Hello, so i ended up buying a basking light from the pet store and equiped it on a spot light. He's just basking there wagging his tail and loving it. I still feed him lettuce grass and some diced tomatoes. I also bought carrot that i can grate to feed occasionally. My challenge now is the humidity lvl. Hes in my room right now and at this moment i added the water and covered 3/4 of the enclosement (the 1/4 for the light) and it seems to be going back up to 80. When i had him outside 85% was pretty easy to achieve but indoor is a lil challenging considering 80% isnt too comfortable for me haha. But right now its at 75. Ill try to get it to 80-85% and hope it stays at that for awhile.. also is basking spot is a ceramic tile (rough side)
I agree and definitely see that. Hes in a 21x30
I read that 75% of torts diet should be grass and the rest are other fruits and veggies. What would u recommend to replace tomatoes?
Read the diet sheet posted by Speedy. It will help.
Just did. A lil puzzled still. My sully only eats a bite here and there. I understand having a variety of grass but i still dont know how much of what to put. I can trust him to know what to eat but i wouldnt know if it wants or need calcium or any other vitamin its lacking.
Leaves not the fruit itself correct?
Don't trust him to know what to eat. He is a wild animal and will eat things he shouldn't. If I let my toddler eat whatever she wanted she would eat a diet purely consisting of ice cream sandwiches. You need to try to guide it to eat healthy. That means removing dangerous plants in his outdoor enclosure, and providing healthy balanced meals.
Yes, he was implying grape leaves, not the grapes themselves.
Hey, so as a bedding i used an organic soil topped with some peat moss and decorative moss (all organic) (even the decorative moss is real and organic) it holds the humidity at the % it needs which is at 80-85% while at 100• basking spot, 80• warm spot 75•on cool spot and 70-73• on hide. Im glad u brought up marshy** because the setting looks very marshy to me, but im not sure if that's normal. I could add more soil/peat moss to remove wet spots and have it as damp/moist instead. Would that work? As far as food, he eats grass and weeds, i placed clovers, dandelion, bermuda grass mushed mazuri pellets (moistened) calcium powder (was recommended twice a week if i recall that correctly.) and i throw in lettuce and red cabage just for variety. Later ill try mushing them altogether with the mazuri and see if he likes it that way. And yes, if these tortoises are found near the oasis of the sahara desert, even if they are desert turtles, they are close to the oasis for a reason right? Oh i missed something u said.. so it is normal to have wet spots.. i did see him lay flat on a puddle then go inside the hide to sleep last night. Also i bought a no heat uv light for my busy days where im out the whole day coz of school/work.. i have it scheduled to be on at 5:30am-6pm for uv and 5:30-7pm with basking light(has heat and uv.) i have the no heat acting as the sun above so that it can give it vitamins anywhere in the enclosement. Lemme know if there's anything i can add or change. I think om getting the hang of it thanks to you all.
I did read the links and avoided what could have been a disaster. I didnt get a coiled one, i read that its bad for the eyes. The soil is organic so there shouldnt be any chemicals or pesticides on it, i read the contents also, nothing that should harm them as well as the moss, the thing i do need to change tho is the wetness by adding more substrate. Also thanks for correcting the temperature. I wasnt too sure about it. I assumed the (nights) could be a lil cooler so that it can learn to adjust its temperature while growing up. But it may be too soon for it. I also like the soil/moss substrate because i do want it to burrow. When its bigger my outdoor enclosure would be something they could burrow but not so deep that it could collapse on them or have them drown in water, i dont wanna take a natural instinct from them just because it's in captivity.. again. Im all new to this and i know that you're more knowledgeable so let me know if what im doing would harm my sully. Aside from wetness which will be adjusted today and the temp.
The reason i asked about the moss is because i wasnt sure if it was bad for it. It wasnt really on the link saying its bad for it, unless i misread it or misunderstood it. I can easily remove the moss but as far as the soil, it is the bottom layer because i have the bermuda grass growing from it. So my sully wont really touch the soil. The only surface it touches is the peat moss, ceramic tiles where the basking spot is and a wooden barrel like hide. Now i could add some orchid bark there instead of the other moss as an upgrade. But the purpose of me adding the peat moss was for him to avoid the soil and keep humidity and because it was one of the option for bedding suggested. You have been a great help, i do need these information and im trying to absorb as much as i can and work with what i can work with.. orchid bark would have been a better choice. But at the time i liked the idea and how the peat moss looked haha so i went with that. So as far as substrate ill keep the same material.. make it less watery, remove the other kind of moss (which is the one he tries to eat) he doesnt bother with peat moss, idk if its because its not green. It goes to his plate to eat the grass and pelet. ill observe further and see if it's necessary for me to redo the enclosure with orchid bark.
