more active outside than inside

[toribird]

I've had Euclid (a Hermann's tortoise, aged a few months) for about a week now. She's currently in a 20 gallon glass tank. When she needs a new one, I'll be upgrading to a wooden one. Until then, I've taped paper around the walls so she can't see out. I also keep a close eye on the temperature and keep the lid off so she can get air circulation.
I take her outside (with close supervision) when it's warm enough and I've noticed she tends to be more active outside than in her tank. Is this because she's gotten bored of her tank? Is it too small for her? Earlier in the week, I put some rocks in her tank. For awhile, she would walk around and climb on the rocks, but lately she's not walking around as much.

Another question: When I got her, I was told that daily soaks would keep her from being dehydrated and I didn't need to do anything like misting her enclosure. Later, I read online that some enclosures need misting but glass tanks tend to stay more humid so they don't need misting. On this forum, I've read that it's good to mist or have a humid hide spot, but I don't know what sort of enclosure that is for. Should I be misting her tank/putting a wet sponge in her hide spot?

A couple of notes: I know it's too early to determine her gender, I just decided to conceptualize her as female until I can know for sure. After reading a lot of the posts in this forum, I know it would've been easier to get an older tortoise, but I didn't know that when I bought her. I'm taking care of her as best I can and I'm really hoping she'll grow up healthy. This forum has already helped me learn a lot!

 

[sammi]

I am by no means a expert tortoise keeper, but here are a few important things I learned on this forum:

Tortoises thrive best when outside, which is probably why she is more active when outdoors. Ideally, you should try to build them a pen outdoors, with as much space as possibly.

Fish tanks aren't the best habitats for tortoises. 20 gallons is pretty small. Your best (and most inexpensive option) is to get a rubbermaid tub, (or two, and connect them) and make her home in there. But again, ideally you want to keep your tortoise outdoors, to get natural sunlight and such.

You can use anything as a hide. Plant pot on its side, tupperware upsidedown with a hole in the side, or also (my favorite) the "Habba Hut", which you can find at Pet or Reptile stores, and are made of wood. Be careful though, if your substrate is too moist, these will mold. Fake plants also work extremely well.

Do you have any lighting available for her? Can you provide pictures of your setup? I'm sure some of the more experienced keepers will be around soon to lend more tips =]

Check out my thread with pictures on how I did Ernie's enclosure: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-11260.html

 

[toribird]

Sammi, thanks so much for your response! Ernie's quite a cutie and he's lucky to have such a nice looking enclosure. I love all the plants; are they real?

I would so love to have an outdoor enclosure for Euclid but, unfortunately for her, I share a backyard with 37 other people. The pet store (east bay vivarium, if anyone here has heard of it) told me that 20 gal was actually pretty large for her, since she's a bit less than 2" right now. However, it does seem like bigger would be better, so I'll definitely look into getting a rubbermaid tub for her.

I can't get a picture of her setup right now, since I'm actually at my parent's home (Euclid is with my boyfriend at our co-op), but here's a description: on warm side of tank, she has a heat lamp, heat mat, a climbing rock, and half-log hide (I think it is a Habba Hut). On the cooler side of the tank, she has another climbing rock. The cool side is also where I put her food dish. She's on pine shaving substrate. I bought this before I heard about the toxic oils in pine and cedar, so I called the store where I purchased it and was assured that the pine shavings were treated so that the oils wouldn't be released. Even so, I plan on either asking my boyfriend to get her some different substrate or getting some different substrate myself when I get back. I've heard a lot of different views on what substrate is the best, but it seems like most people think a mix of sand and clean soil is best.

Any further advice would be awesome, especially regarding misting the cage vs. not misting.

 

[webskipper]

I am most happy outdoors, too.

Checkout mortar boxes at the home builders stores like Lowz and the deep sweater boxes as Sammi suggests. A simple incandescent lamp such as a GE Reveal will be enough to warm the air rather than cook your pet. I use a 45Watt spot lamp (coupon at GE site) because my ambient air temp does not drop below 70. During the day the Tort table is 90F. I also have a double tube full length fluorescent striplight with desert 10.0 lamps.

Figure in 3 inches of mulch. Spray it every few days.

 

[toribird]

Webskipper, Euclid and I very much relate to your first sentence! It's too cold and cloudy in Berkeley today, so she couldn't go outside =(. I wish she were here with me in socal, it'd be nice and warm for her.
It can get pretty cold in my room back at school, so I decided to go with a 150 watt bulb with a dimmer switch. I keep her temperature between 95-100F, is that too warm? She's got a full spectrum light too, so I'm pretty sure she's good on that front.
I'll look into getting mulch, thanks for that tip! Will mulch mold or rot if sprayed every few days?

Again, thanks to both of you for your help!

 

[chikken]

Well, you don't want her entire enclosure to be 95 - 100 degrees, particularly in a glass tank, that could get mighty uncomfortable for her.
I keep my hatchling in a vivarium myself, so I'm not judging there (though my tortoise is the same size and my tank's almost as long as I am tall because I truly treasure the experience of not being able to find a tortoise under the substrate to make sure he's still there (I'm a little anxious, you see.)) but you don't want one consistent temperature throughout, you want a good healthy range from high 70s to that one basking spot at 100 degrees, giving Euclid a place to escape to if she gets too hot (or too cold).

Go ahead and mist part of the enclosure. Humidity around 60% is cool for the youngsters. A glass tank will stay humid, but it needs some moisture in there to begin with. Pick up a hygrometer and put it near the substrate, maybe near the humid hide, and it'll tell you how humid it is. You might be surprised to see how dry it actually gets inside the tank.

 

[toribird]

Euclid does have a cool side, it's usually about 70F. I've noticed she doesn't spend much time there though.

Could someone recommend a good hygrometer? Also, Manda, could you explain what you mean by "humid side"? Is one side supposed to be more humid than the other?

 

[chikken]

I think as far as hygrometer's go, anything will work. I got mine for maybe 3 dollars at the pet store. Nothing fancy.
One humid hiding place is what a lot of people recommend, I'm blindly following that recommendation because I'm paranoid about screwing up my little guy. What I've got going on is inside his cave hiding spot I have a wet sponge in a small cup-like container. This contraption is tucked into a corner and out of the way and it keeps the humidity in that hidey hole higher than the rest of the enclosure. The tortoise seems to really dig staying in there more than the other hiding spots (terra cotta pot and the under side of a sweet cardboard bridge I made ).

But the others above have recommended spritzing the substrate and that might work better for you. I do that too at the beginning of each day, and that gives it time to evaporate all day long and not sit and mold.

 

[webskipper]

I think as far as hygrometer's go, anything will work.

Since you have an open top container the hygrometers are just references.

I mounted a dual temp/hygrometer on the wall across from the heat lamp. So thats the hot spot and it also heats up the flagstone stepping stone.

When they are too hot they obviously regulate their body temps by scooting away. In the meantime you don't to fry them like an egg.

Sounds like you got a good plan.

 

[Ozric]

On the subject of being more active outside- yes I have seen this with mine. Outside is a lot more interesting. The tortoise naturally explores the area that it has access to and finds it's way around. Once it has checked out an area it gets to know where the warmest places are and where there might be food or water. So when you let your tortoise go outside under supervision it is exploring to locate these things.

We can meet a Hermann's basic needs indoors if we take some care but we won't see a lot of the natural behaviours of the animal when it is kept in that way. Mine spend part of the year inside my house and what I notice is that after a few weeks they don't even bother to hide at night. When they are in their outside accommodation they always hide away very carefully at dusk.

There are some very cheap digital hygrometers out there but I personally don't like them. I use a hair hygrometer which is a simple mechanical one with no batteries. I'm in the UK so there isn't much use in me saying where I got it but I'm sure you could find one where you are too.