Hi! New and obsessed...with questions!

[K8E K]

Hi! I thought I should venture over to this corner and say "hi". I am the new proud and totally obsessed owner of a MEP. I'm not new to tortoises, but new to MEE/MEPs (the result of a long research project on who the new member of the family was going to be

Questions!
-I have both indoor and outdoor enclosures, but the temperature at night has been a bit low (60's and even 50's), and she's weighing in at 116g and too small for my heated hide and greenhouse to be as...economic as they will be when she's large.

So, she's been inside in the evening. The indoor enclosure has a CHE at one end, and an underheat pad (not very warm unfortunately, there's quite a lot of wet-ish substrate on top) on the other. Under the CHE it stays around 80-90f, the other end of the table is around 70f as high and 65 as low. There is a larger hide in the middle, and a smaller hide under the CHE and the "cold" end is covered (basically just a cloth over the screen top).

She seems to prefer the "cold" end- I'm not sure if that's because it seems more hidden or because of the temperature. I don't want to "over parent" but it seems...cold.. for a young tropical tortoise. Anyone have any experience with temp gradients that have been preferred for young MEPs? The recommendations I found were mostly for 70-90 with 80% humidity, and that end of the table is a bit colder on average (staying under 70 and around 65 at night). I guess I'm just asking if I should just trust that my tortoise will figure it out and be where she needs to be and stop worrying about it beyond making sure the warmth is *available*?

-I'd like to have another MEP at some point. We have space and potential set up (thanks to a patient partner, more than 2000 sq ft is current MEP zone, with potential for more if needed). I'd like to hear opinions about when and where to obtain another MEP. I wouldn't necessarily house two sulcatas (esp. Males) together, for instance- what have been the experience with multiples MEPs? It's totally selfish- tortoises are my happy place, but I wouldn't have two at the cost of the health/wellbeing of either. I've started with one have a chance to fine tune my set up, and because I don't know anyone in my region with MEPs (Nor Cal, speak up!) I'm trying to nail down environment first, working with my outdoor climate and making adjustments where needed. Really, just like to have opinions on this subject, yea or nay welcome

Thanks for saving my marriage by giving me a place to learn and discuss without driving my (tortoise supportive but apathetic, sadly) partner crazy

 

[Linhdan Nguyen]

Hello & welcome Glad to have you here

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

I kept Manouria emys phayrei for many years, but, sadly, my tortoise partner who lives in San Diego, took them all home with him last year. They were full grown, breeding and procreating. So now I have four little ones - one I bought from Vic Morgan, two that my partner hatched out end of last year and one that I hatched out two years ago. Up until day before yesterday they all lived together in a tort table inside the Manouria shed. Then I moved them outside. All day yesterday they stayed hidden in the shelter. Hopefully today they will venture out. You can see their new enclosure here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-yard-for-baby-manouria.157275/

My Manouria seemed to get along ok in cooler weather. Because they're dark, they absorb the warmth pretty easy, and also get overheated very easily. They need lots of shade and water. I've left mine out the past two nights and it has dipped down to the upper 50s both nights.

As to having multiples - I had 1.2 Mep and I now have 1.1 Mee. The Mee are getting along ok as a pair, but the male really hasn't become sexually active yet. He's just on the cusp of maturity, and so is the female (she nested for the first time last year, but in her nest-building exuberance, she broke all the eggs). Pairs usually don't work out, but so far these two are compatible. The youngster Meps are getting along quite well together. But, with any grouping, you always have to watch for bullying and be prepared to house them separately.

 

[K8E K]

Welcome!

I kept Manouria emys phayrei for many years, but, sadly, my tortoise partner who lives in San Diego, took them all home with him last year. They were full grown, breeding and procreating. So now I have four little ones - one I bought from Vic Morgan, two that my partner hatched out end of last year and one that I hatched out two years ago. Up until day before yesterday they all lived together in a tort table inside the Manouria shed. Then I moved them outside. All day yesterday they stayed hidden in the shelter. Hopefully today they will venture out. You can see their new enclosure here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/new-yard-for-baby-manouria.157275/

My Manouria seemed to get along ok in cooler weather. Because they're dark, they absorb the warmth pretty easy, and also get overheated very easily. They need lots of shade and water. I've left mine out the past two nights and it has dipped down to the upper 50s both nights.

As to having multiples - I had 1.2 Mep and I now have 1.1 Mee. The Mee are getting along ok as a pair, but the male really hasn't become sexually active yet. He's just on the cusp of maturity, and so is the female (she nested for the first time last year, but in her nest-building exuberance, she broke all the eggs). Pairs usually don't work out, but so far these two are compatible. The youngster Meps are getting along quite well together. But, with any grouping, you always have to watch for bullying and be prepared to house them separately.

Loved seeing your setup! My grandmother is near Clovis This info is so helpful, and my thought is that I can keep them happy in our climate, esp. with the greenhouse and heat....crossing my fingers! Four little ones sounds pretty awesome

 

[Yvonne G]

The next time you come visit Grandma, give me a call and if I'm home you're welcome to come take a look at my tortoises (559 298-7114)

 

[K8E K]

The next time you come visit Grandma, give me a call and if I'm home you're welcome to come take a look at my tortoises (559 298-7114)

 

[teresaf]

i'm not in California but was born in torrance so i'm going to pipe in anyway I had my two in a 200 gallon tank for quite a while. I was in ohio so outside didn't happen. I had it separated into two halves and my che was dead center in the middle. The two ends were always wetish soil and I never had any issue with shell rot. The temps on hot end DIRECTLY under che were like yours (but only directly under the che) and they actually couldn't bask there since I had the divider there. I never let the cool end get under 67. That's just me being overprotective. Its nice to know that they can handle the lower temps but I didn't want to risk my babies getting RI's. I didn't notice a preference for any part of the tank so I think I had the temps pretty good. If you lower the basking temp 5 degrees perhaps they'll drift over there more...You'll need to bring up other end though to maintain what you got.

 

[K8E K]

i'm not in California but was born in torrance so i'm going to pipe in anyway I had my two in a 200 gallon tank for quite a while. I was in ohio so outside didn't happen. I had it separated into two halves and my che was dead center in the middle. The two ends were always wetish soil and I never had any issue with shell rot. The temps on hot end DIRECTLY under che were like yours (but only directly under the che) and they actually couldn't bask there since I had the divider there. I never let the cool end get under 67. That's just me being overprotective. Its nice to know that they can handle the lower temps but I didn't want to risk my babies getting RI's. I didn't notice a preference for any part of the tank so I think I had the temps pretty good. If you lower the basking temp 5 degrees perhaps they'll drift over there more...You'll need to bring up other end though to maintain what you got.

Thanks! I was just watching for another week, and I think I'll take pictures and post- she keeps ending up setting in at the lowest temp end. I have the data for each 'section' (highs/lows/humidity) and still feel totally overprotective and weirded out that she always goes for the end in the 60's (I have to double check, I think the low there is 65). I added a few new hides thinking that maybe she just wants to dig in at one end more because even though it's cooler it feels more protected? Anyway, will get that info up and see if anyone has opinions/information! I keep waffling between feeling I haven't gotten the habitat quite right and wanting to tweak, and then just thinking maybe she just prefers the temp on that side (even if I think it's too cool, who am I, anyway?!)! Hah! Thank you thank you