- Joined
- Jul 29, 2010
- Messages
- 7
Hi! I'm Allison from texas, I'm a twenty year old mother of a two year old little girl. I have a beagle, a chi mix, a guinea pig, a ferret, and now I'm going to have 6 russian tortoises and 1 red foot tortoise. AHH! I'm very overwhelmed but this is a job for me. I am getting paid to give them proper care and then they will be entertainment for fun "turtle races". I swear I'm doing everything I can to keep them safe and healthy. I work at a petstore also so I've had some experience with the russians.
So far what I've got going for them. Is 2 5' diameter kiddie pools for the 6 russians. that is roughly 20 sq feet per pool. They are going to be between 3 and 4 inches when I get them. I also have a smaller kiddie pool for the red foot. I've got 8 thermometers for various temp control. two hygrometers, can expand more later. I got overhead fluorescent light fixtures at walmart and got the uvb exoterra 5.0 bulbs for 8 bucks where i work. I've got two to span between the three kiddie pools. What other kind of bulbs would work well with the uvb 5.0 in the hood, can I use a basic bulb for this? got the reptisafe and several water dishes and food dishes. The water dish for the red foot is much deeper than the ones for the russians. I still need to get substrate, Any suggestions for keeping the cost relatively low? I think i'm going to go with cypress mulch and play sand mixture.
I'm going to set up and outdoor enclosure for daytime with chicken wire in an already fenced back yard. I've got some naturalistic transformer covers that look like rocks for shelter and I'm gonna stuff those full of cypress mulch.
They are shipping over night tonight and will be here tomorrow am. Does any one have suggestions for how I should handle them when they get here? Should i soak them and feed? I've got a parasite meal i picked up at work that is suppose to rid them of parasites. Does any one know anything about this?
I'm also going to have a binder with their charts, I'll keep track of how much they are eating, activity levels, personality, and more. I'll post pictures soon.
I'm also thinking of having the habitats on a live web cam, but that's later.
I would love any suggestions for proper care and maintenance, I really want to do this right so please let me know what I can change and do better. And let me know if I'm on the right track!
Thanks!
Allison
So far what I've got going for them. Is 2 5' diameter kiddie pools for the 6 russians. that is roughly 20 sq feet per pool. They are going to be between 3 and 4 inches when I get them. I also have a smaller kiddie pool for the red foot. I've got 8 thermometers for various temp control. two hygrometers, can expand more later. I got overhead fluorescent light fixtures at walmart and got the uvb exoterra 5.0 bulbs for 8 bucks where i work. I've got two to span between the three kiddie pools. What other kind of bulbs would work well with the uvb 5.0 in the hood, can I use a basic bulb for this? got the reptisafe and several water dishes and food dishes. The water dish for the red foot is much deeper than the ones for the russians. I still need to get substrate, Any suggestions for keeping the cost relatively low? I think i'm going to go with cypress mulch and play sand mixture.
I'm going to set up and outdoor enclosure for daytime with chicken wire in an already fenced back yard. I've got some naturalistic transformer covers that look like rocks for shelter and I'm gonna stuff those full of cypress mulch.
They are shipping over night tonight and will be here tomorrow am. Does any one have suggestions for how I should handle them when they get here? Should i soak them and feed? I've got a parasite meal i picked up at work that is suppose to rid them of parasites. Does any one know anything about this?
I'm also going to have a binder with their charts, I'll keep track of how much they are eating, activity levels, personality, and more. I'll post pictures soon.
I'm also thinking of having the habitats on a live web cam, but that's later.
I would love any suggestions for proper care and maintenance, I really want to do this right so please let me know what I can change and do better. And let me know if I'm on the right track!
Thanks!
Allison