New member with 2 CDTs

[LittlefootNCera]

Hello everyone!

Im Renee and live in socal. I have a close friend who has two CDTs in need of a home. Our family is excited for the opportunity and I have been reading everything I can to prepare. Naturally, Im feeling nervous/anxious and want to "do this right" and feeling overwhelmed since reading this forum. I started by building a pen(12feet by 8 and a half feet) i choose this spot because its a dry spot(previous full of gravel) and surround by concrete(so they cant dig out) its about 16inches deep now that ive removed all the gravel. The torts are 30ish years old and 1ish years old. the older one being under 11/12" long and the younger about the size of my palm. I added a substrate of playsand, organic topsoil and peatmoss(i bought the ones recommended here in various posts.) I also created a south facing hide box with a plywood bottom and tiled slanted roof. I entended the roof out another foot and narrowed the opening with various size rocks and used galvanized landscape clothe to create a wall surrounding the box and opening(cutting and folding back the wire so they can get in but not on their box) I am constructing a lid with 2x4s and landscape cloth for the top( doing 4 3x8ish frames)
anyway before i saw picture here i thought my pen was just awesome and spacious over the 6ft dog run they live in now. but now im worried its way too small. my plan was to either put a che heater in the box(need to educate myself on where in the box or if this would even be safe) or a heated pet pad. or if I want to bring them in at night and keep them in a christmas tree tote with a sand/soil/moss substrate. ahhhh anyway ive already invensted over 500$ building this pen and am so worried its not going to work. ive layed it out to have a sand soil area/a rock/water area/ and then a small garden where im planting seeds for grasses greens etc and bought some ornamental grasses and suculants to plant(but now ive read i shouldnt use the ones from the nursery) torts were supoosed to move in yesterday but i put it off. someone please gently guide me? what do you think? im here to learn, please be kind

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Renee:

First of all...Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

Next...take a deep breath! It sounds like you've made a wonderful place for your new tortoises to live. If it turns out to be too small, maybe you can just adjust one of the fences. It may work out ok. I'd have to see a picture of the pen with the tortoises inside, to judge if I think its too small.

I say, "Go get 'em!!!"

 

[ascott]

Welcome to the Forum The We LOVE PICS

I think I am confused? Are you building an outdoor enclosure for them with winter coming on? How are they being kept now? There is a huge size difference in them that would concern me...especially if they end up being males....the size of the pen itself does not sound off at all...of course the bigger the better

 

[Jacqui]

I would be going ahead with the plants too, as they will be hibernating and not eating a lot of plants this time of year. That will give the plants a few months to lose some of their chemical content. Sounds like you have really been working hard for them. Almost forgot... Welcome!!

 

[Yvonne G]

Renee...Being in Southern California, your tortoises will probably be able to stay outside with a little supplemental heat in their house. We always recommend no hibernation the first year you have a tortoise, no matter how old he is. We would rather see you keep them "up" so you can get acquainted with them and their mannerisms and so you can be sure they are healthy enough to hibernate the second winter you have them.

 

[LittlefootNCera]

Yvonne, yes that was my plan(to keep them up this year) I live in upland and we have pretty mild weather here. Im leaning towards keeping them outside and purchasing the heated mat to lay in their hidebox.

They have been living together...the older guy outdoors exclusively with no supplemental heat and the younger goes outside by day and spends nights in a 20gal aqarium inside.

I will put on my big girl panties and admit i already planted the plants(aloe, ornamental grasses/fescue, kale, bell pepper plant, some herbs, collards and a few annuals...all purchased at lowes and cleaned following directions on another site by washing thouroughly and shaking off the soil and planting in a soft hole filled with new organic soil. I didnt admit this all in my first post because im rediculously sensative and didnt want to be flammed. This prompted my delay
in bringing them home because now im considering going outside and digging up all the plants my friend told me they will probably ignore the plants right now anyway and to leave them they are fine...but its posts here that are keeping me up at night ;-) ;-)

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[coreyc]

Hello Renee welcome to the forum

 

[dmmj]

Welcome I have a CDT and have had them for close to 20 years now. They are pretty awesome to have, and we promise to keep the flaming to a minimum.

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh Renee! I'm deeply hurt and troubled that you would think that our wonderful forum members would flame you!!!

To be perfectly honest with you, I never worry about "bought" plants. If I buy a plant for one of my habitats, I go ahead and plant it. If you're worried that the tortoises might come into contact with some sort of terrible poisons on the plant, then you can just make a barrier around it so they can't reach it.

And please...I want you to feel comfortable here. We allow different opinions on the forum. Unless someone has said something that we feel is harmful to tortoises, everyone is allowed to have their own opinions on tortoise-keeping. It helps to be able to see how people all over the world take care of their tortoises, taking it all in and making your own decision about what may or may not work for you. I hope none of us would EVER, ever make a new member feel uncomfortable.

 

[LittlefootNCera]

Thank you! I am here to learn afterall ;-) I appreciate the differences here and am thankful for the warm welcome! I am going to attempt attaching a few photos...they arent the best(taken w my cell phone)

 

[Utah Lynn]

Welcome Renee. Everyone here is here to help and advise or, even just chat. You won't get slammed by anyone here that I'm aware of.

 

[Torty Mom]

Welcome to TFO! I have a few CDT's also! I am totally enamoured with them! We are here to help ya, so don't worry ask away, we are troll free for the time being! Please post a picture so we can see your awesome set up! Sounds great!

 

[Yvonne G]

OMG! I can see how much work you put into that enclosure. It just looks great! Be sure to post pictures again when you put the tortoises in it. Good job!!

Don't feed them in the sand area. Sand sticks to the food and may cause impaction.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[LittlefootNCera]

Aw thankyou! I will be sure to share pictures early next week!

Should I put sand/peatmoss in their house? or leave the plywood floor bare? im going to order a small pig blanket.

 

[ascott]

That is a very cool looking space....I have a couple concerns (not bashing just sharing )

The hide? Is it water proof, since you are going to have the tortoise in there but not hibernating? Like if we have a week of solid rain like we did last year will that space fill up with water or become saturated?

I live in the high desert and while the weather is a bit more extreme up here than there in upland area it can get cold and wet for extended days and that would be my biggest concern, that is a lie, my equally big concern is the sand...not so great as a blanket cover like that IMHO...maybe muck it up a bit so that it becomes a "mix" with your top soil and earth...as it can increase the risk of impaction...

I would wonder if indoors for the little one you may want to use a 50 gallon rubbermaid tub that has substrate at near 6 inches deep so that the little one will get his practice in on the digging in action...

I wonder if on the top of the hide entrance you could maybe add a mound of good ole dirt to help insulate that spot some....you know?

 

[LittlefootNCera]

thank you Angela! yes its all getting mixed....there are layers of soil/the peatmoss and then sand(and my children are all trampling it "mucking it up" as they help me get the cover built) it looked very consistently sand because id gone to lowes and bought a few more bags and poured it that way to "look pretty" i know it wont last, and i do appreciate your thoughts. As for the hide box its under the overhang roof of my house and typically stays dry over there in the rain(which is why I put it over there) the way I constructed it is with a plywood floor and three boards making a |_| with the back board _ higher than the sides | and |. the roof slants down and to the right(and i hindged the back board so i can look in and or clean it out/heat it if need be)...which would drain off and run away from the box because of the grade. atleast that was the idea. then i wrapped each board in heavy weight landscape plastic and placed tiles over lapping to deflect and encourage the water to run off. Im thinking if we had any rain I could bring them both in into a large plastic bin....it was raining really heavy last week when i removed all the gravel(that was wet and messy!) and the corner where the box is now did stay dry. That area never has flooded before, but with all the gravel removed I could see that potential. though my hope is that it would just run out under the sides of the enclosure and down the concret patio.
as for the baby are you suggesting he/she stay inside just over night? if he is just in over night would i still want a heat source in the inside box? we keep it pretty warm inside our house about 74. thank you so much for your feed back!

BTW we have a rental house up in the high desert(we lived there years ago) and have friends in AV

 

[Yash Raj]

Welcome.

 

[Yvonne G]

If you're going to use a pig blanket then its probably a good idea not to have substrate in the house. They recommend not allowing anything on the pig blanket, and if you had substrate, you would be always in there cleaning it off.