trufflecame
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
- Messages
- 2
Hi everyone, nice to meet you all. My younger sister has a tortoise and asked me to take care of it for the summer since she is away. Honestly, her husbandry is a mess. I always tried to get her to look up information, but she wouldn't listen. She doesn't even know if it's a male or a female...
And that's why I'm here! Want the best for this animal. It is currently housed outside, so its UVB intake is fine. However, it's in a patio with no grass, just white tile. It looks very hot, especially here in Puerto Rico. The enclosure is a dog play pen. Pretty decent size for a tortoise I think. But he looks desperate; he wants to get out all the time and it's probably because of the heat. Half of it is under a tree and half gets sun. I'm thinking of getting patches of grass and putting them in a small inflatable pool and have that inside the playpen so he doesn't fry to death.
He has his little "pool" but I haven't seen him soak in a while.
What I most have an issue with is its food. I don't know exactly what to feed it. I know a lot of greens (spinach arugula, kale, and I have a hibiscus plant that the tortoise really seemed to enjoy, he loves fruit. He didn't like aloe vera, he spat it out the first bite), but besides that what else can I feed it? What foods are toxic? And what supplements does it need? I'm not new to reptiles, I'm very aware that they need calcium supplements in captivity but how exactly do I do this?
Humidity is not a huge problem in Puerto Rico, as it's pretty humid all year round even if it doesn't rain in a while. If it gets dry, I hose the tree above the enclosure and it makes it pretty humid in that spot for a while.
It also looks like it's starting to pyramid. How do I stop this from progressing?
Any information is greatly appreciated! I hate seeing this tortoise like this.
Thank you!
And that's why I'm here! Want the best for this animal. It is currently housed outside, so its UVB intake is fine. However, it's in a patio with no grass, just white tile. It looks very hot, especially here in Puerto Rico. The enclosure is a dog play pen. Pretty decent size for a tortoise I think. But he looks desperate; he wants to get out all the time and it's probably because of the heat. Half of it is under a tree and half gets sun. I'm thinking of getting patches of grass and putting them in a small inflatable pool and have that inside the playpen so he doesn't fry to death.
He has his little "pool" but I haven't seen him soak in a while.
What I most have an issue with is its food. I don't know exactly what to feed it. I know a lot of greens (spinach arugula, kale, and I have a hibiscus plant that the tortoise really seemed to enjoy, he loves fruit. He didn't like aloe vera, he spat it out the first bite), but besides that what else can I feed it? What foods are toxic? And what supplements does it need? I'm not new to reptiles, I'm very aware that they need calcium supplements in captivity but how exactly do I do this?
Humidity is not a huge problem in Puerto Rico, as it's pretty humid all year round even if it doesn't rain in a while. If it gets dry, I hose the tree above the enclosure and it makes it pretty humid in that spot for a while.
It also looks like it's starting to pyramid. How do I stop this from progressing?
Any information is greatly appreciated! I hate seeing this tortoise like this.
Thank you!