I recently made a tour of my whole room - I hope you enjoy, and I hope this inspires you to love hingeback tortoises even more.
They do look healthy.I love these tortoises. They look healthy to me. But they have no soaking pools?
It's possible Rich - It sounds like you are doing a great job - Have you been keeping her for 28 years? Shoot us a photo and we can help you identify her - that will be a good first step. When females pace or start looking to get our of their enclosure, that's often a sign that they need to lay eggs. Have yours ever laid eggs? Thanks for sharing - I'm happy to help!Nice set up. I have a kinyxs (sp) hingeback 28 year old female. I have a tortoise house built by a company, called tortoise house...I added plexi windows and an extension.
I feed her a lot of vegiess and pellet food. It seems she's always looking for a partner... Could that be a thing? She's regularly out in the apartment, when she's restless, back in house at night. Thanks for sharing.
Hello there wellington - I do not use supplements with my tortoises. Thanks for watching the video!They do look healthy.
But no uvb only supplements. The babies no basking area or lighting except what's in the room.
Idk anything about this species but just doesn't seem right or healthy. I didn't even notice no water dish. I thought the enclosures were very small too.
Hopefully he will post on the babies continued health housed that way.
Hi Tammy - I don't use soaking pools- I use waterers designed for baby chicks- this makes it difficult for the tortoises to defecate in the water, but believe it or not, they can still do it. Thanks for watching the video.I love these tortoises. They look healthy to me. But they have no soaking pools?
This is something I need to do - what do you use - C clamps?Very cool rooms
Just one recommendation. I think a lot of your lights are in the metal domes and the clamp that comes with them are being used. Please also attach them by some other means or do not use the clamp at all. So many times we have read threads of the clamp failing and a fire starting or tortoise or something burned.
They get water from Chicken dishes. Maybe they are related to chickens... 🤔 Hmmm. Come to think of it...!!! 😜They do look healthy.
But no uvb only supplements. The babies no basking area or lighting except what's in the room.
Idk anything about this species but just doesn't seem right or healthy. I didn't even notice no water dish. I thought the enclosures were very small too.
Hopefully he will post on the babies continued health housed that way.
Mine are now in a shed when it's winter, so I use rope or bungee cords and hang from the ceiling.This is something I need to do - what do you use - C clamps?
Calcium was the supplement I was referring too.Hello there wellington - I do not use supplements with my tortoises. Thanks for watching the video!
Hi Wellington - I do have those types of outdoor enclosures. However, some species of hingebacks hate grassy enclosures- because a grassy enclosure would mean that enclosure is in the sun. That type of enclosure would simply be too warm and too bright for some species of Kinixys like Kinixys erosa and Kinixys homeana- they would die. Take a look at some of my other videos to see examples of my outdoor enclosures. But for Kinixys homeana, I do not recommend keeping them outside at all in the temperate North American climate- Our temperature swings are simply too great unless you can establish a microclimate where the temps don't get much over 80 degrees. That's hard to do in a midwest summer. Kininixys homeana prefer temperatures of 70-72 degrees in nature - Dwight Lawson did an extensive study on the subject that he published in 2006. As far as supplements go, I do not add supplements to my tortoise's food, including calcium. I feed them whole foods with the nutritional value they need. What's so fascinating about hingeback tortoises is that their diet is so much more varied than vegetarian tortoises. Treating them like a testudo is a sure way to kill them. The Tortoise Forum "Group Think" method of tortoise care doesn't work with Kinixys. And that's why I posted this in the Kinixys forum- to be seen by and made for people that want to work with Kinixys and learn, rather than apply what they know about other species to an animal that happens to share part of a common name. It's a recipe for disaster, and that's why Kinixys have a moniker that they are "difficult".Calcium was the supplement I was referring too.
As much as you probably love walking into your tortoise room, you'd get a thrill 100 times that if you could set them up outside in the summer and watch them roaming big grassy/weedy enclosures. A goal every keeper should work towards in my opinion. Then you'll get the real tortoise characteristics.
Did you know that all of the native south american tortoises likely shared a common ancestor with Kinixys? The hypothesis is this ancient ancestor floated across the Atlantic west from Africa to South America. Hingebacks are more closely related to the redfoot and Galapagos tortoise than they are to the other species in Africa. Pretty cool, eh?It sounds like they are more similar to the RF.
I like to make personalized recommendations based on the owner's climate, housing and resources. While care sheets can be helpful, I tend to think they lead to group think and absolutism.@2turtletom Maybe you can make a short care sheet about Kinixys for the forum, so people don't kill them on arrival, with links to Kinixys Working Group and other communities where they can get expert help? Not all people have Facebook to find and join the group, so a "starting point" here may be a good thing...
Perhaps, if we have had a Kinixys care sheet here, we knew better about this species.I like to make personalized recommendations based on the owner's climate, housing and resources. While care sheets can be helpful, I tend to think they lead to group think and absolutism.