I've long given my 4 year old DT lots of fresh grasses, grassland pellets, etc., all of which he loves, but only now am starting with orchard grass hay. I chopped some up yesterday into maybe 3mm pieces, dampened, and he loved it all by itself. Even with orchard grass hay, I noticed there's...
Meet Charlie. This was his 4th winter but it's the first time I brumated him, the previous 3 winters I kept him up and active.; the first couple years I wanted to be sure he was healthy (he was a rescue and in rough shape, see pic of tiny tortoise) and last year I was just plain scared and felt...
We're hibernating for the first time this year (yikes) using the fridge method (double yikes) and would like to know if orchid bark is a good substrate for fridge hibernation. That's what I use in her indoor enclosure, so I have plenty and would prefer to keep using it but was wondering about...
My 18 month old DT lives in the below enclosure, 3‘ x 4‘. Eventually she will have an outdoor habitat but for now it’s indoors, although I take her outside nearly every day for as long as she wants to be out there, that’s usually 30 to 60 minutes per day. The lighting in her enclosure is good...
I’ve been AWOL for awhile, Some of you may recall I rescued an orphan and lost baby DT back in September 2019 and I came to this forum in a panic crash course to learn how to care for him and provide a good home. I peppered everyone with questions on everything from diet, lighting, and even...
I have an 8 month old (I think) baby DT, growing quick so I built him a new larger enclosure. It's 48x36, made of expanded PVC, orchid bark substrate. I'm just about done with arranging the features inside, still want to to put a few live plants in there and experiment with the placement of...
I have a 6-7 month old DT, about 2.5" shell width, indoor enclosure with with coco substrate. A couple times now he's managed to flip himself over onto his back (now that the weather is getting warm he's much more active and climbs at the side a lot), and to my horror he's had a difficult time...
One month ago I unexpectedly became a DT dad (rescued from my neigborhood, long story) and went on a crash course on all things tortoise. I'm so happy he's coming along well, he's eating and drinking, all bodily functions are a go, and is active and alert. The first pic below is from day one...
Still tweaking my baby DT enclosure, I just converted from a MVB to the above mentioned 24” tube type UVB, and to start I set it at 13” from the substrate, so figure 12” from light to shell. Does that seem about right? I see some conflicting info, their quick lighting facts sheet says 10”-18”...
Some of you may remember me, I have a baby DT in good health. He's a small guy, shell is 1.6 x 1.9 inches. Anyway, things are going well, I just wanted to check what I'm doing with lighting and temps. Indoor open top enclosure, and I have a 100w MVB on 12 hrs a day that I adjust the height so...
Hello - I apologize in advance, I'm a bit frantic tying to pull the "new dad" thing together on the fly, and I'm looking for any help and advice I can get. I'm in Phoenix, and 4 days ago I unexpectedly found a very young (shell size of about 1.5 in) desert tort wandering around a small...