I have been a member for almost a year now but procrastinated over posting an intro... So my fiancee and I decided to get a tort last August and after searching around on here I managed to find Tom who convinced me that a Gpp leo was the way to go. My fiancee wanted a sulcata but the leo's just looked way more beautiful to me and I could not be persuaded to settle even though they are 3X more expensive 
. But the major factor for me was that Tom was so impressed with the leo's personalities. To be honest I kind of expected it to be an exageration, but I was pleasently surprised. After talking to Tom and reading tons of threads on here we started to acquire all the necessary equipment to house our leo. My fiancee wasn't overly joyed at how much it ended up costing but she is really frugal (i am not )...
Here is the current incarnation of T' Torteau's habitat. It is a 50 gal storage container. I use cypress mulch for substrate and mix in aspen snake bedding for her to burrow into. There is also some straw mixed in now because she refused to eat it... Oh well. I had originally used a soil/rock mixture as substrate but it didn't workout. It ended up turning to a nasty stinky sludge at the bottom... And it was HEAVY... I have tried several different ways to keep up the humidity to try and keep her from pyramiding and the only success I have had is using the reptile fogger. She really seems to like it... I have a ceramic heating lamp that stays on all the time. There is a UV lamp (120 w?) and I have two fluoresent bulbs one is a reptile uv bulb and the other is a plant uv bulb... I figure that between thos 3 she gets a healthy dose of UV they are all on a 12hr cycle.
I hope this vid works in here. If not I have it on facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150435144962178 ).
<object width="400" height="224" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150435144962178" /><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150435144962178" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="224"></embed></object>
I have decided to get her another hide box because I don't think that the current setup is providing her a humid enough environment. After seeing some of the other pics of torts from her group I think I may have failed to prevent pyramiding. So now I'm going to attemt damage control by having an ultra humid hide box for her to sleep in...
She gets fed in the mornings a mix of Mazuri (2 pellets, soon to be 3) and plant matter that I pick from the yard. Most of the plant matter consists of dandy lions and clover. I have several other plants which I feed her that I do not know the names... I watch her as she runs around and pick the things that she prefers to eat. While I prepare her food she gets to soak in a warm water bath for about 10 mins. I use a piece of paper towel to sponge water over her shell. I haven't weighed her food to see how much she gets but she usually gets more than she can eat in one sitting. She also gets a pinch of calcium powder w/o D3 each morning. I have not really been feeding her in the afternoons but she gets taken outside 2 or 3 times a week and she typically just runs around a lot. I figured that if she was hungry she would eat. Occasionally she nibbles but never a full meals volume. She also loves to eat rocks... I have taken to providing her with a small amount of crushed up limestone. I use a large rock to crush up smaller ones to about the size of bb's. They come out pretty much the same as they go in....
If you have anything you would like me to clarify feel free to ask.
Earlier I had mentioned how surprised I was over her personality. I was amazed when she totally loved having her head petted and scratched. As she gets older her personality just continues to grow. I have so far learned of two vocalizations that she uses. One is a chirp similar to a tree frogs which she uses to express excitement (happy or scared) she uses it in the scared sense when I bathe her once a week using a toothbrush and qtips, and when I give her a bunch of crushed lime stone she uses it as a happy sound. The other vocalization is similar to the sound of smacking lips. I find that she does the lip smacking sound through out the day at random times, though she does it more when she is eating... If I start making the sound to her she will start doing it too. If I immitate the chirp she does not repeat it... And no I do not think that I can talk to my tort but there is some type of mimicry going on there. I don't have much experience with captive bread reptiles but this seems pretty unique. She will also return to me when she is running around outside and she gets tired or scared. She will make a bee line to where I am sitting and hunker down as close to me as possible.
I am so impressed with my little leo that I plan on getting two more this year =)...
. But the major factor for me was that Tom was so impressed with the leo's personalities. To be honest I kind of expected it to be an exageration, but I was pleasently surprised. After talking to Tom and reading tons of threads on here we started to acquire all the necessary equipment to house our leo. My fiancee wasn't overly joyed at how much it ended up costing but she is really frugal (i am not )... Here is the current incarnation of T' Torteau's habitat. It is a 50 gal storage container. I use cypress mulch for substrate and mix in aspen snake bedding for her to burrow into. There is also some straw mixed in now because she refused to eat it... Oh well. I had originally used a soil/rock mixture as substrate but it didn't workout. It ended up turning to a nasty stinky sludge at the bottom... And it was HEAVY... I have tried several different ways to keep up the humidity to try and keep her from pyramiding and the only success I have had is using the reptile fogger. She really seems to like it... I have a ceramic heating lamp that stays on all the time. There is a UV lamp (120 w?) and I have two fluoresent bulbs one is a reptile uv bulb and the other is a plant uv bulb... I figure that between thos 3 she gets a healthy dose of UV they are all on a 12hr cycle.
I hope this vid works in here. If not I have it on facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150435144962178 ).
<object width="400" height="224" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150435144962178" /><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150435144962178" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="224"></embed></object>
I have decided to get her another hide box because I don't think that the current setup is providing her a humid enough environment. After seeing some of the other pics of torts from her group I think I may have failed to prevent pyramiding. So now I'm going to attemt damage control by having an ultra humid hide box for her to sleep in...
She gets fed in the mornings a mix of Mazuri (2 pellets, soon to be 3) and plant matter that I pick from the yard. Most of the plant matter consists of dandy lions and clover. I have several other plants which I feed her that I do not know the names... I watch her as she runs around and pick the things that she prefers to eat. While I prepare her food she gets to soak in a warm water bath for about 10 mins. I use a piece of paper towel to sponge water over her shell. I haven't weighed her food to see how much she gets but she usually gets more than she can eat in one sitting. She also gets a pinch of calcium powder w/o D3 each morning. I have not really been feeding her in the afternoons but she gets taken outside 2 or 3 times a week and she typically just runs around a lot. I figured that if she was hungry she would eat. Occasionally she nibbles but never a full meals volume. She also loves to eat rocks... I have taken to providing her with a small amount of crushed up limestone. I use a large rock to crush up smaller ones to about the size of bb's. They come out pretty much the same as they go in....
If you have anything you would like me to clarify feel free to ask.
Earlier I had mentioned how surprised I was over her personality. I was amazed when she totally loved having her head petted and scratched. As she gets older her personality just continues to grow. I have so far learned of two vocalizations that she uses. One is a chirp similar to a tree frogs which she uses to express excitement (happy or scared) she uses it in the scared sense when I bathe her once a week using a toothbrush and qtips, and when I give her a bunch of crushed lime stone she uses it as a happy sound. The other vocalization is similar to the sound of smacking lips. I find that she does the lip smacking sound through out the day at random times, though she does it more when she is eating... If I start making the sound to her she will start doing it too. If I immitate the chirp she does not repeat it... And no I do not think that I can talk to my tort but there is some type of mimicry going on there. I don't have much experience with captive bread reptiles but this seems pretty unique. She will also return to me when she is running around outside and she gets tired or scared. She will make a bee line to where I am sitting and hunker down as close to me as possible.
I am so impressed with my little leo that I plan on getting two more this year =)...
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