Two tiny ones

[Jacqui]

These should be fairly easy to ID, so give it a try.

"Yes, I know I am cute."

"Geesh, no privacy in the tub either!"

The tank I set up for them. Usually they don't hide under the plants, but it still is not awhole lot of fun feeling around under the substrate to find them for soaks and eating time.

A close up with wild violet and impatient plants. Impatients are one of those plants, which can be bad if a lot is eaten.

"Hey, a new pile of leaves to check out!"

You can still kinda see his egg tooth.

 

[hali]

owww bless them

 

[Scooter]

Oh my gosh they are so adorable!

 

[terryo]

Where do you live? I'm coming to your house to rob them. Baby tortoises are adorable, BUT.....there is nothing cuter than a baby boxie. Look at those little faces.... They look like Lil Eastern's??. Did you hatch them? Your viv looks great to me. I just went into the woods and cut down some pine hay. It really cut down on the digging. I stopped putting a hide in the hatchling tank because they never used it anyway. I put a bunch of moss in one corner and they always go to the same spot now to dig under. I LOVE those little guys..........

 

[Jacqui]

Yes they are Easterns. No, I didn't hatch them, but instead a sweet guy gave them to me. They are just soooo tiny. The one normally does dig in under the hide, the other one never hides in the same place twice. So what exactly is pine hay?

 

[dmmj]

easterns? I was gonna guess shoes, but it looks like I was way off.

 

[terryo]

Yes they are Easterns. No, I didn't hatch them, but instead a sweet guy gave them to me. They are just soooo tiny. The one normally does dig in under the hide, the other one never hides in the same place twice. So what exactly is pine hay?

It's from dead pine trees. I got this in the woods, and I don't know what kind of tree it is, but's it's much smaller than the stuff I put outside in the hibernation cave.
This is a side of a set up for a 1 yr. old Three Toed. I just moved her to a 40 gal. breeder tank.

When I hibernate outside (very scary now ...1st time outside juvies) I usually put pine hay on top of the leaves.

It's nice and soft, but gives good instillation, and air at the same time.

 

[Jacqui]

That looks familiar, dead pine needles. I am laughing because all of my old pine row have/or are in various stage of death from disease, so my front fence line is loaded with dead needles. My question is this, if pine is bad, why would these needles be considered safe? My ornate enclosure sits near the pines and it is covered in needles, but I haven't saw any issues yet. (and I do try to pick up the thicker spots of needles, but there is just no way to even make a dent. How long have you been using them?

 

[terryo]

That looks familiar, dead pine needles. I am laughing because all of my old pine row have/or are in various stage of death from disease, so my front fence line is loaded with dead needles. My question is this, if pine is bad, why would these needles be considered safe? My ornate enclosure sits near the pines and it is covered in needles, but I haven't saw any issues yet. (and I do try to pick up the thicker spots of needles, but there is just no way to even make a dent. How long have you been using them?

I really don't have an answer to if they are safe or not. I've been doing this for years, and my Father taught me about this when I was a little girl. We had a big old pine tree in our yard. A few years ago I was doing research (finally got a comp.) and came across Turtle Tails, and I noticed that Tom, the owner of that site does the same thing. He use's White Pine. I'm pretty sure that is what we have here...or it could be black pine...not sure. The needles are very soft, and not hard where you could get stuck with one. I only started to use it for the indoor vivariums a few years ago when I saw it on Turtle Tails. But my Dad always covered and mixed the pine needles with the leaves for hibernation. I never knew why my Dad did it, but Tom said that the pine needles mixed with the leaves keep the leaves from matting when they are wet. Inside viv's look nice with some leaves and the pine hay too.

 

[Jacqui]

Thanks for the information Terry!