Taco's New Digs

[Stephanie Logan]

Taco's new tortoise house arrived today! I put it together and laid down substrate (over newspaper)that is a mix of loose coconut fiber and "forest floor" chips, and filled her bedroom with timothy hay. I was thrilled that she was very interested and thoroughly inspected the entire pen before settling down to devour her watermelon, a reward for her having eaten all four spring mix leaves I gave her for breakfast.

 

[Madortoise]

Taco is smiling in the pix! Lucky tort with a nice mom!!

 

[Meg90]

make sure those bark chips aren't fir....fir is bad for tortoise eyes, noses and lungs. I'd love to see more pictures! She looks very happy in the one you posted

 

[Isa]

Very cute, Taco looks very happy about her new home

 

[Yvonne G]

Because of Taco's pyramiding, it is very important that you give her a moist substrate. Its not a good idea to have newspaper down on the bottom with a moist substrate. You want to wet it all down, stir it up...then the lights dry out to top layer but it stays moist underneath. So, you can see, it wouldn't do the paper any good to be wet all the time. Instead of paper, (if you were trying to protect the floor of the "new digs") you can line it with an old shower curtain or sheet of plastic film.

Can you back up a bit with the camera and let us see the whole habitat? Also, I was curious...she is outside now, right?

Yvonne

 

[tortoisenerd]

Agree to use a liner. A shower pan liner or pond liner are other great options. If you keep the substrate as moist as it should be, hay will mold. Not a good choice. When I looked up Forest Floor it said pure Cyprus; if it is only Cyprus this is great. I would feed as much of the healthy foods as she wants, such as replacing the pile twice a day. I remember you saying she was likely underweight. Are you getting her the pure calcium over it now? Sounds great! I bet she loved the watermelon. Also looking forward to more pictures! hat about some of the outdoor enclosure too? Best wishes.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

100% Cypress, according to the label. I hope Cypress is OK.

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I am posting a better picture of the new house. I was too busy trying to get her beautiful face in a close-up on that last one! I have an unused shower curtain that has now been cut to fit the larger side of her home, but I left newspaper under the hay so it won't mold (I hate to take it from her as she so loves to burrow into it to sleep). I do feed her more now; I have been giving her new food every day, but she rarely ate any of it, so now that she is eating I am happy to refill her dish with more. I even swiped a hibiscus blossom from my neighbor to see if that will tempt Taco's appetite. Here is the tortoise house (I am still waiting for the lamp and stand that I ordered, and will buy one of those $50 UVB bulbs that one of you recommended, but probably not till next month, when my new Visa billing cycle begins)

 

[Crazy1]

Cypress is great and with it you don't need newspaper or hay. Just put in the cypress mulch and dampen it down. The hide part of her table can also contain the cypress I also like to put in a bit of spaharam moss in the hide and just keep it lightly dampend. My little greeks love to burrow into the cypress and the moss. Nice changes.I'm sure with the cypress she will be much happier.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Is there anything you can do to keep her warmer until you get a bulb? What is your house temperature where she is? She likely needs to be in the 80s to want to eat ravenously like the average tort will. My tort can eat a pile of greens the size he is for example. I have a feeling you will be seeing soem huge changes in appetite soon!

What are your temperatures outside? How much has she been getting outside now?

Also, I want someone else to check if a MVB is even appropriate for a Chaco before you buy one....if they are more of a rain forest tort you may not want that. Any comments anyone on Chacos? I am not familiar with them. If they are a rain forest type as I remember reading, Taco may be more comfortable with low light, mainly heat and UVB.

Nice house! I bet she's loving it.

No pesticides/fertilizers I hope on the hibiscus or any other food. Those are usually quite tempting for torts. Another favorite is squash blossoms.

How much more could she grow in size? I wonder if she may outgrow that more quickly than you anticipate, especially with the recent change in conditions, as you could see quite the growth spurt (unless she's done growing?).

 

[Stephanie Logan]

http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/Gchilensiscare.htm

This is one of the four or so articles Google finds about Chaco tortoises, and it was originally written in 1967 or 1973, so it is old. It has pictures of pyrmading that look just like my Taco. It says Chacos reach a maximun length of 9 inches, so maybe Taco has another 2-3 inches to go and I can make that healthy growth!

I am waiting for my South American Tortoises book, which has a section on Chacos, to clarify and decide some of the fundamental issues with Taco's care. Taco is outside most of every day here in Colorado, where it is mostly sunny and 80-90 degrees. Fall is beautiful with daytime temps from 70-85 and lots of sun (we always have lots of sun and have mild days of 60 degrees or more even in the months of Dec-Feb, so I can count on being able to put her outside for at least 10 hours a week even in winter--if there is snow or slush in her pen, I could just take her house out onto the patio, which gets southern sun exposure even on short winter days!) I have read that tortoises in general can go out if the temperature is at least 55.

I have already ordered the ceramic fixture and stand, but will wait on the MVB bulb until I know more about her natural habitat. South American Tortoises shipped from the UK this week, so hopefully I'll have it in a few days

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Stephanie: As long as Taco is going outside every day, I really don't see the need for a UVB bulb just yet. If she has to spend quite a bit of time indoors, like during the cold months, then you can use the UVB bulb. For now, just set her up with a regular incandescent 60 watt bulb for when she's inside. And at night, before the heat emitter gets there, you can use a black light bulb or a red light bulb for night time heat.

Yvonne

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Thanks Yvonne, I am so grateful for all of the helpful information and advice I have gotten on this forum. I had no idea that tortoises don't digest food unless they are warm; that one fact explains a lot about Taco's meager appetite. Now I can keep her in friendly, warm, appetite-coaxing conditions and feed her better and more often and with calcium. I have high hopes that any future shell growth will be healthy and contribute to her overall well-being. That said, I just tried another moss rose on her and she walked right over it (dragging a petal along on one back claw like a piece of toilet paper!) I printed off the list you posted on another thread, and will try every item on there till we find a few she will deign to eat!