Soaking

[Melicia]

I thought it would be good to give everyone an update on the babies. The larger one is now with my mother-in-law, being spoilt rotten. the smaller one is with me. I've had to change it's setup a bit to accomodate 1 container. Took a couple of days to get the heating right, we'll see what it looks like today. I've also had him on the lawn outside. Our lawn is pesticide free, and does not need fertilizer of any kind. He went banana's! Trying to eat the grass on the lawn, but at the bottom of the blades ( it needs to be cut on the weekend) where it is as broad as his little head. Safe to say he managed to bruise a couple of blade, but not much more. Mommy to the rescue with the scissors!

I'm posting a couple of pictures of his 'enclosure'. As you can see, I've decided it is a he, and his name is now officially Gogga - Afrikaans for Bug.

I have a hard time soaking him though. How do you keep a shallow bowl of water tepid for 15 minutes? As soon as the water cools, he tries to get out!

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[Yvonne G]

Nice habitat! But what is that food? It looks like iceburg lettuce. If so, that's mainly water and not much nutrients for a growing baby. Here's a link to the kinds of food you can offer your little "bug."

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-5823.html

Yvonne

 

[katesgoey]

Melicia,

I scoop out some, then add more warm water after a few minutes. My little Moose doesn't like his/her soakings and heads to the corners after just a few minutes. I warm the water up some more but the longest soak he/she has had is about 15 minutes, normally it's more like 5. I like your habitat. Just a word of caution though - I had trouble with Moose flipping on rocks about the size of those near your water bowl and found smashing them into the soil to give a smoother transition solved the problem. Gogga is an adorable Leopard who will get really big so enjoy these moments

 

[Traveller]

Cute enclosure.
As far as soaking you might want to try using a dish that holds it's heat longer.
I use a pyrex type dish, heat it up first with hot water, dump it and then add
the right temp. water and then start the soak. You could alway soak under
your torts heat light if the water still cools too quickly.
Our leopard is iffy when it comes to soaking. Sometimes she'll happily soak
and at other times won't have anything to do with it and climbs out. I only soak once
or twice a week at this point since she is 3yrs. old.

 

[Melicia]

I've figured out the soaking thing! I do my own nails at home. When you soak them off, you take your bowl of acetone, put it in a larger bowl of hot water to heat it up so it works faster.

The same works for soaking. A big dish of hot water, with a smaller one inside, shallow water. the larger dish heats up the smaller dish and water! It works fantastically!

Gogga still only sits still for the first couple of minutes. That just convinces me even more that he is male, he doesn't like to bath!