New MEE!

[fernando7kose]

Hi TFO!
I just got myself a wild caught Manouria Emys Emys native to my country, Indonesia. He is around 10".
He currently lives fully outdoor with humid hides. I also provide dry hide to be used during this rainy season.
For his diet, so far he likes : alocasia/colocasia, mushrooms, quail eggs, papaya

I have a few questions about care information :

1. How often can they eat fruits? I read that emys can eat fruits more often than other species.

2. How about mushroom? Should I give it everyday? I've tried giving him store bought mushroom & he likes it.

3. He hasn't pooped since I brought him home last week. I've tried giving him papaya, tomato & cucumber to help him poop. I also have tried soaking him in a big container for around an hour. Is there anything else that I should try?

Any input would be greatly appreciated, please help me out 😀.

 

[pacific chelonians]

sad to see these guys getting collected out of the wild, but now that he’s with you hopefully you can provide him with a great life. First off he’s going to get roughly twice that size, I keep a group here in America of captive bred animals. They do love fruit and can have it more often than other species yes, it is important to provide them with some protein along with lots of different types of greens and a large part of their diet should be mushrooms. Being that you’re in their native range you won’t need to do too much to mimic their natural environment. I would suggest maybe getting him a larger wallowing area. On another note I would recommend making your walls a lot taller they are nicknamed the six legged tortoise for a reason, they are fantastic climbers and I have personally seen them get about two or 3 foot into my bushes. I would make sure your walls are about 18 inches right now, And plan to make them around 24 inches tall when he is fully grown. Otherwise your enclosure is great and you should have great success with him once he settles in you’ll start to notice the Mountain Tortoise is great personality.

 

[pacific chelonians]

sad to see these guys getting collected out of the wild, but now that he’s with you hopefully you can provide him with a great life. First off he’s going to get roughly twice that size, I keep a group here in America of captive bred animals. They do love fruit and can have it more often than other species yes, it is important to provide them with some protein along with lots of different types of greens and a large part of their diet should be mushrooms. Being that you’re in their native range you won’t need to do too much to mimic their natural environment. I would suggest maybe getting him a larger wallowing area. On another note I would recommend making your walls a lot taller they are nicknamed the six legged tortoise for a reason, they are fantastic climbers and I have personally seen them get about two or 3 foot into my bushes. I would make sure your walls are about 18 inches right now, And plan to make them around 24 inches tall when he is fully grown. Otherwise your enclosure is great and you should have great success with him once he settles in you’ll start to notice the Mountain Tortoise is great personality.

I attached some photos of my adults for reference

 

[fernando7kose]

sad to see these guys getting collected out of the wild, but now that he’s with you hopefully you can provide him with a great life. First off he’s going to get roughly twice that size, I keep a group here in America of captive bred animals. They do love fruit and can have it more often than other species yes, it is important to provide them with some protein along with lots of different types of greens and a large part of their diet should be mushrooms. Being that you’re in their native range you won’t need to do too much to mimic their natural environment. I would suggest maybe getting him a larger wallowing area. On another note I would recommend making your walls a lot taller they are nicknamed the six legged tortoise for a reason, they are fantastic climbers and I have personally seen them get about two or 3 foot into my bushes. I would make sure your walls are about 18 inches right now, And plan to make them around 24 inches tall when he is fully grown. Otherwise your enclosure is great and you should have great success with him once he settles in you’ll start to notice the Mountain Tortoise is great personality.

Thank you for the reply!
I've tried to offer variety of greens : hibiscus, dandelion, grape, mulberry. But he still would only eat alocasia. I've seen him eaten a few bites of papaya leaves though.

For fruits & mushrooms, how often would you offer it? Should I give mushroom everyday & fruits every other day?
I read that you should also offer animal protein once a week, is this okay?
Noted about the height of the fence, will make sure to make it higher!

I attached some photos of my adults for reference

They look so healthy! Thank you for sharing

 

[pacific chelonians]

I haven’t found any literature on Brown Mountain’s as to how often one should feed fruit but in my Experience I feed fruit about two times a week

 

[fernando7kose]

I haven’t found any literature on Brown Mountain’s as to how often one should feed fruit but in my Experience I feed fruit about two times a week

Thank you! How about mushroom & animal protein?

 

[pacific chelonians]

Thank you! How about mushroom & animal protein?

I feed mushrooms every other day and protein twice a week

 

[fernando7kose]

I feed mushrooms every other day and protein twice a week

For now I will schedule it based on your suggestions. Thank you so much for the help!

 

[fernando7kose]

He finally pooped!
I also made a small temporary pool using terp.
Bonus picture of him munching his papaya egg salad mix 😀.

 

[pacific chelonians]

I’m glad you took my advice on the Pond area I’m sure he spends a lot of time in that

 

[pacific chelonians]

He finally pooped!
I also made a small temporary pool using terp.
Bonus picture of him munching his papaya egg salad mix 😀.
View attachment 352640View attachment 352639

So glad you took my advice about his pond area I’m sure he loves it

 

[MEEJogja]

Great job on the pond! It will get super dirty very quick though, so be sure to have some way of emptying and refilling it. You have put 7000 X more effort into that enclosure than most people here, so it's nice to see you plan on taking care of it.
I will not mention the legality of it or the fact that it's been taken from the wild. I still see emys sold in the dozens each week on WhatsApp groups, so at least this one is not going to live in a mouldy concrete box.
Mushrooms are not needed frequently, if you give mushrooms you need to make sure you supplement calcium, as mushrooms leech calcium from the body. I only feed mushrooms with quail eggs (including shells) occasionally.
My tip: Outside your enclosure plant lots of talas, on days when you are lazy you can go and cut some leaves and throw them in. It's really an amazing plant. As long as you don't cut the last leaf, they will grow back in 1 week and be an almost endless supply of food.

 

[fernando7kose]

Great job on the pond! It will get super dirty very quick though, so be sure to have some way of emptying and refilling it. You have put 7000 X more effort into that enclosure than most people here, so it's nice to see you plan on taking care of it.
I will not mention the legality of it or the fact that it's been taken from the wild. I still see emys sold in the dozens each week on WhatsApp groups, so at least this one is not going to live in a mouldy concrete box.
Mushrooms are not needed frequently, if you give mushrooms you need to make sure you supplement calcium, as mushrooms leech calcium from the body. I only feed mushrooms with quail eggs (including shells) occasionally.
My tip: Outside your enclosure plant lots of talas, on days when you are lazy you can go and cut some leaves and throw them in. It's really an amazing plant. As long as you don't cut the last leaf, they will grow back in 1 week and be an almost endless supply of food.

Thank you for the kind words! I think we could be in the same Facebook/Whatsapp groups, it's the only way to gain information about emys here 😀.

I actually have been following your thread! Any updates on your emys?
May I ask about your feeding schedule? How often do you give fruits/mushroom/protein?

Mine does not want to eat any greens other than talas. I have planted some in the enclosure & I live beside a land that has unlimited supply of talas (alocasia/colocasia) 😀.