New Mommy

[Kirin]

Hi, everyone. I am a brand new mommy to a 5 month old leopard tortoise. I have researched tortoises before purchasing the leopard tortoise. I feel like I did when I became a 1st time mother to my 23 yo daughter. I am wondering if I am doing everything right by her. I am posting pics of her enclosure and wondering if her set up is right. I keep her temp at 78, but is it too dry for her. I have coconut fiber underneath timothy hay. At night I put on her heat lamp to keep her warm and during the day I keep on her uvb light. I soak her in the mornings for 15 min., then I feed her romaine lettuce and her tortoise food. Am I doing right by her?

 

[Tom]

Click the links in my signature for some tips. I house sulcatas and leopards identically.

Here are some quick tips:
1.Go bigger on the enclosure. Much bigger.
2. Use a closed chamber instead of an open topped tank. Here's a thread on that:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-32333.html
3. Use a terra cotta plant saucer as a water bowl.
4. Get rid of the Timothy hay. It can mold and make your tortoise sick. Just use the coco fiber and pack it down with your hand.
5. Use a heat bulb on a 12 hour timer during the day. Adjust the height so your basking spot is around 100. Then get a ceramic heating element and run it on a thermostat to maintain your ambient temp at 80 day and night. Temperatures are everything to a reptile. Do not let your baby get cold at night.
6. What sort of UV bulb are you using? The coil types can damage their eyes and most chain pet stores recommend them.
7. The best diet is weeds, mulberry, hibiscus and grape leaves, cactus pads, and Mazuri. Leopards of that type are not big on grass or hay. Learn to ID your local weeds and make sure you get them from chemical free sources. If you must use grocery store foods, favor endive and escarole heavily. Also use collard greens, mustard greens, cilantro, carrot tops, turning greens, dandelion greens, etc... Lots of variety. You can buy seed mixes all over the place too. I found a "Testudo Mix" that I really like at tortoisesupply.com. Diet for a Russian and a leopard is very similar, so it works great.

 

[Kirin]

Thanks, I'll start working on that right now. I thought it was to small, but I have a 55 gallon tank with a top. I'll use this instead. Off to the store for supplies.

 

[Kirin]

Here are the lights that I am using.

 

[luvpetz27]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

 

[arotester]

As earlier advised get rid of the coiled bulb

 

[african cake queen]

welcome, good luck.

 

[Tom]

Here are the lights that I am using.

We have see those coil bulbs cause eye problems many times. The smaller the tank and closer the bulb, the worse it will be. If I recall correctly, you were having eye problems with your baby, no?

The other bulbs aren't harmful BUT, you can simply use any similar flood bulb from Walmart or the hardware store and pay a lot less. About the infrared night bulb: Tortoises can see a greater spectrum of light than we can. So if you can see with that light at night, so can they. I prefer it dark at night for them. A ceramic heating element is also more energy efficient in that all of the electricity you burn goes to producing heat instead of 20% of it producing light that you don't need or want.

 

[DesertGrandma]

Hi Kirin. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Kirin]

After the advice that I received about Daisy’s (leopard tortoise) habitat, I changed it all up. Now this is her new home. Everything now is better, but I am having trouble with the humidity. It has only be at about 50% sometimes it gets lower. Should I use a humidifier for her and if so do I run it all the time?

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Wow what an amazing difference!

Great job on the changes

 

[Kirin]

Thanks

 

[LeopardTortLover]

After the advice that I received about Daisy’s (leopard tortoise) habitat, I changed it all up. Now this is her new home. Everything now is better, but I am having trouble with the humidity. It has only be at about 50% sometimes it gets lower. Should I use a humidifier for her and if so do I run it all the time?

How deep is your substrate? Personally I like mine a little deeper - about 3 inches minimum. Torts like to dig to control and adjust their body temp.

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Wow! What an amazing job in such a short period of time! The only thing I think you need is a temp gun. I would not introduce humidity unless you are sure your cool side does not drop below 80. A wet and cold tortoise can turn into a sick tortoise really fast. I cannot tell what is in the dome is is a CHE or basking light? You need an alternative source of heat for when your basking light goes off and I cannot tell if you have one. Once again, great job!!!

 

[Kirin]

Yes, I plan on making it deeper today. Her humidity was staying at around 43%, but this morning it has dropped to 37%. She has 2 domes one has her basking light and the other is her CHE. I take her out every day for at least 30 min to an hour a day. I live in So Cal, the last few days it has been raining so I open up my blinds and let her walk all around on the carpet in the sun. Her temp is 80-82 in her habitat. I plan on buying the temp gun just have not done it yet. I appreciate all the advice. I have a lot of animals (3 dogs, 3 cats, fishes, 1ferret, and now Daisy) but she seems to be the most difficult. I got her on the Feb. 16th and I love her so much all ready. I will do my very best to make her healthy and happy. Thanks everyone I really do appreciate all the help!

 

[mainey34]

Hello and welcome...you have done a great transformation...good job...

 

[DesertGrandma]

When you add humidity to your enclosure the temperature will go down. So you will probably need to raise the temps in order to keep it at the optimum level. As was said before, don't let your enclosure get below 80 degrees at the coolest end with a higher humidity level. You will need to keep a close eye on it for awhile until it is right.