confused tortoise please help!

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Skyler Nell

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spikethebest said:
any updates for us?

YES! I just finished building a tortoise table and I am going to Petsmart today to get all the supplies to fill it with! I'll post a picture once it's done :)
Thank you so much for everyone's help!
 

spikethebest

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sounds good. cant wait. and if you need help posting pics, let me know. its good to post big, high res pics so we can see the detail and minor things going on.
 

Skyler Nell

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kyryah said:
That is AWESOME news, I can't wait to see what you have come up with!

Kristina

His new enclosure is about 45" by 30"
and i got all new lights, a UVA/UVB and a basking light? whatever that is.
He now has a warm and cold side and a "hot spot" He has a nice hide now too! Any other suggestions??
 

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Tom

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Welcome Skyler Nell. You've been getting good tips, so I've just stayed out of it. Wanted to let you know that I don't find much use for pet stores, when it comes to tortoise stuff. I get most of what I need at hardware stores. Check out these threads, for example:
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-13520.html
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-12436.html

You could go broke trying to buy enough substrate at a pet store.

Good luck and keep those questions coming. The more you learn the better it is for your tortoise.
 

Skyler Nell

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Tom said:
Welcome Skyler Nell. You've been getting good tips, so I've just stayed out of it. Wanted to let you know that I don't find much use for pet stores, when it comes to tortoise stuff. I get most of what I need at hardware stores. Check out these threads, for example:
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-13520.html
http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-12436.html

You could go broke trying to buy enough substrate at a pet store.

Good luck and keep those questions coming. The more you learn the better it is for your tortoise.

Thanks Tom! Yeah I paid quite a bit at the pet store for only one small bag! I'll definitely head to the pet store for that next time. Thanks for the advice.
 

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I just hate it when someone goes out and spends their hard-earned money for tortoise supplies, posts about it on the forum, and then I feel I have to say something negative about it. I'm really sorry...but I can't let it go without saying anything.

I would never in a million years put any sand of any kind in my tortoise habitats. And that includes the calci-sand that the pet stores sell. Sand bothers their eyes (especially Russians), and it gets stuck to the food and eaten. Then the tortoise gets this big ball of sand blocking the intestine and he's really sick!

I just love your enclosure and you've done a great job with it. But I can't abide the sand, sorry.
 

Skyler Nell

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emysemys said:
I just hate it when someone goes out and spends their hard-earned money for tortoise supplies, posts about it on the forum, and then I feel I have to say something negative about it. I'm really sorry...but I can't let it go without saying anything.

I would never in a million years put any sand of any kind in my tortoise habitats. And that includes the calci-sand that the pet stores sell. Sand bothers their eyes (especially Russians), and it gets stuck to the food and eaten. Then the tortoise gets this big ball of sand blocking the intestine and he's really sick!

I just love your enclosure and you've done a great job with it. But I can't abide the sand, sorry.

Well a close family friend had suggested it, they've been raising dessert tortoises successfully for over 20 years. I bought a dish to put his food in, and it's no where near the sand anyways. I don't know what bothered you about my last post but okay?
 

Yvonne G

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Oh no...please...I wasn't bothered by your post at all. I love the tortoise habitat and you are a very nice and friendly person. I was just giving you my opinion on having sand as a substrate. I've seen radiographs of tortoises with sand impaction, and I would never use it as a substrate. Sorry if I offended you. I really didn't mean to.
 

Skyler Nell

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emysemys said:
Oh no...please...I wasn't bothered by your post at all. I love the tortoise habitat and you are a very nice and friendly person. I was just giving you my opinion on having sand as a substrate. I've seen radiographs of tortoises with sand impaction, and I would never use it as a substrate. Sorry if I offended you. I really didn't mean to.

I think I misread your last message! My apologies, I thought you were saying I should stop complaining about wasting my hard earned money on tortoise supplies! My mistake. I understand now. So what harm do you see in the calcium sand? Only when they digest the sand by mistake??
 

Yvonne G

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Even though the package says it is digestible, it isn't. The only harm that comes from it is if they accidentally eat it. And they walk through it, getting it stuck on their legs and shell, then they walk through the food and it gets stuck on the food. Then they eat it.
 

Skyler Nell

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emysemys said:
Even though the package says it is digestible, it isn't. The only harm that comes from it is if they accidentally eat it. And they walk through it, getting it stuck on their legs and shell, then they walk through the food and it gets stuck on the food. Then they eat it.

Ohh i see. Well as of now I'm going to leave it but I'll definitely be looking out for that! Thanks for the heads up. It hasn't seemed to be sticking to him or anything...yet! Also I'm a bit worried about him. Do you know much about dts?
 

Tom

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Congratulations on the new enclosure. It looks great, but I have to agree with Yvonne about the sand. Once you've seen the suffering a tortoise has to go through with sand impaction or eye problems, you'll never want to use it again. Some members use a mixture of sand and other stuff, but I've had nothing but problems with it every time I've tried to use it over the last 30 years.

Does anyone have a radiograph to post of a sand impacted tortoise? I'll try to get one from my vet friend.

Also, speaking from experience, a bad experience, you need to hang or mount that light from over head. It will be much more effective and you'll eliminate the risk of fire or injury to your tortoise when (when, NOT if) that clamp fails. We've all had those clamps fail and hot bulbs fall either into the enclosure or on to the floor. Many, here on the forum, lost their beloved tortoises to this mistake. That's one of the greatest benefits of this forum, in my opinion. We get to learn from everyone else's mistakes and avoid making them on our own.


Yvonne is very humble, so I'll answer your question to her. Yes, she knows a lot about California Desert Tortoises. There aren't too many people in the whole world that know more about them than she does. She is also much more tactful and appropriate with her answers than some of us (Me, for example). You are in very, very good hands with Yvonne's advice.
 

Skyler Nell

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Tom said:
Congratulations on the new enclosure. It looks great, but I have to agree with Yvonne about the sand. Once you've seen the suffering a tortoise has to go through with sand impaction or eye problems, you'll never want to use it again. Some members use a mixture of sand and other stuff, but I've had nothing but problems with it every time I've tried to use it over the last 30 years.

Does anyone have a radiograph to post of a sand impacted tortoise? I'll try to get one from my vet friend.

Also, speaking from experience, a bad experience, you need to hang or mount that light from over head. It will be much more effective and you'll eliminate the risk of fire or injury to your tortoise when (when, NOT if) that clamp fails. We've all had those clamps fail and hot bulbs fall either into the enclosure or on to the floor. Many, here on the forum, lost their beloved tortoises to this mistake. That's one of the greatest benefits of this forum, in my opinion. We get to learn from everyone else's mistakes and avoid making them on our own.


Yvonne is very humble, so I'll answer your question to her. Yes, she knows a lot about California Desert Tortoises. There aren't too many people in the whole world that know more about them than she does. She is also much more tactful and appropriate with her answers than some of us (Me, for example). You are in very, very good hands with Yvonne's advice.

Haha well thank you Tom! I'll work on securing that light better, and I've already taken out the sand! I know that you all know way more then I do!
Is there some other type of substrate or something that I should replace it with or should I just fill the entire enclosure with one substrate? And I think I'm going to start a new thread regarding my turtles health... So I would be so happy to hear everyone's opinions!
 

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Yvonne's also been raising tortoises, but she's had over 35 years of it. She is right sand is not good although some people do mix it with soil and they say that's alright. I'll let others chime in. You really don't want to take chances with your little one. Yvonne is very experience at keeping most tortoises. I would listen to her. :)
 

Skyler Nell

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Candy said:
Yvonne's also been raising tortoises, but she's had over 35 years of it. She is right sand is not good although some people do mix it with soil and they say that's alright. I'll let others chime in. You really don't want to take chances with your little one. Yvonne is very experience at keeping most tortoises. I would listen to her. :)

Yes, I just took her advice and removed the sand from the entire enclosure!
Thanks for the help! If you'd like to help me out again, I've started another thread! Labeled sick tort...Thanks!
 

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I used a coir/sand mix for my Russian hatchling and I'm really not a fan of the sand. It irritated his eyes and stuck to everything. Now I use a top soil/coir mix.
 

Skyler Nell

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ChiKat said:
I used a coir/sand mix for my Russian hatchling and I'm really not a fan of the sand. It irritated his eyes and stuck to everything. Now I use a top soil/coir mix.

Well I wished I wouldve checked with you guys before buying the sand, what a mistake! But dont worry, my enclosure is now sand free!
 
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