I’ve been raising these three torts I got from an old couple that are friends with my parents who didn’t know you should not house DT’s together. I’ve since helped them create a barrier to split their enclosure, but I ended up with three hatchlings because they couldn’t handle taking care of them at their age.
From the first day I’ve tried to do my research and raise them as best I can, but there’s a lot of conflicting or outdated info out there. I want to fix flaws in my husbandry because I intend to have these the rest of my life.
Here are pictures of each one, They’re all 2 years old.
They’re all beginning to pyramid, and I want to fix that immediately.
After reading information here I’ve definitely been using outdated enclosure practices. Open top, housing them together, dry substrate, a good amount of time is spent inside. I live near Fresno, CA so it’s very hot and dry in the summer. I’m able to keep them outside when the heat isn’t extreme.
I have two enclosures - one is an outdoor raised flower bed that has a burrow and has been planted with bermuda, fescue, and white flower clover. It has a burrow that goes about 6 -8 inches down that they can all fit in, it’s about as long as my forearm. Because I water the grass and clover, the burrow gets humid. The second enclosure is your basic open top tortoise table inside that all the info on here tells you not to use. I bring them inside when it gets too hot (like 103+ for weeks) because the burrow in the raised flower bed gets above 85 degrees. I’d love to keep them in an enclosure that was in the actual ground but my neighborhood is infested with gophers and I don’t want to find a chewed up tortoise. While they do spend a fair amount of time indoors, they get daily sunlight, usually a few hours earlier in the day when it’s cooler. When the weather isn’t too hot they’re outside all day.
My plan now is to create three separate enclosures and stack them on a shelf. Make them totally enclosed and control the humidity and temperature better. I’m not sure how I’ll do this without making it giant. Are there any low profile heat lamps? I don’t want to create a giant monstrosity. I'll be moving to an apartment within the year so I won't have access to outdoors that I'd like.
I’ve done very well with their diet I feel. It’s mostly bermuda, fescue, spurge, and white clover. I also feed dandelions and native weeds frequently. I supplement with appropriate greens from the store, mulberry, grape, and rose. They get soaked every couple of days and have access to water. I use vitamin and calcium supplements
One more question I have is if I should brumate. I’ve kept them up the previous 2 winters and I’m sure it isn’t the proper way as I’m using a open top table. The temp swings, low humidity, and drafts can’t be good for them. I’ve just kept them as warm as I can with heat lamps, provided UVB, and soaked them frequently. It’s worked so far but I don’t want to keep doing what isn’t optimal. I’ve been hoping to winter them in the garage, but I don’t want to make a mistake and lose one. That’s the point of this post. If I can’t overwinter them properly because I need to build new enclosures, isn't it only right to let them brumate in the garage?
Any advice is appreciated. I know I've made mistakes so far I just want to correct them
From the first day I’ve tried to do my research and raise them as best I can, but there’s a lot of conflicting or outdated info out there. I want to fix flaws in my husbandry because I intend to have these the rest of my life.
Here are pictures of each one, They’re all 2 years old.
They’re all beginning to pyramid, and I want to fix that immediately.
After reading information here I’ve definitely been using outdated enclosure practices. Open top, housing them together, dry substrate, a good amount of time is spent inside. I live near Fresno, CA so it’s very hot and dry in the summer. I’m able to keep them outside when the heat isn’t extreme.
I have two enclosures - one is an outdoor raised flower bed that has a burrow and has been planted with bermuda, fescue, and white flower clover. It has a burrow that goes about 6 -8 inches down that they can all fit in, it’s about as long as my forearm. Because I water the grass and clover, the burrow gets humid. The second enclosure is your basic open top tortoise table inside that all the info on here tells you not to use. I bring them inside when it gets too hot (like 103+ for weeks) because the burrow in the raised flower bed gets above 85 degrees. I’d love to keep them in an enclosure that was in the actual ground but my neighborhood is infested with gophers and I don’t want to find a chewed up tortoise. While they do spend a fair amount of time indoors, they get daily sunlight, usually a few hours earlier in the day when it’s cooler. When the weather isn’t too hot they’re outside all day.
My plan now is to create three separate enclosures and stack them on a shelf. Make them totally enclosed and control the humidity and temperature better. I’m not sure how I’ll do this without making it giant. Are there any low profile heat lamps? I don’t want to create a giant monstrosity. I'll be moving to an apartment within the year so I won't have access to outdoors that I'd like.
I’ve done very well with their diet I feel. It’s mostly bermuda, fescue, spurge, and white clover. I also feed dandelions and native weeds frequently. I supplement with appropriate greens from the store, mulberry, grape, and rose. They get soaked every couple of days and have access to water. I use vitamin and calcium supplements
One more question I have is if I should brumate. I’ve kept them up the previous 2 winters and I’m sure it isn’t the proper way as I’m using a open top table. The temp swings, low humidity, and drafts can’t be good for them. I’ve just kept them as warm as I can with heat lamps, provided UVB, and soaked them frequently. It’s worked so far but I don’t want to keep doing what isn’t optimal. I’ve been hoping to winter them in the garage, but I don’t want to make a mistake and lose one. That’s the point of this post. If I can’t overwinter them properly because I need to build new enclosures, isn't it only right to let them brumate in the garage?
Any advice is appreciated. I know I've made mistakes so far I just want to correct them