Some general questions on my tort!

ella0421

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Joined
Sep 27, 2021
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Seoul
Hi, new here. Thank you everyone for your wonderful threads! I have been reading many of them and they were extremely helpful, so I thought I might get some personalized advice on helping my tort be happier.

Some general information: My leopard tortoise Oi is thought to be around 1.5y-o (breeder said he was a little over a year old when I got him, which is May). He was 7.5cm 126g when we got him. I kept him in a 3ftx1.5ftx2ft closed enclosure, and temps are 32˚C on one side, 28˚C on the other. Humidity is around 75~80% on the cool side and he's soaked once every two days for 20min. He has a water bowl and a hide on the cool side, a basket rock on the warm side. I live in the middle of the city and all the greens outside look polluted with car-exhaust, smoke, etc., so I give him groceries to eat: a random mix among romain lettuce, chicory, zucchini, watercress, radicchio, pumpkin leaves, Chinese mallow, bok choy + hibiscus, barley grass and sunflower flowers that I grow. I dust them with a vitD&Ca mix about 2~3times a week. He poops A LOT and is now 10cm 219g. He has never been ill so far.

Questions:
1. Is his growth rate OK?
2. Should he be eating pellets? Are they necessary for him?(+ is the varied diet above good enough for him)
3. I want to move him to a bigger enclosure, but most bigger enclosures sold in my country are open tables. When is it okay to keep him on a tortoise table? Btw my room itself is pretty humid and is around 50~60% humidity all year round.
4. How big should his new enclosure be, thinking to move him somewhere bigger/outdoors in 2years? I will be moving to someplace where that's available, but I need somewhere to keep him during the in between period and I have no idea how big he's gonna be by then.

Thank you in advance, any healthy criticism largely appreciated! (Super cute pic of Oi battling hibiscus petals from last month)

Ella
tempImagePFFhw8.jpg
 

wellington

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As long as he keeps growing then it's a good growth. Just always have food available for him to graze on throughout the day.
Basking spot should be a bit warmer, 95-100F and all over temps 80F day and night. Humidity 80%
Pellets are not needed but it does help to round out anything that might be missing from the diet.
The diet you are feeding sounds good. Outside weeds though can be washed before fed.
He does need a bigger enclosure. A 4x8 foot should get you to the 2 or 3 year mark of your move.
It can be smaller for now, but you could do the one time build of 4x8 to last until you move.
 

ella0421

New Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2021
Messages
3
Location (City and/or State)
Seoul
As long as he keeps growing then it's a good growth. Just always have food available for him to graze on throughout the day.
Basking spot should be a bit warmer, 95-100F and all over temps 80F day and night. Humidity 80%
Pellets are not needed but it does help to round out anything that might be missing from the diet.
The diet you are feeding sounds good. Outside weeds though can be washed before fed.
He does need a bigger enclosure. A 4x8 foot should get you to the 2 or 3 year mark of your move.
It can be smaller for now, but you could do the one time build of 4x8 to last until you move.
Thank you so much! I put a lot of effort into his diet and it's comforting to hear that it's good enough.

So for the enclosure, to keep the humidity to 80% would a table be insufficient? When I keep the doors shut in my closed enclosure rn, the humidity shoots up to 99%..
 

wellington

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Open table is impossible to keep humidity correct.
What you can do, I and many have used them, is a portable pop up green house. One like in the pic comes in many sizes not expensive and if it doesn't have a floor, most don't, just put a cheap tarp under it.
Screenshot_20210927-100523_Chrome.jpg
 

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