Hello everyone, my boyfriend and I recently bought a baby leopard tort form a local pet store. We did a decent amount of research before we bought him, but now that we have him, we have a few more questions.
We're housing our tort in a large, shallow "under the bed" storage type rubbermaid container. We laid down a layer of play sand, and originally had cypress mulch and sphagnum moss on both sides (one dry, one moist). We're using a powersun 100 watt UVB and we just got a Zilla red heating light to make sure the temps don't drop too low during the night. Average day temps: 85-95 degrees. Average humidity: 30-70%, depending on how much moisture on moss. We're looking into putting a hide over 1/2 of the enclosure to keep the humidity consistent.
Now for our questions: We've had the little guy for about a day and a half now, and it doesn't seem like he wants to eat. At the pet store, they were feeding him what looked like iceberg lettuce with sliced up tomatoes and carrots. He was actually eating when we picked him up, so I know eating wasn't a problem for him before. We've been giving him a mixture of collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens and spinach (not a lot of spinach, just came with the mix). He would barely nibble on it, but he'd gladly munch on the cypress mulch. So we took the cypress mulch and replaced it with moss until we can find coco coir. I know it takes some torts a while to get used to their new place, but he drinks just fine and eats the mulch. I'm wondering if he's just not used to the food we're feeding him? We've tried giving him some with and without the calcium w/ D3. We're just getting a little worried. Any advice would be appreciated!
Also, his shell seems to be frayed around the back. Is this normal? We've included pictures. Thank you for any and all help!
We're housing our tort in a large, shallow "under the bed" storage type rubbermaid container. We laid down a layer of play sand, and originally had cypress mulch and sphagnum moss on both sides (one dry, one moist). We're using a powersun 100 watt UVB and we just got a Zilla red heating light to make sure the temps don't drop too low during the night. Average day temps: 85-95 degrees. Average humidity: 30-70%, depending on how much moisture on moss. We're looking into putting a hide over 1/2 of the enclosure to keep the humidity consistent.
Now for our questions: We've had the little guy for about a day and a half now, and it doesn't seem like he wants to eat. At the pet store, they were feeding him what looked like iceberg lettuce with sliced up tomatoes and carrots. He was actually eating when we picked him up, so I know eating wasn't a problem for him before. We've been giving him a mixture of collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens and spinach (not a lot of spinach, just came with the mix). He would barely nibble on it, but he'd gladly munch on the cypress mulch. So we took the cypress mulch and replaced it with moss until we can find coco coir. I know it takes some torts a while to get used to their new place, but he drinks just fine and eats the mulch. I'm wondering if he's just not used to the food we're feeding him? We've tried giving him some with and without the calcium w/ D3. We're just getting a little worried. Any advice would be appreciated!
Also, his shell seems to be frayed around the back. Is this normal? We've included pictures. Thank you for any and all help!
replace the red light with a ceramic heat emitter for night time. Get rid of the sand or mix really well with another substrate, using much less sand. Coconut coir is the best in my opinion. 100 basking temp, 80 and no lower for over all and night time temp with humidity no lower then 80%. You will need to get a box with higher sides,for the proper housing to be easier. It can be done with the type box you got, but in my opinion, it will be harder. The threads at the bottom of my post are Toms. They all are right for leopards and one of the best ways to raise a smooth leopard. Give the d3 only once a week, too much of it is bad. Calcium doesn't have to be given as much either with a good diet, which the pet store was not doing.
