Our new girl

[iota]

I've been posting for about a week, and asking a thousand questions. Thanks everyone so much! I'm glad you're here. We finally bought our tortoise. She's a little girl. My daughter has named her Amelia Pond.

This is her very very temporary home. She has a 4x8 Tortoise table that will be ready next weekend. I was subject to the dates of our local reptile show. It's exceptionally difficult to get herps outside of a show in my area.

 

[Yvonne G]

Miz Pond is indeed a very pretty tortoise. Ya done good, kiddo!

 

[wellington]

She is very nice looking. Just be sure that with the table, you can still keep the humdiity up, but keep the top layer dry, as they are more prone to shell rot then some other high humdiity torts.

 

[Jodie]

Congrats. She is beautiful.

 

[iota]

Thanks for the humidity info! I was misting the coco bark. I'll be sure to get the dirt beneath it from now on! She's already been walking around checking things out, and munching on the Dahlia's I put in a pot for her. (Repotting the plants I got her to take them out of soil with perlite took forever)

 

[crimson_lotus]

You could pour some warm water in the corners of the enclosure once a week and mix it up to keep the substrate moist. Do you have anything to measure your enclosures humidity? A bunch of us on the forum use the Acu-Rite hygrometers (about $10 at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.), they measure both the temp and humidity, and you would want to keep them at tortoise level for accuracy.

 

[crimson_lotus]

Very nice looking tortoise, by the way, and very cool your daughter is a Dr. Who fan!

 

[iota]

You could pour some warm water in the corners of the enclosure once a week and mix it up to keep the substrate moist. Do you have anything to measure your enclosures humidity? A bunch of us on the forum use the Acu-Rite hygrometers (about $10 at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.), they measure both the temp and humidity, and you would want to keep them at tortoise level for accuracy.

I have a separate hydrometer and thermometer. I saw the digital ones in a few pictures, and thought they were nice. I've been exploring some options for closing in the top instead of the 1/2 x 1/2 inch mesh. I have a couple paper designs I've worked up to show my dad. I am also kicking around some kind of spider plant canopy since they're relatively safe, and one of my favorite house plants. (I wish ivy was safe, I could a whole lot of awesome with it.)

I don't think I have enough plants, and the ones I have are not going to last very long. She walked through a plate of kale, dandelions, and a teeny bit of portabella mushroom to eat the dahlia's in the pot near her hide. I am heading the home depot tomorrow, because I want to seed some white clover in the enclosure, so I will check out the thermometer, too. I have some massive hostas that in my yard. I might go out and split a bulb or two and plant them in there.

Very nice looking tortoise, by the way, and very cool your daughter is a Dr. Who fan!

The 10th vs. the 11th is a frequent debate between us. My husband just shakes his head at me, because she's 7!

 

[crimson_lotus]

Good parenting, if you ask me! I like the 10th, myself.

I'm not really a plant person, but I can tell you with my black thumb that spider plants, hosta, pothos, wandering jew, and christmas cactus, and sedge (because boy did she not like the taste of that!) did well in my redfoots enclosure. If you look in the enclosure section there are a whole bunch of great plant ideas you could try.

I don't know if you have this resource already, but I used this site when I was new to tortoise keeping. It basically lets you know which plants are safe for tortoises:

http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp

 

[iota]

Yeah. I actually have that bookmarked in my phone. I stood in the greenhouse looking at plants I liked, then looking them up there.

 

[Carol S]

She is very pretty!

 

[leigti]

Yeah. I actually have that bookmarked in my phone. I stood in the greenhouse looking at plants I liked, then looking them up there.

Been there, done that

 

[bouaboua]

Hello pretty girl! ! !