Suzm
New Member
Good Afternoon from Central Texas,
I took over the care of a young leopard tortoise. I think Chompy was hatched around the beginning of March, making her about twelve weeks old. She is fluctuating between 45 and 50 grams. It is warming here (highs in the 90s, sometimes 100s and lows in the 70s); and humidity hovers between 60% and 70%. I keep her in a closed terrarium at night. I mist the substrate before putting her in and cover the topwith a piece of acrylic plastic. The humidity increases to about 80% to 90%, however, it drops over night since the seal isn't tight. Her terrarium has a burrow and water dish and a food bowl and some greenery for shelter.
During the day, I have been putting her in an enclosure that is about 10 x 6 feet. It has a burrow, a morning sunny spot under a rock, water dish and planted with cupheas, secretsea, ice plant, echevaria, dwaft grass, and asparagus fern. I wet it down in the AM to raise the humidity while she is soaking. I prepare a meal of chopped opuntia, ruellia/rose/basketflower blossums, other weeds or leaves as listed in tortoisetable, and zoo-med tortoise grassland pellets wetted down and mushed up, and tiny tiny sprinkle of calcium and vitamins every other day.
If I may, a few questions. I have attached photos of her outdoor pen, terrarium, and some photos of her.
1.Does Chompy look like she is beginning to pyramid?
2. I would like to keep her outside as much as possible. Her pen gets morning sun and afternoon shade. I've made a nice burrow and a sunning area. It gets hot here (90s to 100s) in the summer. Are there any changes/adjustments I can make to an outdoor pen to provide a more humid-micro climate? Right now focusing on wetting cypress mulch and making sure the burrow has some moisture. I've thought about putting a piece of acrylic plexiglass over part of the pen to keep in moisture. (I'm depending on the stick-on temperature and humidity readers for now but have ordered some better remote sensor ones. (Infrared temp readers are next to impossible to get now. I guess that is a COVID thing.)
3. Anything I can do to make her eat her daily meal? She ignores it in favor of the plants in her pen and I'm afraid she is not getting a balanced diet. I am now trying to sprout timothy grass and hopefully that will tempt her to eat more grass. Should I take the plants out of her pen?
Thank you Tortoise Forum!
Suzy
I took over the care of a young leopard tortoise. I think Chompy was hatched around the beginning of March, making her about twelve weeks old. She is fluctuating between 45 and 50 grams. It is warming here (highs in the 90s, sometimes 100s and lows in the 70s); and humidity hovers between 60% and 70%. I keep her in a closed terrarium at night. I mist the substrate before putting her in and cover the topwith a piece of acrylic plastic. The humidity increases to about 80% to 90%, however, it drops over night since the seal isn't tight. Her terrarium has a burrow and water dish and a food bowl and some greenery for shelter.
During the day, I have been putting her in an enclosure that is about 10 x 6 feet. It has a burrow, a morning sunny spot under a rock, water dish and planted with cupheas, secretsea, ice plant, echevaria, dwaft grass, and asparagus fern. I wet it down in the AM to raise the humidity while she is soaking. I prepare a meal of chopped opuntia, ruellia/rose/basketflower blossums, other weeds or leaves as listed in tortoisetable, and zoo-med tortoise grassland pellets wetted down and mushed up, and tiny tiny sprinkle of calcium and vitamins every other day.
If I may, a few questions. I have attached photos of her outdoor pen, terrarium, and some photos of her.
1.Does Chompy look like she is beginning to pyramid?
2. I would like to keep her outside as much as possible. Her pen gets morning sun and afternoon shade. I've made a nice burrow and a sunning area. It gets hot here (90s to 100s) in the summer. Are there any changes/adjustments I can make to an outdoor pen to provide a more humid-micro climate? Right now focusing on wetting cypress mulch and making sure the burrow has some moisture. I've thought about putting a piece of acrylic plexiglass over part of the pen to keep in moisture. (I'm depending on the stick-on temperature and humidity readers for now but have ordered some better remote sensor ones. (Infrared temp readers are next to impossible to get now. I guess that is a COVID thing.)
3. Anything I can do to make her eat her daily meal? She ignores it in favor of the plants in her pen and I'm afraid she is not getting a balanced diet. I am now trying to sprout timothy grass and hopefully that will tempt her to eat more grass. Should I take the plants out of her pen?
Thank you Tortoise Forum!
Suzy
