New carer of a juvenile Leopard tortoise, Tarquin... and still overwhelmed by all my own research!

[Penguinness]

Hello everyone,
I have been lurking madly around the forum for weeks now in preparation for welcoming Tarquin, who is a leopard tortoise around 4 inches long. We have assumed his sex as Male until proven otherwise, mainly because we like the name Tarquin! I am told he was hatched in the UK last year, although due to the current lockdown I had to rely on conversations and photos from the breeder as evidence and he arrived by courier. I’m introducing myself because I need as many experts as possible to scrutinise and criticise my set-up and routine. I feel like Tarquin isn’t in the best condition (bumpy shell, pale scute which might be mild shell rot and which I will treat as such once the cream arrives in the morning) and I want to get everything right for him. My routine is based on one I saw recommended here for young torts: soak and warm up, feed, move to warmth and food through the day at intervals. He has access to fresh dandelions, I’ve offered kale, and I have planted Timothy hay; tortoise pellets arrived with him but I believe they’re not great? I have calcium powder, which he is carefully avoiding, so maybe I went a bit heavy handed. He isn’t eating much but he does nibble about when outdoors. Here is a long description of my set-up...
Tarquin has indoor and outdoor space. Indoors he has a wooden purpose built (by me) table measuring 2 x 3 feet (this is way too small for him when he is grown up; it’s just for little Tarquin!) and outdoors a 4 feet by 4 feet enclosure as a temporary measure before I build his proper garden. Indoors he has a ‘hot’ plant pot hide near to his basking spot, which is currently the halogen bulb which came with the lamp while I wait for the delivery of the mercury vapour bulb recommended. He has foliage which I pick and replenish daily while his own stuff is growing, a huge, maybe too big, plant saucer of water and a cooler night time house and shady spots. My thermometer is delayed so I’m winging it on the temperatures but he feels warmer than my hand when he’s been basking or in his hot hide. Outdoors he has thick foliage in one corner of his outdoor run for shade and cool hiding, black slate above and below for a super warm spot, glass over part of the run for additional warmth and shelter, another plant saucer for water and a black plant pot filled with grass hay for a hot hide. He seems to like this a lot, which is why I replicated it indoors for him. A cold frame is on its way for him and when he is big enough to stay out in anything other than hot sun I will make him a proper wooden house with a heat lamp. The intention is that as soon as he is big/ old enough he will live outdoors the vast majority of the time, with his indoor space for safety in inclement weather. I have found a nice thread on outdoor warmth in the uk which mentions UVB permeable film; I will he replacing the glass in part of the cold frame with this as soon as I can find some!

if you have ploughed through all that and are happy to offer me some advice and guidance I will be incredibly grateful. Many other new tort owners have commented on the conflicting advice out there, and I’m anxious to get it completely right. I’m in the UK, slightly north of London.

 

[Penguinness]

Oh: substrate is hemp, advised by the breeder. I’ve not misted it as he has been outdoors on grass for two of the three days since he came home and I’m soaking him daily - one of the biggest bits of conflicting internet info has been on misting, so happy to adjust.

 

[Yvonne G]

Misting doesn't do much far as making humid environment goes. You'll need to cover the indoor enclosure and actually wet/pour water on the substrate.

 

[Penguinness]

Misting doesn't do much far as making humid environment goes. You'll need to cover the indoor enclosure and actually wet/pour water on the substrate.

Hello Yvonne, thank you for your reply. Should I get him a tank? I expected him to be a little larger, further past the hatchling stage - Tom’s leopard tortoise thread is crystal clear on closed tanks for babies! When is the right time to have him on a table?

 

[Tom]

Looks like you've been "researching". This needs to be done, but it usually results in the hodgepodge of mixed info and mixed methods that you've described.

Here is all the correct info laid out in one place. This will differ from a lot of what you've already read because we all did it wrong for 30+ years, and I don't know of anyone in the UK, other than our forum members here, that is doing it right. Certainly all the breeders are still using the old wrong dry methods. Anyway, check this out and please come back with all your questions: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/t...leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/#post-1814413

 

[Penguinness]

Looks like you've been "researching". This needs to be done, but it usually results in the hodgepodge of mixed info and mixed methods that you've described.

Here is all the correct info laid out in one place. This will differ from a lot of what you've already read because we all did it wrong for 30+ years, and I don't know of anyone in the UK, other than our forum members here, that is doing it right. Certainly all the breeders are still using the old wrong dry methods. Anyway, check this out and please come back with all your questions: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/t...leopard-or-star-tortoise.181497/#post-1814413

Tom, just to say thank you again for your advice and the advice you gave on your leopard tortoise thread. Tarquin’s now in a plastic box which is all warm and condensation-y and he’s already much happier, moving about lots and eating his head off!

 

[Sunshie]

Welcome and congrats on little Tarquin! I just adopted a 4 year old Russian last week and am glad to know I am not the only one overwhelmed by the research. My biggest hurdle (since Kilian has a pretty simple housing set up) has been diet. Yvonne and Tom and a few others have some great threads on it though and pointed the way to the Tortoise Table app on the phone. Now it's finding the greens, where I can pick some safely and discovering what he will and won't eat! (We have discovered a great dislike for spider plant...)
Love the look of your outdoor enclosure! We are just starting to look into putting something together for Kilian so we can just be in the yard with him instead of monitoring all time.

 

[ZappCatt]

Tom, just to say thank you again for your advice and the advice you gave on your leopard tortoise thread. Tarquin’s now in a plastic box which is all warm and condensation-y and he’s already much happier, moving about lots and eating his head off!

Can you get some pictures of the plastic box? It sounds like you nailed it! Yay!

 

[Penguinness]

Welcome and congrats on little Tarquin! I just adopted a 4 year old Russian last week and am glad to know I am not the only one overwhelmed by the research. My biggest hurdle (since Kilian has a pretty simple housing set up) has been diet. Yvonne and Tom and a few others have some great threads on it though and pointed the way to the Tortoise Table app on the phone. Now it's finding the greens, where I can pick some safely and discovering what he will and won't eat! (We have discovered a great dislike for spider plant...)
Love the look of your outdoor enclosure! We are just starting to look into putting something together for Kilian so we can just be in the yard with him instead of monitoring all time.

Congratulations on your own new bundle of joy! Tarquin loves dandelions and I have a historic dislike of weeding my flower borders, so this has worked out beautifully ? but I will definitely look at the Tortoise table app. I’m growing some Timothy hay but it’s just mud so far...
The frame of the outdoor enclosure he has right now is just four pieces of pressure treated fencing board with 90 degree angle brackets at the corners, it was genuinely really easy to put together. It won’t last him forever but I’ve got time to learn what he likes and doesn’t like before committing to a permanent structure.

 

[Penguinness]

Can you get some pictures of the plastic box? It sounds like you nailed it! Yay!

I was so happy when I saw he’d demolished his whole pile of greens! The box is supremely unexciting (read: eyesore) but functional, and warm enough now that he’s snoozing in the cool shady end at the moment. The photo’s are really rubbish because of the foggy plastic but I don’t want to let his warm out! He has foliage, a branch to walk under, a half-pot hide and some smooth rocks. Underneath it you can just see his beautiful hand made tortoise table ??

 

[Ink]

In the pictures the light seems really close to the substrate.?