Long time herp nerd presented wife with lifelong dream of being a Leopard tortoise mom. Were in the Pacific NW, not idyllic desert conditions for 11 week old Leopards ya know. So far so good. Will probably spend a majority of the time in an enclosure so some time and attention need to be payed for Oswald's benefit. Been looking at ideas and not seeing anything I really like, something with some plumbing, hidden pull out trays, maybe a vacuum hose, separate levels for heat/basking and cooler for grazing, maybe an endless track to roam endlessly across the savanna. Any one have lighting information on say maybe watts per sq foot or ventilation for ambient temp? I really dont know what to ask, and I am short on time to reinvent the wheel... again .
indoor enclosure
- Thread starter oswald
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It's always fun to build a custom enclosure with new ideas. When it comes to lighting in my experience it always takes a little experimenting to get the right temps. Make sure you place your uvb and basking area in the same place so your tort can soak up some rays while basking. Depending on your home temps you might not need any heating on the cool side, so just provide a basking area on one side or level of the enclosure. Keep in mind that your uv lighting should be at least 12'' from your tort (depending on the bulb) when you are incorporating your lighting to your enclosure. If you choose an upper level make sure it is secure and add some kinda railng on the top level and the ramp. Hope that helps.
Good luck to you on building the perfect Leopard hatchling enclosure. You got lots of good advice from jblayza (wow, that's kind of a scary user name for a person giving advice 
), and if you post some photos of the project when it's "done", you should get plenty of ideas and suggestions for improvements!
), and if you post some photos of the project when it's "done", you should get plenty of ideas and suggestions for improvements!
M
Maggie Cummings
Guest
I am also in the PNW...Do you mind telling us where you are? I'm sure you know that is too much humidity for a Leopard, you're going to have to stay on top of your temps so she/he doesn't get an URTI. I use Trex 100 watt bulbs for most of my indoor tortoises. I also use a Zoomed 10.0 fluorescent tube for one habitat but that doesn't really put out enough UVB for a growing tortoise, and that means you also have to have another basking light for heat. If you use a flood type bulb then you have heat and UVB in one bulb. If you use the Trex 100 watt bulb it should be about 18 inches away from your animal.
Stephanie Logan said:(wow, that's kind of a scary user name for a person giving advice
Lmao, J is for my first name Jaime and blayza is cause i spit fire! It's a hip hop thing.
Oh! I thought it was a play on "be lazy"...just goes to show how old and out of touch I am with popular culture!
Hi, Yall
Were in Bellingham, the city of subdued excitement. Our little one is doing fine and is seemingly quite happy. His hot area is a toasty 95 and the all around temp even at night is between 80-85, installed a timer for his uv on and off, eats well , and hes cute as can be. So far humidity hasn't been a problem as the lights tend to dry out the air considerably. You said that a Zoomed 10.0 is insufficient? How much uv light is required? Currently using a reptiglow 10.0. Anyhow, this enclosure is temporary, like I said this is the PNW, we get 70 sunny days a year so, Oswald is gonna be an inside tort for the most part. This makes a great enclosure a paramount concern for both of us. As a kid and thru my 20s seems I always had snakes, lizards, salamanders and the like and always built nice attractive set ups, terrariums and the like. No offense to anyone, just cant wrap myself around some sterilite containers or warehouse crate, as the centerpiece in my living room (although once I had a dentists chair with lights, drills, tray, and the works in my kitchen) So some of the problems Ive already decided to take on are... His greens and dinner tends to wilt in short order, even though his "pond" is tiny, he poops first thing, would be nice to "flush it" easily, Will all of his edible plants survive with out a full spectrum, daylight bulb? Ive watched box turtles back home roam round and round our back yard, wont oswald want to do some traveling? What would be the way to ensure and eighty degree ambient temperature throughout say a six foot by six foot by thirty six inch split level habitat? Other things on my mind Miss Maggie, cannot seem to pin down how big (on average) a five year old leopard runs. Oh yeah, from time to time I spy a whitish, not crust, but blemish, (like dry skin on your elbow) above one eye and I see him wipe it on his foreleg, is it because he wipes it on his foreleg or is it something I should be concerned about? It does not wipe off with a wet q tip, and it seems to be sporadic, tortoise equivilant of shedding skin? and lastly on my mind that could be of importance, is there any thing specific that should be done, not covered by husbandry notes, because we are in the PNW?
Never been a member of a forum, and my social skills were honed on a bar stool, so if this is not in accordance with Emily Post, let me know. It was nice to find a Tortoise Sage such as yourself up here, any help or advice you can offer newbie tortoise parents would tally in your Karma points. Thanks
Were in Bellingham, the city of subdued excitement. Our little one is doing fine and is seemingly quite happy. His hot area is a toasty 95 and the all around temp even at night is between 80-85, installed a timer for his uv on and off, eats well , and hes cute as can be. So far humidity hasn't been a problem as the lights tend to dry out the air considerably. You said that a Zoomed 10.0 is insufficient? How much uv light is required? Currently using a reptiglow 10.0. Anyhow, this enclosure is temporary, like I said this is the PNW, we get 70 sunny days a year so, Oswald is gonna be an inside tort for the most part. This makes a great enclosure a paramount concern for both of us. As a kid and thru my 20s seems I always had snakes, lizards, salamanders and the like and always built nice attractive set ups, terrariums and the like. No offense to anyone, just cant wrap myself around some sterilite containers or warehouse crate, as the centerpiece in my living room (although once I had a dentists chair with lights, drills, tray, and the works in my kitchen) So some of the problems Ive already decided to take on are... His greens and dinner tends to wilt in short order, even though his "pond" is tiny, he poops first thing, would be nice to "flush it" easily, Will all of his edible plants survive with out a full spectrum, daylight bulb? Ive watched box turtles back home roam round and round our back yard, wont oswald want to do some traveling? What would be the way to ensure and eighty degree ambient temperature throughout say a six foot by six foot by thirty six inch split level habitat? Other things on my mind Miss Maggie, cannot seem to pin down how big (on average) a five year old leopard runs. Oh yeah, from time to time I spy a whitish, not crust, but blemish, (like dry skin on your elbow) above one eye and I see him wipe it on his foreleg, is it because he wipes it on his foreleg or is it something I should be concerned about? It does not wipe off with a wet q tip, and it seems to be sporadic, tortoise equivilant of shedding skin? and lastly on my mind that could be of importance, is there any thing specific that should be done, not covered by husbandry notes, because we are in the PNW?
Never been a member of a forum, and my social skills were honed on a bar stool, so if this is not in accordance with Emily Post, let me know. It was nice to find a Tortoise Sage such as yourself up here, any help or advice you can offer newbie tortoise parents would tally in your Karma points. Thanks
maggie3fan said:
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- Mar 19, 2009
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- 1,601
I'm down in Snohomish. I don't have Leos, but sulcatas (3), Russians (2) and box turtles (4).
For your water dish, I like the idea of being able to 'flush', but I'm thinking you may be on the verge of over engineering
You want to be able to provide a safe, clean, and easy to maintain home for your tort. Room for exercise, nice hot basking area, and cool hides. Stuff to climb on and around.
I honestly think you should just look into a water dish (like a flower pot base) that is wide enough, and just deep enough for easy in and out access. And it is placed in an easy spot for you to remove daily and clean and add fresh water. The flushing idea sounds cool, but you'll still need to clean\sanitize it. So most of us just use removable dishes of some sort.
For the wilting food... are you talking about storing in the fridge, or after you place it in for him to eat?
For the yard, you will want to plan very carefully. Can't tell you how many folks on this forum alone have had tragic results and lots of close calls from having their torts out in the yard. They can dig, climb, and hide in ways that will amaze you. So you'll want to account for that. If you are going to be watching them and just let them roam around for a bit under supervision, no big deal. But if you want to leave him be for a while, you'll need a climb proof, digging proof enclosure. And it should have areas of shade as well as good sunning areas. Also keep in mind things like: neighbor kids, dogs, raccoons, etc could decide the mess with your tort.
Torts do shed. Not sure about your whitish thing by the eye. Can you post pics?
For your water dish, I like the idea of being able to 'flush', but I'm thinking you may be on the verge of over engineering
You want to be able to provide a safe, clean, and easy to maintain home for your tort. Room for exercise, nice hot basking area, and cool hides. Stuff to climb on and around.
I honestly think you should just look into a water dish (like a flower pot base) that is wide enough, and just deep enough for easy in and out access. And it is placed in an easy spot for you to remove daily and clean and add fresh water. The flushing idea sounds cool, but you'll still need to clean\sanitize it. So most of us just use removable dishes of some sort.
For the wilting food... are you talking about storing in the fridge, or after you place it in for him to eat?
For the yard, you will want to plan very carefully. Can't tell you how many folks on this forum alone have had tragic results and lots of close calls from having their torts out in the yard. They can dig, climb, and hide in ways that will amaze you. So you'll want to account for that. If you are going to be watching them and just let them roam around for a bit under supervision, no big deal. But if you want to leave him be for a while, you'll need a climb proof, digging proof enclosure. And it should have areas of shade as well as good sunning areas. Also keep in mind things like: neighbor kids, dogs, raccoons, etc could decide the mess with your tort.
Torts do shed. Not sure about your whitish thing by the eye. Can you post pics?
M
Maggie Cummings
Guest
For the spot over his eye I would add a dab of ointment like Neosporin. I totally understand the wanting to flush part, but I agree with Chad, just use a saucer. I bring an empty container over to the saucer so I'm not trying to carry a saucer full of poopy water over my clean carpet. I have a plastic basket I use and carry it around to all my enclosures and dump the saucers into it. Old fashioned, but it works.
There's no rules to being on the forum, don't make any direct personal attacks on other members, no cussing as this is a family sport and just ask questions and make friends.
I wouldn't go crazy with your tort table tho. We just recently had a thread about can you make one too big and I think you can.
Feed a handful of tort salad in the morning and your tort should eat it all right away and there shouldn't be any wilting involved...
What I would really watch with your tort is the humidity. I have known too many people here who have leopards get an URTI and get very sick. So I personally wouldn't let the cool side of your enclosure get too cool.
There's getting to be quite a number of us forum members living here in the PNW...We should plan a barbecue for one of our 70 sunny days and all get together...I think that would be fun. And I just love barbecue...
This is Bob and his 100 pound pumpkin. He was trying to bite it in this shot...that didn't work...anyhow this is Bob...
There's no rules to being on the forum, don't make any direct personal attacks on other members, no cussing as this is a family sport and just ask questions and make friends.
I wouldn't go crazy with your tort table tho. We just recently had a thread about can you make one too big and I think you can.
Feed a handful of tort salad in the morning and your tort should eat it all right away and there shouldn't be any wilting involved...
What I would really watch with your tort is the humidity. I have known too many people here who have leopards get an URTI and get very sick. So I personally wouldn't let the cool side of your enclosure get too cool.
There's getting to be quite a number of us forum members living here in the PNW...We should plan a barbecue for one of our 70 sunny days and all get together...I think that would be fun. And I just love barbecue...
This is Bob and his 100 pound pumpkin. He was trying to bite it in this shot...that didn't work...anyhow this is Bob...
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