- Joined
- May 15, 2012
- Messages
- 4
Hi there, I'm Katie from Dublin, Ireland. I keep corn snakes, a boa, bearded dragons, and most recently acquired a tortoise. In July 2010 my little sister was given the tort for her birthday, and it was sold to us as a Bell's Hingeback. She's only 9 now so obviously my mother has been primarily taking care of the tort.
However, my sister has since lost interest so i've adopted the poor critter. I'll try keep my questions as brief as possible!
I've tried to follow the care sheets online for bell's but a lot of them seem to have conflicting info on them. At the moment she is kept in an open topped tortoise table that we had made. She has a heat lamp and a uv lamp at the warm end, and no heat source at the cool end. I have no thermostat on the heat lamp. Can anybody tell me if i need one? She has a large water bowl at the cool end which she climbs in and out of regularly. When i took her, i switched her from repti-bark to monkfield's tortoise terrain. She has a hide in the warm and and in the cool end and spends most of her time hidden away in either one of them.
Diet wise, she's on a base of mixed lettuce with various chopped up veggies and some fruit too. I've been sprinkling her food with nutrobal every couple of days but i don't know if that's right. She also gets the odd meal worm or morio worm when I have them for the beardies, as well as some dandelines from the garden. I live in ireland so the weather isn't great. However in summer time she does get an hour or two out to graze on warm days.
Any do's and don'ts would be really appreciated. I want to care for the poor thing as best I can now that i've claimed it as my own!
P.S. She isn't overly active, but i'm not sure what's normal for a tortoise. Can anybody give me some tips to look out for regarding a healthy vs unhealthy tort. She seems alert when she's out and eats/poops fine.
I hope these pics will work!
However, my sister has since lost interest so i've adopted the poor critter. I'll try keep my questions as brief as possible!
I've tried to follow the care sheets online for bell's but a lot of them seem to have conflicting info on them. At the moment she is kept in an open topped tortoise table that we had made. She has a heat lamp and a uv lamp at the warm end, and no heat source at the cool end. I have no thermostat on the heat lamp. Can anybody tell me if i need one? She has a large water bowl at the cool end which she climbs in and out of regularly. When i took her, i switched her from repti-bark to monkfield's tortoise terrain. She has a hide in the warm and and in the cool end and spends most of her time hidden away in either one of them.
Diet wise, she's on a base of mixed lettuce with various chopped up veggies and some fruit too. I've been sprinkling her food with nutrobal every couple of days but i don't know if that's right. She also gets the odd meal worm or morio worm when I have them for the beardies, as well as some dandelines from the garden. I live in ireland so the weather isn't great. However in summer time she does get an hour or two out to graze on warm days.
Any do's and don'ts would be really appreciated. I want to care for the poor thing as best I can now that i've claimed it as my own!
P.S. She isn't overly active, but i'm not sure what's normal for a tortoise. Can anybody give me some tips to look out for regarding a healthy vs unhealthy tort. She seems alert when she's out and eats/poops fine.
I hope these pics will work!
