jtesina2.0
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2016
- Messages
- 1
Hello everybody! I'm officially a new tortoise owner and I'm so happy and excited! This is my first tortoise but not my first pet reptile. I've got a series of questions that I'll weave into this essay, so please be on the lookout for those.
My new buddy is a Greek tortoise named Zeno. I adopted Zeno from his previous owners who had him about 10 years, they themselves bought him from Petsmart so I'm acting under the assumption that Zeno is a wild caught specimen, so I'm estimating his age as anywhere between 15 and 20 years. Zeno appears quite healthy; good smooth shell growth, alert, active, BIG appetite, very inquisitive about his new life. I've had him about a month now. The first week I just let him get used to his indoor enclosure. largely only interacting with him just to feed him and spot clean his poo and pee, every other day giving him a soak. During the first week he really didn't seem to like me, and he didn't eat anything more than a piece of romaine lettuce. Over the last few weeks though he's gotten used to me, his appetite has exploded enough that he seems to eat anything I give him. Originally I got him eating using spring mix but his diet has now expanded to include dandelion greens, radish greens, dill, oregano, basil, nopales, timothy grass, cucumber skins, bok choy, and various plants from my mom's garden such as weeds, dandelions, and rose petals both fresh and dried. Each feeding time I try to give him something he's already eaten plus something new mixed in. I'm figuring that if I keep the diet fresh and well varied then I probably don't really need to worry about feeding him too much of any one specific potentially dangerous plants. For calcium I dust his food with a generic reptile calcium + vitamin d3 supplement once a week, I also have a cuttlebone in his enclosure though he doesn't seem to touch it. I understand fruit is good only as a rare treat. I'm proud to say that he'll already take food from my hand also! <--HAPPYYYYYYY!!!!!
My concern is in my enclosure. I live in an apartment so I'm unable to set up an outdoor enclosure. For his enclosure I've got a large 55 gallon storage tote with about a 6' square footprint. on one end I've got a flat rock to bask on, I've set up an elevated stone platform on the opposite end with a stone ramp leading from the basking stone to the upper platform. The upper platform has a large hide log and that's also where I serve him his food. The ramp plus the balcony provides a hide for him. Also a fake plant is located at the front of the hide to give it more security. I have a heat lamp and an incandescent UV bulb located directly over the basking stone. the basking spot reaches anywhere from 90-110 degrees F depending on how hot of a day it is, the opposite end of the enclosure is room temperature. Is this appropriate? I feel its' too small so every other day after his soak I let him roam my apartment to get some exercise and to let him explore.
When I let him explore I turn off all fans, close all windows and vents to prevent any drafts, also I clean up anything on the floor that I think he's likely to chew on, though to date I haven't seen him chew on anything outside his enclosure. Whats the consensus on allowing a tortoise to wander an apartment freely?
I do live on the third floor so I do have a deck. I'm thinking about tortoise proofing the deck so I can let him spend nice days out on the deck, but this raises more questions. I work odd hours so letting him out onto the deck would almost certainly mean leaving him out on the deck for entire work shifts, sometimes 10 to 12 hours at a time. A) First, my deck is almost completely shaded throughout the day by a huge tree. Would Zeno get much benefit from being outside on my deck because he'd be almost completely shaded the whole time? B) Would Omaha's natural humidity in summer harm him? I'm nervous about exposing him to humidity at all, let alone for the long stretches of time I'd need to keep him outside if I ever went this route. I'd definitely provide hides and ways to escape the heat. Really, if possible, I'd like to investigate setting my deck up to be a full-time home for Zeno in summer, but I'll err on the side of caution here if anybody has any misgivings about this in Nebraska's hot humid summer climate please speak up.
What kind of experiences do fellow Nebraskans have with keeping tortoises outside? Are there any fellow Nebraskans out there with this sort of experience? Will they acclimate to humidity?
So in summary here are my questions:
-Is the indoor enclosure I have him in appropriate? I feel it's too small so I let him roam my apartment
-Is it appropriate to allow him to roam my apartment provided I do what I can to stop drafts and remove munchable stuff?
-My 3rd floor deck is almost completely shaded by a tree. if I started keeping Zeno out on my deck for any length of time is there any benefit given that it's completely shaded almost 100% of the time?
-How does a Greek tortoise handle high humidity in a hot climate? Will they acclimate?
-What are thoughts on setting the deck up to be an outdoor enclosure for long stretches of time, possibly up to 10-12 hours in a day, possibly multiple days on end?
-What are thoughts about making the deck into a permanent home for the entirety of summer provided I give him plenty of ways to escape the heat?
-What other thoughts and comments can people give me, how can I improve the care of my new buddy Zeno?
And a few miscellaneous questions:
-How intelligent are Greek tortoises?
-Are they trainable to do tricks?
-Can he hear anything? Can he eventually learn to respond to his name or recognize my voice?
Especially valued is the input and experiences of other tortoise keepers from my area purely for the fact that my questions are so heavily based on my regional climate. If there are any other keepers from my area that read this.
Thank you for your thoughts, comments, and input, and hello form the new guy!
My new buddy is a Greek tortoise named Zeno. I adopted Zeno from his previous owners who had him about 10 years, they themselves bought him from Petsmart so I'm acting under the assumption that Zeno is a wild caught specimen, so I'm estimating his age as anywhere between 15 and 20 years. Zeno appears quite healthy; good smooth shell growth, alert, active, BIG appetite, very inquisitive about his new life. I've had him about a month now. The first week I just let him get used to his indoor enclosure. largely only interacting with him just to feed him and spot clean his poo and pee, every other day giving him a soak. During the first week he really didn't seem to like me, and he didn't eat anything more than a piece of romaine lettuce. Over the last few weeks though he's gotten used to me, his appetite has exploded enough that he seems to eat anything I give him. Originally I got him eating using spring mix but his diet has now expanded to include dandelion greens, radish greens, dill, oregano, basil, nopales, timothy grass, cucumber skins, bok choy, and various plants from my mom's garden such as weeds, dandelions, and rose petals both fresh and dried. Each feeding time I try to give him something he's already eaten plus something new mixed in. I'm figuring that if I keep the diet fresh and well varied then I probably don't really need to worry about feeding him too much of any one specific potentially dangerous plants. For calcium I dust his food with a generic reptile calcium + vitamin d3 supplement once a week, I also have a cuttlebone in his enclosure though he doesn't seem to touch it. I understand fruit is good only as a rare treat. I'm proud to say that he'll already take food from my hand also! <--HAPPYYYYYYY!!!!!
My concern is in my enclosure. I live in an apartment so I'm unable to set up an outdoor enclosure. For his enclosure I've got a large 55 gallon storage tote with about a 6' square footprint. on one end I've got a flat rock to bask on, I've set up an elevated stone platform on the opposite end with a stone ramp leading from the basking stone to the upper platform. The upper platform has a large hide log and that's also where I serve him his food. The ramp plus the balcony provides a hide for him. Also a fake plant is located at the front of the hide to give it more security. I have a heat lamp and an incandescent UV bulb located directly over the basking stone. the basking spot reaches anywhere from 90-110 degrees F depending on how hot of a day it is, the opposite end of the enclosure is room temperature. Is this appropriate? I feel its' too small so every other day after his soak I let him roam my apartment to get some exercise and to let him explore.
When I let him explore I turn off all fans, close all windows and vents to prevent any drafts, also I clean up anything on the floor that I think he's likely to chew on, though to date I haven't seen him chew on anything outside his enclosure. Whats the consensus on allowing a tortoise to wander an apartment freely?
I do live on the third floor so I do have a deck. I'm thinking about tortoise proofing the deck so I can let him spend nice days out on the deck, but this raises more questions. I work odd hours so letting him out onto the deck would almost certainly mean leaving him out on the deck for entire work shifts, sometimes 10 to 12 hours at a time. A) First, my deck is almost completely shaded throughout the day by a huge tree. Would Zeno get much benefit from being outside on my deck because he'd be almost completely shaded the whole time? B) Would Omaha's natural humidity in summer harm him? I'm nervous about exposing him to humidity at all, let alone for the long stretches of time I'd need to keep him outside if I ever went this route. I'd definitely provide hides and ways to escape the heat. Really, if possible, I'd like to investigate setting my deck up to be a full-time home for Zeno in summer, but I'll err on the side of caution here if anybody has any misgivings about this in Nebraska's hot humid summer climate please speak up.
What kind of experiences do fellow Nebraskans have with keeping tortoises outside? Are there any fellow Nebraskans out there with this sort of experience? Will they acclimate to humidity?
So in summary here are my questions:
-Is the indoor enclosure I have him in appropriate? I feel it's too small so I let him roam my apartment
-Is it appropriate to allow him to roam my apartment provided I do what I can to stop drafts and remove munchable stuff?
-My 3rd floor deck is almost completely shaded by a tree. if I started keeping Zeno out on my deck for any length of time is there any benefit given that it's completely shaded almost 100% of the time?
-How does a Greek tortoise handle high humidity in a hot climate? Will they acclimate?
-What are thoughts on setting the deck up to be an outdoor enclosure for long stretches of time, possibly up to 10-12 hours in a day, possibly multiple days on end?
-What are thoughts about making the deck into a permanent home for the entirety of summer provided I give him plenty of ways to escape the heat?
-What other thoughts and comments can people give me, how can I improve the care of my new buddy Zeno?
And a few miscellaneous questions:
-How intelligent are Greek tortoises?
-Are they trainable to do tricks?
-Can he hear anything? Can he eventually learn to respond to his name or recognize my voice?
Especially valued is the input and experiences of other tortoise keepers from my area purely for the fact that my questions are so heavily based on my regional climate. If there are any other keepers from my area that read this.
Thank you for your thoughts, comments, and input, and hello form the new guy!
