Agathaade
Active Member
Hi all,
I’ve asked for advice (lots!) and have commented here and there, but this is my first post about my tortoise.
After months of waiting, the baby arrived three weeks ago. ’She’ was promptly named Miguel Shimmery and declared a girl by our 4yo daughter. We’re rolling with it!
Due to a mistake on the breeder’s end, we received an Eastern Hermann’s instead of a Greek Ibera... After reading and re-reading caresheets, it’s fine with us. What can I say, nothing is going according to plan this year, this is not the worst problem to have!
Miguel seems to be acclimating well, it looks like she’s doing the things she’s supposed to do. Eating, pooping, exploring, basking, hiding... She’s most active in the morning after her soak (which she does NOT like), takes little naps in between eating and romping, and she’s often tucked in for the night around 3. She has gained 6 grams in three weeks.
We love her to bits! We spend a lot of time just looking at her eat and romp around, just doing her tortoise things.
Here is how she is set up :
Indoor enclosure
My diy cover is not pretty but it does the job with humidity. I am still arranging things as I observe her behavior. I’ve taken out one hide she didn’t use (the one on the cool side), added more fake leaves for shade and cover, as well as dry magnolia leaves as ground cover in a few places. Her favorite napping and sleeping spot is underneath the magnolia leaves under the basking lamp. She tried to take nibbles of the leaf litter the first day, but now she leaves them alone.
Here’s what her numbers look like currently :
DAYTIME
BASKING SIDE: 96/98f
BASKING SIDE RH: 70% average
COOL SIDE: 82f
COOL SIDE RH: 90%+
NIGHTTIME
TEMP: 82f when it’s hot, 77/75f otherwise.
RH: 90%+
SUBSTRATE : coir at the bottom, orchid bark/cypress mulch on top
LIGHTS
Basking : flood bulb, 45W
UV : 22” T5 HO 10% strip, 3h/day, UVindex ranges from 2.3 to 0.
LED grow light with a white output. It’s not quite a daytime cool white, but close.
Outside
I take Miguel out a few times a week for an hour.
Her outdoor pen is 4x4, with plans to double that when she’s big enough.
There’s a Boston fern, nasturtium, and alyssum growing in there, and some fountain grass that just won’t stop growing. My potted wild strawberry plant isn’t making any berries but it is shooting stolons all over the place so I’m letting it colonize the outdoor pen. Convenient!
Because of the season and how our yard is in between buildings, the UV reading I get in the current enclosure midday is about 1.2. In the morning it’s well under 1, sometimes 0, so I added the UV strip in her indoor enclosure to make sure her UV needs would be met.
Going back to work on a better location for her enclosure, where she would get sun year round...
Food
Her diet is a rotation of weeds and leaves (plantain, dandelion, nasturtium, chicory, grape, opuntia, mulberry, clover, vetch, calendula, mallow, testudo seed mix...) that I grow. I found a wild grape vine and a hibiscus tree at a nursery, still holding off on those for some months.
She gets Mazuri mixed with food once a week, I alternate Calcium powder and Minerall every other week with the Mazuri.
Typically she gets one ingredient a day to make sure she eats her varied diet and doesn’t pick things out. She likes mulberry, grape and chicory the most! But will eat some of what’s offered everyday.
It’s been so much fun preparing and learning before her arrival. I have spent a LOT of time on here learning from everyone.
A big thank you to all of you!
I’ve asked for advice (lots!) and have commented here and there, but this is my first post about my tortoise.
After months of waiting, the baby arrived three weeks ago. ’She’ was promptly named Miguel Shimmery and declared a girl by our 4yo daughter. We’re rolling with it!
Due to a mistake on the breeder’s end, we received an Eastern Hermann’s instead of a Greek Ibera... After reading and re-reading caresheets, it’s fine with us. What can I say, nothing is going according to plan this year, this is not the worst problem to have!
Miguel seems to be acclimating well, it looks like she’s doing the things she’s supposed to do. Eating, pooping, exploring, basking, hiding... She’s most active in the morning after her soak (which she does NOT like), takes little naps in between eating and romping, and she’s often tucked in for the night around 3. She has gained 6 grams in three weeks.
We love her to bits! We spend a lot of time just looking at her eat and romp around, just doing her tortoise things.
Here is how she is set up :
Indoor enclosure
My diy cover is not pretty but it does the job with humidity. I am still arranging things as I observe her behavior. I’ve taken out one hide she didn’t use (the one on the cool side), added more fake leaves for shade and cover, as well as dry magnolia leaves as ground cover in a few places. Her favorite napping and sleeping spot is underneath the magnolia leaves under the basking lamp. She tried to take nibbles of the leaf litter the first day, but now she leaves them alone.
Here’s what her numbers look like currently :
DAYTIME
BASKING SIDE: 96/98f
BASKING SIDE RH: 70% average
COOL SIDE: 82f
COOL SIDE RH: 90%+
NIGHTTIME
TEMP: 82f when it’s hot, 77/75f otherwise.
RH: 90%+
SUBSTRATE : coir at the bottom, orchid bark/cypress mulch on top
LIGHTS
Basking : flood bulb, 45W
UV : 22” T5 HO 10% strip, 3h/day, UVindex ranges from 2.3 to 0.
LED grow light with a white output. It’s not quite a daytime cool white, but close.
Outside
I take Miguel out a few times a week for an hour.
Her outdoor pen is 4x4, with plans to double that when she’s big enough.
There’s a Boston fern, nasturtium, and alyssum growing in there, and some fountain grass that just won’t stop growing. My potted wild strawberry plant isn’t making any berries but it is shooting stolons all over the place so I’m letting it colonize the outdoor pen. Convenient!
Because of the season and how our yard is in between buildings, the UV reading I get in the current enclosure midday is about 1.2. In the morning it’s well under 1, sometimes 0, so I added the UV strip in her indoor enclosure to make sure her UV needs would be met.
Going back to work on a better location for her enclosure, where she would get sun year round...
Food
Her diet is a rotation of weeds and leaves (plantain, dandelion, nasturtium, chicory, grape, opuntia, mulberry, clover, vetch, calendula, mallow, testudo seed mix...) that I grow. I found a wild grape vine and a hibiscus tree at a nursery, still holding off on those for some months.
She gets Mazuri mixed with food once a week, I alternate Calcium powder and Minerall every other week with the Mazuri.
Typically she gets one ingredient a day to make sure she eats her varied diet and doesn’t pick things out. She likes mulberry, grape and chicory the most! But will eat some of what’s offered everyday.
It’s been so much fun preparing and learning before her arrival. I have spent a LOT of time on here learning from everyone.
A big thank you to all of you!