Hey now!........

[TIESTO.DA.TORTOISE]

I'm a newb here, I recently purchased a Small(2.5-3") sulcata and will be recieving a 3" Leapord Tort. tommorow. I've had Ornate box turtles before and just recently purchased my first home so I figured it was time to move onto Tortoises.

Heres my set-up run-down:

~Torts home.~
Inside, with lights on 90-92*/ 74* at night.
20Gal. (Long) Glass tank
Alpine bedding
Heat light
half logs(2)
Cuttlebone
Small water dish
A little tim. hey to munch on during the day while I'm at work

~"Outside/feeding setup"~
Outside usually around an hour a day in the sun(Loves it)
10 Gal. Glass tank
Timothy Grass bedding(Small-put through the blender)
Small half log
Food dish(timmothy hey,romaine, yard weeds, grass trimmings make up its diet at the moment. about to start a calcium regiment asap)

I'm soaking the Sulcata for 20 mins. a day and he (it) pretty much lets me knw when he's over it. BTW, Loves pooping in the water!

I plan on housing the sulcata and newly aquired leapord in the same "home" till they out grow it. I have a big yard and have all intentions of making a tort sanctuary when they mature a little.

 

[katesgoey]

Welcome Tiesto.DA.Tortoise! Congratulations on your new sulcata and pending Leopard tortoise. I don't know if you've read any of the threads about it, but it is not a good idea to home different species together because each carries pathogens that could make the other sick. Having said that, some keepers do mix the species and perhaps you've read that already and made your own decision. Just thought I'd share this information in case you hadn't. Please share pictures of your new babies and happy tort keeping to you

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Welcome to the forum...it's not a good idea to put the animals in a glass tank outside. The sun goes thru the glass and gets much hotter and literally could cook them. You can make a small enclosure with bricks or wood or cinder block, anything but not glass. It's also not a good idea to house different species together...but the bigger problem is the glass tank outside

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Tiesto.da.tortoise:

to the forum!

Yvonne

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the group! Glad you joined us. Congrats on the new torts! We love pictures, so post away if you can of the torts and enclosures.

Agree that aquariums are difficult to set up as an ideal tort enclosure. Beware of mixing species. They have different pathogens which can kill each other, and vastly different enclosure and food requirements. Your Sulcata habitat should look nothing like that for the Redfoot. Sulcatas like high light, and Redfoots need low light and higher humidity for example. Is the Sulcata's water dish big enough for him to soak in if he chooses? What type of material is Alpine bedding? Is the Sulcata eating the hays and grasses? How long have you had him? Healthy appetite? Have you taken the little one to the vet for a check up? That tank sounds small for even one tort.

Best wishes. Let us know if you have questions or if there is anything we can help with.

 

[Crazy1]

Hi and welcome to the forum. As you see you post what you have and how you house them and we can run with it.
Different species together not a good thing.
Not having a good long quarenteen period even more risky. Sullys and Leo have similar habitat requirements though they are somewhat differeent. And it will take no time for your cute little Sully to well outgrow your Leo. Leos are shy and Sullys well are not.
Alpine bedding. I believe this is a pine or fir. which if it is is not good for torts, causes eye, respiratory problems and sometimes death. Hatchlings and Young torts need humidity Cypress mulch dampened would make for a much better substrate.
~"Outside/feeding setup"~
Outside usually around an hour a day in the sun(Loves it) in a 10 gal. glass tank. As it has already been explained glass heats quickly and could litteraly bake your tort. Please be careful. Kinda like the baby in the hot car idea.
But the rest sounds pretty good.

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm thinking you might have meant "aspen" instead of "alpine," is that correct?

First and foremost, you need a quarantine period for adding a new tortoise to an existing tortoise's habitat. Six months is good, but you can get away with three months.

Second, even though leopards might conceivably come across sulcatas in the wild, its still not a good idea to mix different species of tortoise together. They require slightly different types of habitat, and eventually the sulcata will be too big to be with the more shy leopard. Also, in the wild, tortoises don't hang with each other. They like to be alone so they don't have to share the best hiding place or the food.

Now to the bedding. If you are using aspen bedding, then you need to make a humid hiding place. You can't moisten the aspen because it will mold. A sulcata or a leopard that is kept in too dry conditions will certainly grow pyramided, and that's not healthy.

Yvonne

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

Welcome! And listen to Maggie, she has some good advice

 

[TIESTO.DA.TORTOISE]

thanks everyone!

I indeed did some reading last night and recieved my leapord tort this morning. He's a tiny thing! I placed him alone in the 10 Gal tank with diced up(small) timothy hey for bedding, a small dish for feeding and a half log. He was shy for a few hours but I placed a small amount of romain in his dish and now we're buds! He's up and walking around like a little explorer. He also got a 20 minute soak.

As for my Sulcata, I replaced the bedding with coco shavings(very thin/small) and moistened his '"sleep/refuge area" a bit with a spray bottle. he seems to get around better and you can definetly feel the moisture diff. in the tank.

I also now have them on a leafy diet and started powdering their romain with calcium.

Thanks for the heads up on the outside baking issues.... I'll throw something together this weekend that will be big enough for the two of them to roam around in and stay out of each others way with some amble cover to keep them cool in the shade.

Here are some pics.

 

[Meg90]

I would move the light in the second picture to one end of the cage. In the middle, it offers no hot/cold side, just one temperature throughout. Not good since torts thermoregulate through their climate.

Also, if that bulb is UVB, and is set on top of screen, the good rays you paid so much money for will be filtered out....

 

[tortoisenerd]

Cute torts!

You would want a more widely spaced mesh, like hardware cloth. Ideally, no cover at all (unless you have pets, which in that case you need more than a screen), and use a lamp stand which is adjustable. You need to move the bulb up and down based upon room temperature.

I'd love to see more cage furnishings, such as fake plants. Do they have water dishes? I recommend at least 2-3 hides, in different temperature areas. Is that food dish working? I find part of a piece of slate tile gives the tort space to hold the food down the their arms and tear off bites with the beak, while also wearing down nails and beak. Any plans to use the moist substrate for the Leo?

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

Danny