Farishta's house

[Fiddlerchick]

I built a house for Farishta with the following (all procured on my trusty 49cc scooter “Sparky”. Really!):

36”x24” 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- 8”-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.

 

[egyptiandan]

It's getting there
I think you've found the reason no one uses gravel for a substrate. It is to hard to warm up totally and it will just suck the heat out or your enclosure. The cement mixing tubs are great, but your going to need some depth for your Russian to dig in (they love to dig).
If you have the room, fake Christmas tree totes (at walmart) are great. If you don't have the room for that get the largest tote you do have room for that has some depth to it.
For substrate I'd go with either a 60/40 mix of organic top soil and play sand or finely shredded aspen. Which ever one you choose you will need a depth of 5 or 6 inches in the tote.
Has she started to eat yet?

Danny

 

[Fiddlerchick]

Hi there Danny, thank you very much!

A few questions:

I’m not sure what you mean about the tote. Is that a fabric or canvas thing that would be placed in the cage for Farishta to burrow in like my girl cat does with loosely folded blankets? (And scrap the gravel, at least while it’s cold?) Do I use the tote to line the plastic tub and put the sand/wood shavings mixture in/on it?

Where does one get “play sand”?

I think I have enough head room in the tub to allow 5” or so for her to dig in, and there will be more if I can cobble together a vaulted cover for the enclosure like I saw today when I took a look at the enclosure page.

As far as I know Farishta still hasn’t started eating yet, but her house has only been in a perceptible warming trend since yesterday evening, so hopefully she will start soon!

Thanks again and very best wishes,

Brenda K

P.S. would it be appropriate or desirable to bring back the gravel to keep things cool this summer when our ancient south-central L.A. apartment with no A/C or insulation turns into a pit of Hell after being miserably cold all winter/early spring?

 

[JustAnja]

Go to this page and scroll down to housing. The *tote* Danny is referring to is a Rubbermaid type storage container shown on that page. You can get them as long as 4ft and it allows for putting in a deeper bedding for her to burrow in such as the sand/soil mix he mentioned. She may need a week or so of the warmer temps and daily soaks in mild warm water to get her back on track to start eating again. (you can soak her in the kitchen sink or the bathtub just keep it below her chin)

I would not bring back the gravel, if ingested accidentally it could cause a blockage if she didnt pass it which would require surgery or could cause death. Next summer if things get too warm for her just put a small personal fan over her enclosure.

Play sand can usually be picked up at any Home Depot/Lowe's type stores.


I meant to ask and forgot, can you take a pic of her belly and tail? Just so we can determine for sure that you have a girl.

 

[egyptiandan]

Thank you Anja was just going to type all that almost exactly

Danny

 

[JustAnja]

Thank you Anja was just going to type all that almost exactly

Danny

Great minds think alike? lol

 

[Fiddlerchick]

Go to this page and scroll down to housing. The *tote* Danny is referring to is a Rubbermaid type storage container shown on that page. You can get them as long as 4ft and it allows for putting in a deeper bedding for her to burrow in such as the sand/soil mix he mentioned. She may need a week or so of the warmer temps and daily soaks in mild warm water to get her back on track to start eating again. (you can soak her in the kitchen sink or the bathtub just keep it below her chin)

I would not bring back the gravel, if ingested accidentally it could cause a blockage if she didnt pass it which would require surgery or could cause death. Next summer if things get too warm for her just put a small personal fan over her enclosure.

Play sand can usually be picked up at any Home Depot/Lowe's type stores.


I meant to ask and forgot, can you take a pic of her belly and tail? Just so we can determine for sure that you have a girl.

Thanks Anja!

Ooooh, THAT kind of tote – when Danny mentioned Walmart (which I’ve never been to), I immediately thought of the immense blue and yellow bags you get at Ikea to carry stuff around in while you shop………….

Unfortunately we’re “a wee bit” pressed for space (Japanese understatement here), so the 3’x2’ concrete tub is already pushing it since Ms. F’s house has to share the living room with drums, bass amps, grand piano (we don’t even have room for a sofa – you get the picture). I’m hoping that I’ll be able to cobble together some sort of escape-proof perimeter around the portion of the yard that comes with our unit of the 4-plex we live in when it gets warm again since she already loves to walk around there anyway.

Thanks for the caution about the gravel – I’ll find some other use for that (is that moss I used in version 1 of her house ok?? I still have a little of it in her present digs) and pick up the other stuff and get version 4.0 ready this weekend.

She’s been looking a little lethargic lately, perhaps because it’s been raining for the past few days here and she hasn’t been able to go outside for her walks in the garden? This behavior is perplexing me (I’ll put that in a separate post momentarily)……

I tried soaking her when I got home from work last night, but she didn’t seem to perk up like she usually does when she goes in the water, maybe because she was asleep by the time I got home from work? I specifically asked my husband to give her a warm water soak and take her out for a walk this afternoon when it’s warm and sunny while I’m at work, but am not holding my breath that he will actually do it.

I hope she’ll come around because I’m getting worried.

Thanks again for your advice!

P.S. I’ll take and post pix of her tummy and tail tomorrow when I’m home during daylight hours and can get good, clear pics.

 

[JustAnja]

OK since your pressed for space, go up if you can like you were talking about earlier. Just so you can make the substrate deeper for her to burrow down in.

This setup with sand/soil replacing the gravel would be great. A corner with the moss would be fine too, mist it every other day with water to keep humidity levels good.

You should check around for a good reptile Vet that knows tortoises and at least have her looked at and take in a fecal sample to be tested for worms since she was an escapee when you found her.

One word of caution on taking her for walks and letting her eat anything outside, make sure there have not been treated with any pesticides/chemicals used within the last 6 months! You will need to do this in the area that you plan to provide an outdoor enclosure for her as well.

Did you know you could probably put together an outdoor enclosure for her right now in L.A.? All you would need to do would either be bring her inside when temps fall below 60-65 and at night unless you can provide her with a heated house to go in at night.

Keep up the good work, she is lucky you found her.