LeopardPickle
New Member
I am genuinely asking… please keep unrelated comments about what you think I am doing wrong to yourself. I am not an expert but I do really try my absolute best to take care of my girl
My female leopard tortoise is 2 years and 7 months old. She weighs 1,605 grams and is 8 inches long. This past warm season (Kentucky) was the first time I gave her outdoor time. I “tortoise proofed” my backyard and strapped a tile to her as a backup plan. Almost every day, I would give her some exploring time. Sometimes my workweek would be busy, and I missed days in a row, but she got plenty of time outside almost every week. I was surprised by how much walking she did. I had plenty of hideouts outside for her, but she never used them. Instead, we kept our grass a little taller, and she spent the whole time walking all around the grassy area. It has gotten cold here, so I stopped bringing her outside about a month ago; I didn’t think it would be an issue as the winter before I kept her in her enclosure. Cleaning it was so easy. I’d find a nice big poop, I’d use my scooper and scoop it into the trash, and that was the end of it. I found maintaining her enclosure easy as long as I kept up on it.
Here is my problem, now she paces. She will poop somewhere, then she walks her entire enclosure multiple times. She ends up walking through her poop and literally spreading it seemingly everywhere. Along the walls are poop marks (sometimes it looks like something out of a horror scene lol)… like constant poop marks where her legs (covered in poop) were scratching along the edges. I have tried to “clean” this with a toothbrush… but keeping her pen clean has actually been a challenge.
Questions:
1. So for her health, how concerned should I be over her getting enough exercise during my winter (about 5 months)? And for my own sanity with keeping her pen clean. I know her natural habitat doesn’t go through a “winter season,” so how do I ensure my winter season doesn’t affect her care/health?
2. A couple of days ago, I took her hideout and other plants out of her enclosure because she was knocking them around. I was too nervous about keeping them in there as I kept finding them alarmingly close, or sometimes under, her main heat lamp (the red heat lamp just keeps her water source somewhat warm—my vet approved this). Until she stops pacing like this, can I keep such little hideout stuff in her enclosure? Or if not, what do you recommend? May I can try putting a plant at the cool end of her enclosure?
3. Will her growth slow down with less exercise? I noticed when I started taking her outside for exercise, she started growing faster than before. She turned two this past March (2021) and weighed 831 grams. I think it wasn't until about May maybe that I got her on a solid routine of outside time... her weight since:
June: 1,020 grams
August:1,284 grams
October:1,605 grams
She has put on almost 800 grams in 7 months. She got pneumonia in her first year of life… so anytime I think she is acting lethargic I panic and take her to the vet which we all know is costly. If she is not getting outdoor time, is it natural for her to become more docile?
Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I am a nervous nelly when it comes to Pickle; I’m always worried about messing something up.
Thanks!!!
-Alexandra
My female leopard tortoise is 2 years and 7 months old. She weighs 1,605 grams and is 8 inches long. This past warm season (Kentucky) was the first time I gave her outdoor time. I “tortoise proofed” my backyard and strapped a tile to her as a backup plan. Almost every day, I would give her some exploring time. Sometimes my workweek would be busy, and I missed days in a row, but she got plenty of time outside almost every week. I was surprised by how much walking she did. I had plenty of hideouts outside for her, but she never used them. Instead, we kept our grass a little taller, and she spent the whole time walking all around the grassy area. It has gotten cold here, so I stopped bringing her outside about a month ago; I didn’t think it would be an issue as the winter before I kept her in her enclosure. Cleaning it was so easy. I’d find a nice big poop, I’d use my scooper and scoop it into the trash, and that was the end of it. I found maintaining her enclosure easy as long as I kept up on it.
Here is my problem, now she paces. She will poop somewhere, then she walks her entire enclosure multiple times. She ends up walking through her poop and literally spreading it seemingly everywhere. Along the walls are poop marks (sometimes it looks like something out of a horror scene lol)… like constant poop marks where her legs (covered in poop) were scratching along the edges. I have tried to “clean” this with a toothbrush… but keeping her pen clean has actually been a challenge.
Questions:
1. So for her health, how concerned should I be over her getting enough exercise during my winter (about 5 months)? And for my own sanity with keeping her pen clean. I know her natural habitat doesn’t go through a “winter season,” so how do I ensure my winter season doesn’t affect her care/health?
2. A couple of days ago, I took her hideout and other plants out of her enclosure because she was knocking them around. I was too nervous about keeping them in there as I kept finding them alarmingly close, or sometimes under, her main heat lamp (the red heat lamp just keeps her water source somewhat warm—my vet approved this). Until she stops pacing like this, can I keep such little hideout stuff in her enclosure? Or if not, what do you recommend? May I can try putting a plant at the cool end of her enclosure?
3. Will her growth slow down with less exercise? I noticed when I started taking her outside for exercise, she started growing faster than before. She turned two this past March (2021) and weighed 831 grams. I think it wasn't until about May maybe that I got her on a solid routine of outside time... her weight since:
June: 1,020 grams
August:1,284 grams
October:1,605 grams
She has put on almost 800 grams in 7 months. She got pneumonia in her first year of life… so anytime I think she is acting lethargic I panic and take her to the vet which we all know is costly. If she is not getting outdoor time, is it natural for her to become more docile?
Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I am a nervous nelly when it comes to Pickle; I’m always worried about messing something up.
Thanks!!!
-Alexandra