My babies!! Lol

[New Desert Tortoise Mommy]

So the one with the eye problem is named Scooby Doo this is an old picture my tank doesnt look like this no more. My boyfriends tortoise is named Rango
And mine is I hope a female but I doubt it lol but if she is I named her Sally from Nightmare Before Xmas
Heres a few pictures of them from the other day nd them last night all cuddled up haha I will post more of them later
please and thank you

 

[wellington]

Very cute. However, you are getting new substrate real soon, right?

 

[New Desert Tortoise Mommy]

Well I used top soil nd that was a horrible idea nd I dont have coco coir in my area so idk what to use im just gona use pellets

please and thank you

 

[wiccan_chicken]

May I ask why the top soil was a bad idea? I'm only asking because I use it for my torts.

 

[New Desert Tortoise Mommy]

Well they keep getting it in their eyes nd its moist and its making the water filthy. . Nd they keep rubbing their eyes poor things idk what to use...

please and thank you

 

[Jabuticaba]

Cute babies!


May[CHERRY BLOSSOM], Hermann's [TURTLE][TURTLE], & Aussies (@YWG)

 

[wellington]

Are you still using the coil bulb? If so, you may be hurting your torts eyes. That substrate has been told before is not good for them. There are so many that are good for them, why would you want to use what is bad? They are used to the dirt, they don't live on pellets in the wild. It may be a little harder work for you to have to change there water more often, but, that's what we take on when we bring animals into our life's, to take care of them properly. If you don't want to use the dirt, how about cypress mulch? Also, do you have grass that is free of pesticides and fertilizer? Dig some of that up and put in with them. This way they have the grass between them and the dirt. Sure hope you will change to what's best for them!

 

[EchoTheLeoTort]

I suggest cypress mulch. Unfortunately i dont have a tort anymore but i use it with my tegu. Or reptibark works great too

 

[New Desert Tortoise Mommy]

Well turn out the coil bulb I use is perfectly fine. It use to have the eye problems but what people dont know is that they changed it and added a special coating on it so it doesnt hurt there eyes any more. I have very good professional people I see and talk to who specialize in desert tortoises. And theses guys were born in dirt but was place on rabbit pellets. So I am going to be using pine pellets nd thats what im sticking to. Nd top soil nd coco coir isnt dirt its a special kind of soil. Desert tortoises dont live in soil haha well my babies cant live in it. It got in their eyes and they kept getting stuck nd toppling over. And trust me I have had many animald but the water wss ridiculous it only took 5 mins for it to be completely filthy so I found pine is perfectly fine for them. Nd its what they r use to . Nd they actually love it thank u for everyones advice nd care for my babies.

please and thank you

---

Well im going to grow nd also get patches of dirt for them to go to that doesnt have anything on it haha

please and thank you

 

[ascott]

May I ask why you joined this forum?

 

[Tom]

Your coil bulb is NOT fine, and no the problem is NOT fixed with any added special coating. You have living proof right in front of your eyes. We see this here on the forum all the time, and I see it in person regularly.

The people you are talking to are giving you very old school info, and it will lead to all of the typical old school problems. We know better now, but many people have not kept up on current info and new findings. Ask the old school people what percentage of their hatchlings survive. Ask them why they want you to keep them dry, when in the wild they inhabit damp burrows.

Those pellets are NOT good for their feet and legs, and the dry air associated with them is not good for your baby tortoises. It leads to dehydration and organ damage, which is often fatal.

We are trying to help you and you are not listening. I find that very frustrating. If you didn't want to listen to us, and already had a trusted "expert" helping you, why did you ask and waste our time? I'm not mad because you are not doing it "my" way. I'm frustrated because I have watched countless DT babies die because people house them just as you are housing yours now. The unfortunate price for you having to learn the hard way, will be paid by your babies.

I truly wish you and your babies the best of luck, and I hope they are among the percentage of babies that make it.

 

[ShellyTurtlesCats]

Re: RE: My babies!! Lol

Your coil bulb is NOT fine, and no the problem is NOT fixed with any added special coating. You have living proof right in front of your eyes. We see this here on the forum all the time, and I see it in person regularly.

The people you are talking to are giving you very old school info, and it will lead to all of the typical old school problems. We know better now, but many people have not kept up on current info and new findings. Ask the old school people what percentage of their hatchlings survive. Ask them why they want you to keep them dry, when in the wild they inhabit damp burrows.

Those pellets are NOT good for their feet and legs, and the dry air associated with them is not good for your baby tortoises. It leads to dehydration and organ damage, which is often fatal.

We are trying to help you and you are not listening. I find that very frustrating. If you didn't want to listen to us, and already had a trusted "expert" helping you, why did you ask and waste our time? I'm not mad because you are not doing it "my" way. I'm frustrated because I have watched countless DT babies die because people house them just as you are housing yours now. The unfortunate price for you having to learn the hard way, will be paid by your babies.

I truly wish you and your babies the best of luck, and I hope they are among the percentage of babies that make it.

Thank you! Very well put.

__________
~ Shelly ~

 

[mainey34]

Unfortunately the things you are telling us that you are doing are not good care for your torts. Those are old school practices. Unfortunately in the wild desert torts. Do not live on pellets. They live in the soil...

 

[ascott]

Those are old school practices.

I have to say, I am pretty old school in alot of ways..however, I have never thought that pellets were healthy...nor have I ever though dry was the way....so I kinda believe the wrong way is more of an issue here than the phrase "old school practices"

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Not to say who ever is advising you sucks. Nevamind. They suck.

Rabbit pellets suck.
Coil bulbs suck.
Pine pellets suck.

This is from another place, just for fun (sulcata-station.org):

Organic Topsoil and Bed-A-Beast® mixture -- Because we live in a true desert with very low humidity (frequently less than 15 percent), we use a 50/50 mixture of organic topsoil and Bed-A-Beast® to recreate the "high-humidity microclimate" that is found in wild tortoise burrows. This mixture allows the humidity right at the surface of our tortoise table to vary from almost none underneath the heat lamps to 40-50 percent in the corners of the table.

[Bed-A-Beast® is a brand name for a substrate made from ground-up coconut husk fiber. (Other manufacturers also make this type of product and their names for it are different. All of them are sold as a compressed brick. When you soak the brick in a gallon of warm water, it will absorb the water and expand quite a bit.]

Once you've rehydrated the coconut fiber substrate, you should mix it with an equal amount of topsoil. Your goal is to create a mixture that is not muddy or extremely wet; it should be damp but not soggy.

AND LOOK AT THIS:

Substrates to Avoid

You should AVOID using the following substrates with your turtles or tortoises:
•Alfalfa pellets -- These tend to get moldy when wet; some tortoises respond to the dust with allergy-like symptoms (runny nose and eyes, etc.)
•Corncob or ground walnut shell -- These substrates do not digest easily and can cause potentially fatal blockages if the tortoise eats enough of them.
•Cedar shavings, pine shavings, or pine bark -- These substrates contain oils that are toxic to tortoises.
•Sand, Calci-Sand, crushed oyster shells -- These substrates can cause impactions in the digestive tract if the tortoise eats them. They also abrade the tortoise's bottom shell, which can allow infections to occur

Everyone is just trying to be sure you do not lose your babies. They are fragile as all heck and can turn up dead on you just like that (snaps fingers).

Do a search on this forum for baby dead or baby died. Heartbreaking. We want you to avoid that. That is all. Except again, to be sure, the advise you are getting sucks, sucks, sucks. Tortoise keeping has evolved and you are being told to do things that are so last century.

That's all. Except that it sucks.

 

[Tom]

I just want to add that we suggested a whole bunch of possible substrates for you. If the soil you bought didn't work for you, why not try something else? I don't like "top soil" either, so I know where you are coming from, but there are many other substrates that are cheap, easy to find, and work well.

We are all only trying to help. It saddens all of us when someone loses a tortoise, and those of us with some years of experience can see it coming a mile away. Are these your first desert tortoise babies? I've raised dozens of them over the years. I've done it many different ways and followed the advice of many people. With all this trial and error I have learned what works and what doesn't. I have also learned from the trial and error of the people I interact with. The reason I know what works and what doesn't work is because some of those babies didn't do as well as others. Some of them didn't live. Back in the 80's and 90's we didn't have the internet and access to all these people with all this experience. We ALL had to stumble around in the dark and learn everything the hard way. Sheesh. It took me nearly 20 years to figure out how to raise a smooth sulcata, and what I (we) was (were) doing wrong. We're trying to shorten your learning curve, and save you some of the heartache that some of us know all to well.

And I hope you go back and share what we are telling you with whoever is telling you this stuff. Please invite them here to talk to us. We will be polite. We will explain our points of view and why we have them. We will tell the person(s) why we think what they are advising is wrong and give examples to back it up.

My intent is not to insult, offend or belittle you in any way. I don't wish to drive you away from the forum either. My intent is to help you raise healthy tortoises and share what I have learned over many years.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

The term "wrong way" is better than old way.

OP, I am disappointed in your choices.

Sent from my TFOapp

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

I think New Desert Tortoise Mommy is being pulled this way by us and being pulled that way by someone in person. Like taffy.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Re: RE: My babies!! Lol

I think New Desert Tortoise Mommy is being pulled this way by us and being pulled that way by someone in person. Like taffy.

Solution-
She should look at how "theirs" turn out raised the dry way. Death rates, health problems etc.
Then look at how DTs turn out when raised a natural way.
Does she want to raise healthy, smooth growing, natural looking tortoises? Or does she want to gamble death, leg issues, blindness, health problems, pyramiding and stunted growth?

Sent from my TFOapp

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Yes, amen.