Hello! We got a RF last year on November, and I have a few questions about our current enclosure and the tortoise itself. First, we have a mix of repti-bark (I believe this is the name) and peat moss. I would like to know how often should I replace the whole thing for new one and if the mix we're using is the right one. I keep adding bits of water here and there to keep moisture up (it ranges between 70-90%) and once a week I would actually take everything out of the enclosure and mix all the substrate up and re-arrange it back. We have a heat pad under the enclosure, and we put half of her "cave" on it and the other half is outside of the cave. The cave wasn't like this before, but she seem to look for the heat of it, specially at night, so we moved it a bit. That is were she sleeps. Temperature on the hot side is around 30C at day and 20C at night. We live in Calgary (Canada) so it's been challenging to get the temps and humidity at these levels.
As for the tortoise (Leo), she/he (I think it's a she) had some very white skin spots in the head, they're gone now but I was wondering if it was shedding or if it was something else. Also, how often should I soak her? We do it twice a week for about 20 min.
(Boy or Girl?)
She's about 500gr and about 5" long by 4" wide. I think she should be around 1 year old, but I really don't know. We feed her a mix (we change the mix everyday so she doesn't get bored!) of reptile pellets(from pet store), re-hydrated dried fruit pellets (from pet store), kale, cabbage and lettuces. She doesn't like cucumbers, carrots, bananas, mangoes and lately strawberries, but she loves raspberries. How often should we feed her fruits? We give her the reptile pellets everyday and the fruit pellets every other day. No protein, I tried with hardboiled eggs but she didn't like them.
Now that we're in Spring/Summer and temperatures outside range around 26-28C we're taking her out for about half an hour to our back yard so she can explore and move around. She always "speeds" toward the side were the grass is higher and I figure she's trying to hide as she's not used to the big opening. She hasn't eating any grass or flowers from the yard.
Her behaviour has been constant since we got her, she eats twice a day, walks around, hides a lot in her cave.
Are we doing it right? Anything that needs to change? Advise is greatly appreciated.
As for the tortoise (Leo), she/he (I think it's a she) had some very white skin spots in the head, they're gone now but I was wondering if it was shedding or if it was something else. Also, how often should I soak her? We do it twice a week for about 20 min.
(Boy or Girl?)
She's about 500gr and about 5" long by 4" wide. I think she should be around 1 year old, but I really don't know. We feed her a mix (we change the mix everyday so she doesn't get bored!) of reptile pellets(from pet store), re-hydrated dried fruit pellets (from pet store), kale, cabbage and lettuces. She doesn't like cucumbers, carrots, bananas, mangoes and lately strawberries, but she loves raspberries. How often should we feed her fruits? We give her the reptile pellets everyday and the fruit pellets every other day. No protein, I tried with hardboiled eggs but she didn't like them.
Now that we're in Spring/Summer and temperatures outside range around 26-28C we're taking her out for about half an hour to our back yard so she can explore and move around. She always "speeds" toward the side were the grass is higher and I figure she's trying to hide as she's not used to the big opening. She hasn't eating any grass or flowers from the yard.
Her behaviour has been constant since we got her, she eats twice a day, walks around, hides a lot in her cave.
Are we doing it right? Anything that needs to change? Advise is greatly appreciated.