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.
Hingeback Room Tour
- Thread starter 2turtletom
- Start date
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.
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.
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.
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.
Also, we recommend tubs all the time. However, not such low ones. Why do your babies not have any uvb or basking areas or lights or heat of any kind except what might be in the room?
Have you ever read on here about keeping tortoises in pairs is a really big NO. Also, why would you do that with one that already has problems?
To small enclosures don't help with their walking and inside health.
Nice rooms, but I see lots of improvements needed!
Have you ever read on here about keeping tortoises in pairs is a really big NO. Also, why would you do that with one that already has problems?
To small enclosures don't help with their walking and inside health.
Nice rooms, but I see lots of improvements needed!
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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.
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!
Hello there wellington - I do not use supplements with my tortoises. Thanks for watching the video!
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.
This is something I need to do - what do you use - C clamps?
They get water from Chicken dishes. Maybe they are related to chickens... 🤔 Hmmm. Come to think of it...!!! 😜
Mine are now in a shed when it's winter, so I use rope or bungee cords and hang from the ceiling.
When I had a closed chamber, it was a greenhouse kind and would use rope to hang from the frame.
You can use the clamps as long as you attach something else to the light itself so if the clamp fails, the light still can't fall.
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.
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".
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It sounds like they are more similar to the RF.
I tried finding your other videos. I'm not one for YouTube so not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm getting a couple of your videos along with every tortoise/turtle video that's not your's
Maybe you can post a link.
We don't have many Hinge keepers here at all. Don't think we even have a caresheet for them. Not sure why you mentioned their care dangerous if kept like the testudo. They aren't even listed together.
Whenever reading posts and taking in advice, the member has to make sure they are reading about their species, not a different kind.
I tried finding your other videos. I'm not one for YouTube so not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm getting a couple of your videos along with every tortoise/turtle video that's not your's
Maybe you can post a link.
We don't have many Hinge keepers here at all. Don't think we even have a caresheet for them. Not sure why you mentioned their care dangerous if kept like the testudo. They aren't even listed together.
Whenever reading posts and taking in advice, the member has to make sure they are reading about their species, not a different kind.
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?
That is cool if true. However, I'm more cautious of old info and info in books as its been proven over and over that so much of the old info is wrong.
Alex and the Redfoot
Well-Known Member
@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...
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.
Alex and the Redfoot
Well-Known Member
Perhaps, if we have had a Kinixys care sheet here, we knew better about this species.
This will help new users to decide if it's right specie for them or prevent mistakes like "oh, they from Africa, here is some sand and Powersun". Care sheets set some baseline and outline most important aspects of keeping and easier to find and use than FB, YT or Reddit.
Right now, I my knowledge is limited to "keep them like you keep a yellowfooted" and that's a flawed advice for sure (at least temperatures don't match).
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