I built a house for Farishta with the following (all procured on my trusty 49cc scooter “Sparkyâ€Â. Really!):
36â€Âx24†plastic concrete mixing tub
lid made of mid-weight wire mesh supported by 1 ½ x ¾ inch pine wood frame, hinged on one side and fastened to the tub on the other so the cats can’t get in and the tortoise can’t get out without adult human intervention
The interior and fixtures have been undergoing continuous remodeling/upgrade as follows:
Design #1 (December 2-3, when she first joined us):
Original substrate was decorative moss used as top dressing for potted plants procured from the local hardware store. (That was just a temporary quick fix – I hope to goodness that isn’t toxic to tortoises because she loves the stuff!).
The original design also included a plastic-molded turtle pool with entry and exit ramps, a ceramic food dish, a Repti-sun 10 UVB light and a 75-watt night light/heat lamp, which put a +or- 8â€Â-diameter circle of about 110 degree warmth inside the enclosure, which is otherwise way too cold (i.e., low ‘60’s or high ‘50’s). [BK returned the heated stone she’d bought when she learned that those are for snakes and lizards, and not suitable for tortoises!]
The tortoise house was placed in the living room next to a west-facing window which presumably would be warm in the late afternoon and get the most natural light.
Design #2 the following weekend:
As much as Farishta seemed to like the moss, she always ended up directly on the cold, slippery plastic, which wasn’t good, so BK made another run to the pet store the following weekend and procured about half a metric ton of really expensive natural, smooth-tumbled aquarium gravel to bed her down with which (half pea-size, half split lentil size to see if she showed a preference), while still cold, would at least give her traction and something to dig and possibly burrow into. Some of the moss was kept, but Farishta keeps throwing it into her pool and fouling the water!
This upgrade also included the addition of a well-weathered natural brick (basking site?) and a couple young, live potted succulents that hopefully were not toxic to tortoises and something she could nibble on if she got hungry enough and hopefully somewhat representative of what she might find in her natural environment.
Design 2.5 saw the addition of a small hollowed out cut-off log for her to hide under and/or climb on.
Design #3 (this past weekend) simply rearranged the items inside the enclosure for better accessibility and mobility, and added a mound of small, clean bark from the pet store (the huge bag of the stuff BK bought from the hardware store was filthy, soaking wet and full of mildew due to recent rain, and had to be returned. BK later read that redwood is toxic to tortoises!)
Design 3.5 involved the addition of a 100-watt ceramic heater to make more of her house warm enough, and a thermometer.
I finally figured out why the heaters/lights/etc. didn’t seem to be running quite right: I discovered this evening that my husband had run the power strip the tortoise stuff is plugged into through a voltage converter for Japanese electronics, so they were only getting half the power they needed (#$%&/!!!), and the whole assembly blew out when I plugged in the new ceramic heater. The problem has since been fixed.
As of this writing the temperature on the floor of the enclosure between the warm and cool sides reads about 75 degrees F.
Advice is welcome as always.
Many thanks again,
Brenda K
P.S. I'll take a pic of the latest light/heater configuration and post it tomorrow.
36â€Âx24†plastic concrete mixing tub
lid made of mid-weight wire mesh supported by 1 ½ x ¾ inch pine wood frame, hinged on one side and fastened to the tub on the other so the cats can’t get in and the tortoise can’t get out without adult human intervention
The interior and fixtures have been undergoing continuous remodeling/upgrade as follows:
Design #1 (December 2-3, when she first joined us):
Original substrate was decorative moss used as top dressing for potted plants procured from the local hardware store. (That was just a temporary quick fix – I hope to goodness that isn’t toxic to tortoises because she loves the stuff!).
The original design also included a plastic-molded turtle pool with entry and exit ramps, a ceramic food dish, a Repti-sun 10 UVB light and a 75-watt night light/heat lamp, which put a +or- 8â€Â-diameter circle of about 110 degree warmth inside the enclosure, which is otherwise way too cold (i.e., low ‘60’s or high ‘50’s). [BK returned the heated stone she’d bought when she learned that those are for snakes and lizards, and not suitable for tortoises!]
The tortoise house was placed in the living room next to a west-facing window which presumably would be warm in the late afternoon and get the most natural light.
Design #2 the following weekend:
As much as Farishta seemed to like the moss, she always ended up directly on the cold, slippery plastic, which wasn’t good, so BK made another run to the pet store the following weekend and procured about half a metric ton of really expensive natural, smooth-tumbled aquarium gravel to bed her down with which (half pea-size, half split lentil size to see if she showed a preference), while still cold, would at least give her traction and something to dig and possibly burrow into. Some of the moss was kept, but Farishta keeps throwing it into her pool and fouling the water!
This upgrade also included the addition of a well-weathered natural brick (basking site?) and a couple young, live potted succulents that hopefully were not toxic to tortoises and something she could nibble on if she got hungry enough and hopefully somewhat representative of what she might find in her natural environment.
Design 2.5 saw the addition of a small hollowed out cut-off log for her to hide under and/or climb on.
Design #3 (this past weekend) simply rearranged the items inside the enclosure for better accessibility and mobility, and added a mound of small, clean bark from the pet store (the huge bag of the stuff BK bought from the hardware store was filthy, soaking wet and full of mildew due to recent rain, and had to be returned. BK later read that redwood is toxic to tortoises!)
Design 3.5 involved the addition of a 100-watt ceramic heater to make more of her house warm enough, and a thermometer.
I finally figured out why the heaters/lights/etc. didn’t seem to be running quite right: I discovered this evening that my husband had run the power strip the tortoise stuff is plugged into through a voltage converter for Japanese electronics, so they were only getting half the power they needed (#$%&/!!!), and the whole assembly blew out when I plugged in the new ceramic heater. The problem has since been fixed.
As of this writing the temperature on the floor of the enclosure between the warm and cool sides reads about 75 degrees F.
Advice is welcome as always.
Many thanks again,
Brenda K
P.S. I'll take a pic of the latest light/heater configuration and post it tomorrow.
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