Alright, so I finally got the two ornate wood turtles from the CL ad I mentioned in my ID thread. I got them yesterday (Saturday) morning. No pics yet as I don't want to disturb them too much as they acclimate, but rest assured they will be forthcoming. I especially want to figure out their sexes.
The enclosure they came with is 6' x 20", plexi, with a wood stand. It was in worse shape than I initially thought, so I completely disassembled it, cleaned it, reassembled and re-siliconed it.
As I was preparing their large enclosure I gave them a soak and then put them in a smaller temporary tote. They burrowed in immediately. Later in the evening, around 9:00, they became quite active, exploring the space, climbing, etc. I moved them into the bigger enclosure late in the evening and they burrowed in for the night around midnight.
So far they have not eaten anything. The first day I offered them kale, collards, banana, and carrots. Today I offered kale, zucchini, and apple. I chopped everything up into pretty small pieces and mixed with small bits of regular (iceberg) lettuce as well, since that is what they were fed frequently by their previous owners. They showed no interest. In fact they haven't really done anything today.
On the up side, they are no longer huddling under their heat lamp and their shells are already looking somewhat better. When I saw them initially they looked extremely dry.
Right now I have a couple lights in the enclosure to get the temps up. It has been in the mid 70s, with a warmer spot in the low 80s. I need to get a higher wattage bulb for the warmer spot to get it up higher. Will do that tomorrow.
I have two thirds of the top covered to try to keep in humidity, though I am still struggling with that a bit. It has ranged from 45-70%. I know with many tortoises we aim to get the humidity up without getting the substrate (I'm using coco-coir) too wet. Is that less of a concern with wood turtles since they are semi-aquatic? Right now my misting attempts seem to be getting everything wet, but not necessarily raising the humidity of the air as much as I'd like. Should I raise the overall temp?
I aim to get pics up tomorrow of the enclosure and the turtles.
Travis
The enclosure they came with is 6' x 20", plexi, with a wood stand. It was in worse shape than I initially thought, so I completely disassembled it, cleaned it, reassembled and re-siliconed it.
As I was preparing their large enclosure I gave them a soak and then put them in a smaller temporary tote. They burrowed in immediately. Later in the evening, around 9:00, they became quite active, exploring the space, climbing, etc. I moved them into the bigger enclosure late in the evening and they burrowed in for the night around midnight.
So far they have not eaten anything. The first day I offered them kale, collards, banana, and carrots. Today I offered kale, zucchini, and apple. I chopped everything up into pretty small pieces and mixed with small bits of regular (iceberg) lettuce as well, since that is what they were fed frequently by their previous owners. They showed no interest. In fact they haven't really done anything today.
On the up side, they are no longer huddling under their heat lamp and their shells are already looking somewhat better. When I saw them initially they looked extremely dry.
Right now I have a couple lights in the enclosure to get the temps up. It has been in the mid 70s, with a warmer spot in the low 80s. I need to get a higher wattage bulb for the warmer spot to get it up higher. Will do that tomorrow.
I have two thirds of the top covered to try to keep in humidity, though I am still struggling with that a bit. It has ranged from 45-70%. I know with many tortoises we aim to get the humidity up without getting the substrate (I'm using coco-coir) too wet. Is that less of a concern with wood turtles since they are semi-aquatic? Right now my misting attempts seem to be getting everything wet, but not necessarily raising the humidity of the air as much as I'd like. Should I raise the overall temp?
I aim to get pics up tomorrow of the enclosure and the turtles.
Travis
