- Joined
- Apr 1, 2010
- Messages
- 10
OK! So, as anyone has checked my introduction page has learned, I am the brand new owner of a female elongated tortoise. Her new name (as I had been calling her Franklin before I learned her true sex) is Tulip. Welcome home, Tulip. I have already learned SOOO much from these forums, I have been reading the old and new topics. I wish there was more information specifically on elongated tortoises, but I am hoping that the information I am gathering on red-footed tortoises will be good enough.
She has been living in a very temporary set-up and I knew it was not adequate. I spoil my animals and it did not make me happy to have her in such a poor set up. It was a move up from her original home in a small laundry basket but I knew there were better ways. As I told my dear husband, we may have her the rest of our lives so we might as well prepare. (He was a bit shocked at this. I think he was still convinced she would be going back to her original owner in four years when he was done with vet school.)
This project began early Saturday morning (the 3rd). I had stayed up late the night before reading tortoise forum and was so inspired by some of the awesome enclosures I had seen. It was my birthday and my husband was working and I thought to myself, "for my birthday I am building a new tortoise enclosure." I headed out to Lowe's first thing with the idea to buy a large rubber tub. get some dirt and moss, some plants, and I would be good. (I still need better lighting/heat emitters but that is another journey). Well, when I came to the rubber tubs I thought to myself, "these tubs are $20.00, I could buy a bookshelf for about the same amount, line it with plastic, and she will have an even better enclosure. But if I am going to be retrofitting a bookshelf, it's really not going to be as deep as I would like, I am going to have to do work anyway, why don't I just build a new enclosure from scratch?" It all made so much sense in my head. It didn't matter that I am about as handy as a monkey with a hammer and I would be making it up as I went along...I was just excited!
So, logically it made sense to buy plants first. Of course. I have never really had plants because cats eat the ones indoors and the dogs destroy the ones outdoors so just buying plants and deciding to keep them healthy is a new thing to me. I printed off a list of edible landscpaing from this website
http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm
hoping that as long as I got things on this list that I would be ok. I decided to go with the expense of buying established plants because I didn't trust myself to be able to care for seedlings long enough to get them established. I purchased 10 plants based entirely on "hey, that looks kind of cool" (as long as they were on the list). They are:
"Freestyle Pink" Ivy Geranium
Henna Coleus
"Pink Delight" Butterfly Bush
"Grassy Lassie" Aloe Hybrid
Provence Lavendar
Iceplant
"Burgundy Glow" Bugleweed
Strawberries
Elijah Blue Fescue
"Merlin's Magic" Coleus
(Anyone see something I need to not include?)
I am taking the advice of the "cleansing store bought plants thread" to try to eliminate as much chemical residue as possible.
Plants purchased, I went to Home Depot this time to check out wood. Stay tuned for further adventures of a tortoise enclosure newbie with large dreams.
I will be back after my dentist apppointment
She has been living in a very temporary set-up and I knew it was not adequate. I spoil my animals and it did not make me happy to have her in such a poor set up. It was a move up from her original home in a small laundry basket but I knew there were better ways. As I told my dear husband, we may have her the rest of our lives so we might as well prepare. (He was a bit shocked at this. I think he was still convinced she would be going back to her original owner in four years when he was done with vet school.)
This project began early Saturday morning (the 3rd). I had stayed up late the night before reading tortoise forum and was so inspired by some of the awesome enclosures I had seen. It was my birthday and my husband was working and I thought to myself, "for my birthday I am building a new tortoise enclosure." I headed out to Lowe's first thing with the idea to buy a large rubber tub. get some dirt and moss, some plants, and I would be good. (I still need better lighting/heat emitters but that is another journey). Well, when I came to the rubber tubs I thought to myself, "these tubs are $20.00, I could buy a bookshelf for about the same amount, line it with plastic, and she will have an even better enclosure. But if I am going to be retrofitting a bookshelf, it's really not going to be as deep as I would like, I am going to have to do work anyway, why don't I just build a new enclosure from scratch?" It all made so much sense in my head. It didn't matter that I am about as handy as a monkey with a hammer and I would be making it up as I went along...I was just excited!
So, logically it made sense to buy plants first. Of course. I have never really had plants because cats eat the ones indoors and the dogs destroy the ones outdoors so just buying plants and deciding to keep them healthy is a new thing to me. I printed off a list of edible landscpaing from this website
http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm
hoping that as long as I got things on this list that I would be ok. I decided to go with the expense of buying established plants because I didn't trust myself to be able to care for seedlings long enough to get them established. I purchased 10 plants based entirely on "hey, that looks kind of cool" (as long as they were on the list). They are:
"Freestyle Pink" Ivy Geranium
Henna Coleus
"Pink Delight" Butterfly Bush
"Grassy Lassie" Aloe Hybrid
Provence Lavendar
Iceplant
"Burgundy Glow" Bugleweed
Strawberries
Elijah Blue Fescue
"Merlin's Magic" Coleus
(Anyone see something I need to not include?)
I am taking the advice of the "cleansing store bought plants thread" to try to eliminate as much chemical residue as possible.
Plants purchased, I went to Home Depot this time to check out wood. Stay tuned for further adventures of a tortoise enclosure newbie with large dreams.
I will be back after my dentist apppointment