Neil fuller
Member
Cos we live on the arse of the planet
The Book of Om: Or, Adventures in Tortoise Keeping, New Zealand edition
- Thread starter Stitchpunk
- Start date
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Lol, yup! The U.K. has its own issues I know, but at least you don't have to fly for 24 hours to get to the rest of Europe!
I'm a doofus, we bought the last (eg display piece) of a specific clip on lamp and it didn't occur to me that the bulb in there was some kind of dummy light. I've put an actual 40 watt in now so that may do the trick.
Super high tech lighting rig ahoy!
Neil fuller
Member
That'll doooo
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Whyyyyyyy did you wake me uuuuuuuuuup?!
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Cliiiiiiiimb every mountain!
He's a climber already! Doesn't take long, does it? XD
He is just so cute! I think I missed his species -- what was it again?
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Greek spur thigh. I just love his ridiculous little legs!
I thought so!
Maybe I have never seen the baby Greek spur thigh. I think I love them now too!
Stitchpunk
Active Member
He ate his first dandelion flower todayI thought so!
Neil fuller
Member
Hahaha. .. How's your lights going?
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Ok I think. The 40 watt is maybe a touch underpowered, but that room gets direct sun in the afternoon so it's impossible to keep the same temperature through the whole day anyway. It'll do I reckon
That direct sun will be great for tortoise basking!Ok I think. The 40 watt is maybe a touch underpowered, but that room gets direct sun in the afternoon so it's impossible to keep the same temperature through the whole day anyway. It'll do I reckon
Stitchpunk
Active Member
The Great God Om vs a plantain leaf...
I THINK things are going ok, though I wish s/he would eat more. Seems to spend most of the time dug down head first into the substrate. I pull him out when I get home from work, give him a bath, and then plonk him in his food bowl; he chows down for a bit and then goes back to hiding. Come the weekend I will try putting Om under the basking lamp in the morning, which seems to encourage more activity - during the week I leave before 7am and I don't have the lights set to come on till 7.30am, and so far as I can tell he rarely seeks out the lamp of his own accord.
Plants - the forget me nots are coming up but in noooooo hurry to grow. The oregano is pretty much dead. The weeds transplanted from the garden are barely hanging in there, plus Om climbed onto one of them and nibbled the new leaves back to ground level! I have weed seeds scattered around but so far nothing has sprouted. The coleus is doing ok, the spider plants are growing a bit, and the wandering Jew cuttings that I just stuck straight into the soil are growing like mad!
I THINK things are going ok, though I wish s/he would eat more. Seems to spend most of the time dug down head first into the substrate. I pull him out when I get home from work, give him a bath, and then plonk him in his food bowl; he chows down for a bit and then goes back to hiding. Come the weekend I will try putting Om under the basking lamp in the morning, which seems to encourage more activity - during the week I leave before 7am and I don't have the lights set to come on till 7.30am, and so far as I can tell he rarely seeks out the lamp of his own accord.
Plants - the forget me nots are coming up but in noooooo hurry to grow. The oregano is pretty much dead. The weeds transplanted from the garden are barely hanging in there, plus Om climbed onto one of them and nibbled the new leaves back to ground level! I have weed seeds scattered around but so far nothing has sprouted. The coleus is doing ok, the spider plants are growing a bit, and the wandering Jew cuttings that I just stuck straight into the soil are growing like mad!
Neil fuller
Member
Wandering jew, stuff grows like crazy.
Have you anywhere where Om can go for a wander safely? I'd often let Georgie out for a walk around the living room, stick a plate of greens for nibbles and let her crack on for an hour or two. I know you have cats so maybe if they're out of the way for a while.
Mine would always end up hiding head first somewhere or under the sofa
Have you anywhere where Om can go for a wander safely? I'd often let Georgie out for a walk around the living room, stick a plate of greens for nibbles and let her crack on for an hour or two. I know you have cats so maybe if they're out of the way for a while.
Mine would always end up hiding head first somewhere or under the sofa
Awww, very cute video! Om looks like a treasure already! 
I know some tortoises can take a while to warm up to a new environment. A few times very recently I was thinking that my Russian is finally used to me and I've had him since 2009. In this regard, I think they can actually be fairly slow!
I know some tortoises can take a while to warm up to a new environment. A few times very recently I was thinking that my Russian is finally used to me and I've had him since 2009. In this regard, I think they can actually be fairly slow!
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Wandering jew, stuff grows like crazy.
Have you anywhere where Om can go for a wander safely? I'd often let Georgie out for a walk around the living room, stick a plate of greens for nibbles and let her crack on for an hour or two. I know you have cats so maybe if they're out of the way for a while.
Mine would always end up hiding head first somewhere or under the sofa
I do, but I've only had Om for a couple of weeks so I figured I'd let him settle in some more before I introduce new environments, don't want to stress the little guy/gal. I might try a bit of back yard time this weekend if it's sunny.
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Awww, very cute video! Om looks like a treasure already!
wow! 2009? sheesh! I figure anything that lives as long as a tortoise takes life, and change, pretty slowly so I'm trying to be patient...
So true! Maybe that sunshine will help too -- it's magical!
Neil fuller
Member
How's Om getting along, haven't heard for a while now??
Stitchpunk
Active Member
Ha, I was just about to make a post!
There just hasn't been much to report tbh. He has a bath and then eats and then sleeps in his favourite hidey hole and very occasionally goes for a wander. I must weigh him again but he's put on a few g since I got him so I assume all is going well.
Today I added a Coprosma hawera Shrub to his enclosure for food and hiding in. For those overseas, this is a very hardy native plant that my breeder feeds to her tortoises. It's a bit of a risk inasmuch as I don't know the dietary compostion, but I decided to take it as I feel like he could do with more variety in his diet.
So here is Om checking out the new addition (and yes he has had a nibble at it)
The plant is actually related to coffee and you can apparently make coffee
from the tiny berries. If it gets to the stage of fruiting I will of course keep a close eye on Om to make sure he isn't eating the berries - they're not poisonous but I don't imagine they'd be particularly good for him either. I'm hoping that he will enjoy having the branches to hide under and it may encourage him to come out from his favourite spot a bit more often.
Yesterday he had his first trip outside, but seemed overwhelmed by it all:
He spent most of the time hiding in his shell.
And that's about it really! I've got a heater running on a low setting most of the time in his room to keep the temps up and so far there's no sign of him preparing to hibernate.
And I'm looking into the cost of getting a bag of Mazuri pellets to NZ - so that if I'm ever away the Mr can feed Om safely and I won't be worrying about him picking some inappropriate plant from the lawn for my baby!
There just hasn't been much to report tbh. He has a bath and then eats and then sleeps in his favourite hidey hole and very occasionally goes for a wander. I must weigh him again but he's put on a few g since I got him so I assume all is going well.
Today I added a Coprosma hawera Shrub to his enclosure for food and hiding in. For those overseas, this is a very hardy native plant that my breeder feeds to her tortoises. It's a bit of a risk inasmuch as I don't know the dietary compostion, but I decided to take it as I feel like he could do with more variety in his diet.
So here is Om checking out the new addition (and yes he has had a nibble at it)
The plant is actually related to coffee and you can apparently make coffee
from the tiny berries. If it gets to the stage of fruiting I will of course keep a close eye on Om to make sure he isn't eating the berries - they're not poisonous but I don't imagine they'd be particularly good for him either. I'm hoping that he will enjoy having the branches to hide under and it may encourage him to come out from his favourite spot a bit more often.
Yesterday he had his first trip outside, but seemed overwhelmed by it all:
He spent most of the time hiding in his shell.
And that's about it really! I've got a heater running on a low setting most of the time in his room to keep the temps up and so far there's no sign of him preparing to hibernate.
And I'm looking into the cost of getting a bag of Mazuri pellets to NZ - so that if I'm ever away the Mr can feed Om safely and I won't be worrying about him picking some inappropriate plant from the lawn for my baby!
