Novice Tortoise owner

[Leo1827]

Hi,

I acquired a 20yr old female leopard tortoise 2 weeks ago and could do with some advice on how to keep her healthy and happy. We live in the UK in Devon and, although we have been enjoying some lovely sunshine so, she has been allowed to spend the day in our large garden, with plenty of shady areas for her to wander under, at night, I have been bringing her indoors. However, I haven’t had a chance to build/ create an indoor set up for her and could do with some advice as to what I need to do i.e. temperature, lighting, substrate etc.

I would also like to know what greens etc. are good for her.

All help most appreciated.

I have uploaded a pic of her too

 

[JoesMum]

Hello and welcome to TFO.

I will start by tagging @Lyn W who keeps a Leopard Tort in Wales

I recommend you read the TFO care guides and compare them with your setup.

They're written by species experts working hard to correct the outdated information widely available on the internet and from pet stores and, sadly, from some breeders and vets too.

Beginner Mistakes
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

How to raise a healthy Leopard Tortoise
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/how-to-raise-a-healthy-sulcata-or-leopard-version-2-0.79895/

Your tort should be eating weedy and leafy greens.

It will benefit from a tiny sprinkle of calcium powder on food three times a week - no more as you can overdo it.

It can’t digest sugars properly - they cause digestive and kidney problems - so sweet foods like fruit, tomato, carrot and bell pepper should only be fed very sparingly and very occasionally if at all.

Cucumber and lettuce contain little fibre and and few nutrients so should also be fed sparingly.

Write a list of things that grow around you and those that you can buy and look them up on The Tortoise Table Plant Database for suitability to feed. If you can’t identify a plant, post a photo in our Plant ID section and someone will help.
http://thetortoisetable.org.uk/

It is very important that you understand that this species cannot hibernate and will need heated accommodation with access to an outdoor run as soon as the temperatures start to drop.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi, I was in your position 5 years ago with my leopard and had a very steep learning curve. It definitely isn't easy or cheap keeping a leopard in our climate but you have found the right place to learn all about it.
Linda has given you some great links to follow which will tell you all about diet, temps, humidity and substrate etc. and that's where I started, but tweaked it to suit my circumstances.
I assume that at 20 years of age he is quite a big tort - too big for a tortoise table or viv anyway.
My tort is about 9 -10 years (I don't know for sure as he was found in a field and unclaimed so his history is a mystery) but he is over a foot long. I have turned a downstairs bathroom into his room. He has a hide and some trays of substrate and water in there along with his lights and heat lamp etc. I do struggle with humidity in there even though I try to raise it with buckets of water and plants etc. To counter any dryness he has a good long, warm soak every day and I think it has helped stop the pyramiding he came with from getting any worse. He has access to the garden when ground temps reach 70F but he prefers to be indoors and it is a struggle to get him to stay out even on hot sunny days! If you are handy and have a secure garden you could try to make one of Toms night boxes for him to use in the warmer months.
One of the most important things for leopards is keeping them warm. Lola has a central heating radiator which is usually on 24/7, but as its a sunny room I have turned it off when the weather is hot. He also had a ceramic heating element (CHE) which I use at night and for extra heat in the colder seasons. This is run through a thermostat so that it is only on when needed. I bought both those in The Range - about £50 total but that was 5 years ago and they are still going strong. I also use an Arcadia mercury vapour balanced bulb (MVB) I use a 160w because of the size of the room. They are quite expensive at about £40ish in Pets at Home but give heat light and uvb in one bulb. Some people prefer the uvb tube type but the bulbs suit my set up better. I also have a spot bulb which just gibes light and heat. I use ceramic bulb holders with wide domes for all three - also The Range.
As for food - at this time of year Lola has a lot of dandies and plantains and clover. I also bulk it out with some salad bags. Aldi are doing 2 that have a good mix - mixed salad leaves and crispy salad - similar to Florette classic crispy salad but a lot cheaper. Tesco also do a mixed British salad leaf bag. He isn't keen on grass - fresh or dried - but I buy Readigrass and grind it up in a blender to sprinkle on his wet food. I also feed him some Romaine and Pak Choi occasionally, He isn't keen on kale, he will have small amounts but I tend to throw most of it out.
I hope that helps but if I can answer any other questions please ask, and if you have any pics we'd all like to see them!

 

[Leo1827]

Hi, I was in your position 5 years ago with my leopard and had a very steep learning curve. It definitely isn't easy or cheap keeping a leopard in our climate but you have found the right place to learn all about it.
Linda has given you some great links to follow which will tell you all about diet, temps, humidity and substrate etc. and that's where I started, but tweaked it to suit my circumstances.
I assume that at 20 years of age he is quite a big tort - too big for a tortoise table or viv anyway.
My tort is about 9 -10 years (I don't know for sure as he was found in a field and unclaimed so his history is a mystery) but he is over a foot long. I have turned a downstairs bathroom into his room. He has a hide and some trays of substrate and water in there along with his lights and heat lamp etc. I do struggle with humidity in there even though I try to raise it with buckets of water and plants etc. To counter any dryness he has a good long, warm soak every day and I think it has helped stop the pyramiding he came with from getting any worse. He has access to the garden when ground temps reach 70F but he prefers to be indoors and it is a struggle to get him to stay out even on hot sunny days! If you are handy and have a secure garden you could try to make one of Toms night boxes for him to use in the warmer months.
One of the most important things for leopards is keeping them warm. Lola has a central heating radiator which is usually on 24/7, but as its a sunny room I have turned it off when the weather is hot. He also had a ceramic heating element (CHE) which I use at night and for extra heat in the colder seasons. This is run through a thermostat so that it is only on when needed. I bought both those in The Range - about £50 total but that was 5 years ago and they are still going strong. I also use an Arcadia mercury vapour balanced bulb (MVB) I use a 160w because of the size of the room. They are quite expensive at about £40ish in Pets at Home but give heat light and uvb in one bulb. Some people prefer the uvb tube type but the bulbs suit my set up better. I also have a spot bulb which just gibes light and heat. I use ceramic bulb holders with wide domes for all three - also The Range.
As for food - at this time of year Lola has a lot of dandies and plantains and clover. I also bulk it out with some salad bags. Aldi are doing 2 that have a good mix - mixed salad leaves and crispy salad - similar to Florette classic crispy salad but a lot cheaper. Tesco also do a mixed British salad leaf bag. He isn't keen on grass - fresh or dried - but I buy Readigrass and grind it up in a blender to sprinkle on his wet food. I also feed him some Romaine and Pak Choi occasionally, He isn't keen on kale, he will have small amounts but I tend to throw most of it out.
I hope that helps but if I can answer any other questions please ask, and if you have any pics we'd all like to see them!

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, my tort is a good size (her shell is 16-17” from front to back. During the day, she currently has full run of our secure back garden which, has lots of low lying shrubs for her to get out of the sun. We have lots of grass and dandelions. I haven’t seen her eating any of the grass. She does like kale, broccoli and mushrooms. I have given her a couple of florets a couple of times in the last two weeks, as well as some kale and a couple of mushrooms. She has also had, and enjoyed rocket.

I do need to sort out somewhere for her to live and sleep in before the colder weather sets in, but don’t have anywhere indoors so, am looking to add a shed in our garden to house her. I could do with ideas on how to achieve this and how to go about providing electrics for lighting and heating. I was thinking of a garden shed with a window or two.

 

[Lyn W]

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, my tort is a good size (her shell is 16-17” from front to back. During the day, she currently has full run of our secure back garden which, has lots of low lying shrubs for her to get out of the sun. We have lots of grass and dandelions. I haven’t seen her eating any of the grass. She does like kale, broccoli and mushrooms. I have given her a couple of florets a couple of times in the last two weeks, as well as some kale and a couple of mushrooms. She has also had, and enjoyed rocket.

I do need to sort out somewhere for her to live and sleep in before the colder weather sets in, but don’t have anywhere indoors so, am looking to add a shed in our garden to house her. I could do with ideas on how to achieve this and how to go about providing electrics for lighting and heating. I was thinking of a garden shed with a window or two.

If you check your shrubs, garden plants and weeds on the tortoise table link you'll be able to check that they are all tort safe. (It will also tell you what veg are OK too.Lambs lettuce is another favourite, but variety is key.)
Anything grown from bulbs or tubers can be toxic so better to be safe than sorry. I had to pull up quite a lot of plants in mine and obviously anything that has been sprayed with weedkillers or had any chemicals near them isn't safe either.

He is a fair size and will need good amount of food. When I first had Lola I was told to think of his shell as an upturned bowl and feed him that much daily, if he ate less feed less, but if he was still hungry feed more. That can be pretty expensive during winter but their appetite does slow down then.

The shed will not hold enough heat for her unless you insulate it thoroughly. If you make a night box to sit inside the shed that will keep her cosy and she will be able to stretch her legs in the shed then. Perhaps @Tom will post a link to his design as I can't find it. The caresheet will tell you minimum temps leopards need all year around.
You will need to have electricity run out to the shed - I wouldn't trust extension leads as a long term outdoor supply in our wet weather.
I will try to find the threads that have examples of how people have insulated sheds.
There is such a lot to learn but if you read all the links Linda gave you and ask as many questions as you need you will be fine. Keeping leopards in the UK isn't for the fainthearted. Can I ask where you got her from and where you will keep her when the heavy rain arrives for our corner of the UK on Tues as she will need to be indoors then.

 

[Lyn W]

This is how Cheryl insulated a plastic shed for her tort in Ohio, if you scroll through you will see all the pics. I think its roughly the same for wooden sheds.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/heated-shed.174504/
Its a lot of work but essential to keep your tort healthy.

 

[Leo1827]

Hi Linda,

Thanks for sharing Cheryl’s thread re: shed. I do plan to insulate the shed when I get it. At the mo, when it’s cold and/or wet outside, I have been bringing her indoors and giving her the run of my utility room, which has mobile heater to keep her warm. She also has a box with a heat mat under it. Since she has only needed to be housed indoors at night, I haven’t added any basking light yet. However, obviously if she needs to be housed indoors for more than a few days, I will get the necessary lighting from my partner’s reptile shop. It was here that she was brought in my a couple who had inherited her from a deceased relative.

My back garden is a bit of a jungle at present and has loads of nettles as well as the dandelions, I mentioned previously. I have been trying to identify the large shrubs which border the garden too. So far, I’ve come up with a common rose-mallow (Hibiscus Moscheutos), a couple of overgrown rose bushes, fushias and blackberry bramble bushes.

I have uploaded a photo of my tort eating some kale and broccoli florets. She really does relish these.

 

[Lyn W]

That's handy having a partner with a reptile shop - I hope he lets you buy things at cost!!!!
Broccoli is not a good food for torts -
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/?plant=622&c=8#.XT9z1ehKhnI
and Kale is only to be fed in moderation
https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/?plant=529&c=8#.XT90M-hKhnI
but there are plenty of other good foods he will enjoy.

You will find a digital temp gun great for checking temps at tort level - if he isn't warm enough his digestive system won't function properly and he won't be able to absorb the nutrients from his food. Heat mats aren't usually recommended for torts - their lungs are under the top of the shell so they will benefit more from overhead heat and be warmer, so a che would be better for night, and a basking bulb or mvb for the day I used a bowl about the same height as my tort to adjust the height of the bulb to get the right temp.

When you do buy lamps (uvb or basking) avoid the coil or cfl type, they may be cheaper but they have been known to damage tort eyes so it's too risky. Red lamps also confuse torts as they can see colour and will try to eat anything coloured by the lamp so don't waste money on those either.

 

[Lyn W]

Found it - Tom's Nightbox - inside a shed this would keep your tort toasty.
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-best-night-box-design-yet.66867/