securing it underneath the wood. Also I do have some fake plants I'm going to use and plus i'm going to find some safe real ones too. If anyone has had experience with keeping a tort in a noisy environment, I would love to hear suggestions on sound proofing. Thanks so much for the advice!
Ps. What kind of plants can survive indoors and are safe for my redfoot?

 

[tortoisenerd]

There are more potential issues with heat pads than the tort being in direct contact with it, such as the heat pad failing and overheating (burn the tort or start a fire), torts aren't used to belly heat and might not move off of it and be over heated, and there really aren't any aspects of heating pads that outweigh heat bulbs (which mimic nature more closely). Something I wouldn't want to risk so I'm passing along the info so you can make an informed decision. Many of these cheap reptile heating pads have been known to have problems. This is vs. say a pig blanket used with a large tort that is less prone to being overheated and the appliance itself is made to higher standards (for agriculture) and can be hooked up to a secondary rheostat as a fail safe of sorts.

I like the idea of you getting settled in first. My best advice is to make sure he's up off the ground (drafts and easier to keep warm as hear rises), but not on the desk underneath if its attached to your bed (common with lofts), as that will get some movement when you are moving around on it. Its not the noise so much...torts have membranes over their ears (its not thought that they can hear sounds, but feel the vibrations). So you wouldn't want to set the enclosure against a wall for example.

 

[movealongmosey]

UPDATE!
The enclosure is built alls thats left to do is a little decorating. Tell me what you think!
2 feet by 4 feet sealed with drylock.

Hide with a hinge.

My kale plants.

The temps are around 90-100, i'm using a 150 infrared bulb. Is it too much? He hasn't been basking from what I can tell he's just been hiding. Is it because of his new surroundings?

Hope he likes it!