OliveAlaska
Member
I introduced Olive a week ago when we received her and we have fully immersed ourselves in tortoise care. Her enclosure will be a work in progress as we have to reorganize our dining/craft area to make room for an enclosure. But for now she sleeps in her 35 gallon tote but has between 4 and 6 hours each day in a 3x5' space we set up in front of the kitchen island.
We have room for a 3x6' permanent enclosure, but are wondering if a second level would be a good supplement? Do RTs actually climb to a second level with a good ramp? I'm a woodworker and my husband is a metal worker so Olive's enclosure is going to be amazing - well built and permanent. Our floor is cool even in the summer so it's going to be table-level with storage beneath it.
Olive has been eating mostly baby greens, with the occasional cucumber slice or chopped romaine thrown in. We haven't tried anything else yet, but would like to keep her diet varied. When the greens are gone we're going to switch to collard greens, turnip greens, etc. We put a pinch of calcium+D on her food twice a week.
I have seen her drink in her bath, and have also found since I sunk her reptile water dish into the substrate she is spending more time in it. It's a little deep and in the permanent enclosure I'm going to replace it with a terracotta saucer (or tonight if I find one at Lowe's). She drinks from the water dish and I have found her asleep in it, half in and half out. I have buried the dish further into her substrate since taking this picture. Live and learn.
She is usually asleep by about 9pm, and wakes up around 7 or 8am, when we start moving around making noise. I turn her light on when she wakes up, and since she's in the tote at night I take her out and give her a morning meal in her temporary enclosure on the floor with a basking lamp above her. This morning she peed in that enclosure for the second time. She has also pooped in it twice. I mention this because we have also soaked her three times and she hasn't once pooped in it. She finally peed in it this evening for the first time. She has filled her terracotta food dish with pee in the temporary enclosure, and peed in her water dish in her tote. She seems to like "going" everywhere but in the soaking tub.
I do like how she walks towards us and stretches out her neck when we walk by the tote. I know it's not the happiest place for her to be, but I also like to think she's asking us to take her out, which we always do. It has been a nice routine - take her out when she looks active and ready to eat, feed her and give her roaming time in the temporary enclosure, and put her back after up to two hours of roaming time. She will either climb back down and sleep in the hole she has made in her substrate (Forest Floor) beneath her hide, or she will lay beneath the basking light. (The hole is where her heating pad is).
When we find her beneath her basking lamp doing her "model pose" as the kids and I affectionately call it, she seems rather relaxed, with a leg or two spread out and her eyes closed peacefully.
I get on the floor on my stomach to spend time with her while she is in her enclosure. She will walk over to me to investigate, takes a few territorial nips at my fingers, and then settles down to lay beside me while I pet her shell. She doesn't like her back legs touched but I can stroke her front legs if I go slowly. And when she nips at me I tell her no and rub her chin. I like the feel of the softness there, and I suppose I'm wondering if I can get her to like that kind of touch.
The only downside to having her is that our golden retriever (whom we keep away from her) now thinks 1) he's being replaced with a tortoise and is terribly needy, and 2) he IS a tortoise and has suddenly developed a liking to lettuce and greens.
I have no knowledge of tortoises so I think we're doing a good job. She seems healthy. Her shell is dry, not peeling but it has ridges on the rings. Her underside is completely dark, but also looks to be in good shape. In my very limited opinion she doesn't have much curling of the shell but I'm going to keep an eye on that. Her beak is short and I'm hoping to see more wear on her nails as she uses more items to climb on, like her food saucer, a paver I put in her enclosure, and a rock I put in for visual stimulation but that she already crawled on. She also loves food, drinks quite often, and seems to be peeing and pooping a good amount.
Thanks for having us here. It means a lot to me to have a community I can lean on as I learn everything I need to know to love Olive and give her the best life!
We have room for a 3x6' permanent enclosure, but are wondering if a second level would be a good supplement? Do RTs actually climb to a second level with a good ramp? I'm a woodworker and my husband is a metal worker so Olive's enclosure is going to be amazing - well built and permanent. Our floor is cool even in the summer so it's going to be table-level with storage beneath it.
Olive has been eating mostly baby greens, with the occasional cucumber slice or chopped romaine thrown in. We haven't tried anything else yet, but would like to keep her diet varied. When the greens are gone we're going to switch to collard greens, turnip greens, etc. We put a pinch of calcium+D on her food twice a week.
I have seen her drink in her bath, and have also found since I sunk her reptile water dish into the substrate she is spending more time in it. It's a little deep and in the permanent enclosure I'm going to replace it with a terracotta saucer (or tonight if I find one at Lowe's). She drinks from the water dish and I have found her asleep in it, half in and half out. I have buried the dish further into her substrate since taking this picture. Live and learn.
She is usually asleep by about 9pm, and wakes up around 7 or 8am, when we start moving around making noise. I turn her light on when she wakes up, and since she's in the tote at night I take her out and give her a morning meal in her temporary enclosure on the floor with a basking lamp above her. This morning she peed in that enclosure for the second time. She has also pooped in it twice. I mention this because we have also soaked her three times and she hasn't once pooped in it. She finally peed in it this evening for the first time. She has filled her terracotta food dish with pee in the temporary enclosure, and peed in her water dish in her tote. She seems to like "going" everywhere but in the soaking tub.
I do like how she walks towards us and stretches out her neck when we walk by the tote. I know it's not the happiest place for her to be, but I also like to think she's asking us to take her out, which we always do. It has been a nice routine - take her out when she looks active and ready to eat, feed her and give her roaming time in the temporary enclosure, and put her back after up to two hours of roaming time. She will either climb back down and sleep in the hole she has made in her substrate (Forest Floor) beneath her hide, or she will lay beneath the basking light. (The hole is where her heating pad is).
When we find her beneath her basking lamp doing her "model pose" as the kids and I affectionately call it, she seems rather relaxed, with a leg or two spread out and her eyes closed peacefully.
I get on the floor on my stomach to spend time with her while she is in her enclosure. She will walk over to me to investigate, takes a few territorial nips at my fingers, and then settles down to lay beside me while I pet her shell. She doesn't like her back legs touched but I can stroke her front legs if I go slowly. And when she nips at me I tell her no and rub her chin. I like the feel of the softness there, and I suppose I'm wondering if I can get her to like that kind of touch.
The only downside to having her is that our golden retriever (whom we keep away from her) now thinks 1) he's being replaced with a tortoise and is terribly needy, and 2) he IS a tortoise and has suddenly developed a liking to lettuce and greens.
I have no knowledge of tortoises so I think we're doing a good job. She seems healthy. Her shell is dry, not peeling but it has ridges on the rings. Her underside is completely dark, but also looks to be in good shape. In my very limited opinion she doesn't have much curling of the shell but I'm going to keep an eye on that. Her beak is short and I'm hoping to see more wear on her nails as she uses more items to climb on, like her food saucer, a paver I put in her enclosure, and a rock I put in for visual stimulation but that she already crawled on. She also loves food, drinks quite often, and seems to be peeing and pooping a good amount.
Thanks for having us here. It means a lot to me to have a community I can lean on as I learn everything I need to know to love Olive and give her the best life!
