Alright guys, ya'll know me. I'm the guy with the marginated tortoises. Now, I don't know how many of you follow my threads and posts, but I've been debating getting a large tropical tortoise for some time. First, I was considering getting another sulcata after the untimely demise of my beloved Jerry (God rest him). Then, I was considering getting a South African leopard tortoise. For the longest time, I've been weighing the pros and cons between the two. I've been hemming and hawing, back and forth, as to whether or not I wanted to invest the work and dollars into a large, heated night box with greenhouse attachment and all the lighting and electrical that would go into it. I'm also not a twenty something anymore, and the idea of loading a stubborn sulcata into a barrow and moving him back to the greenhouse didn't fill me with glee, despite the fact that virtually every other aspect of care definitely did. I've also found a certain solace in keeping what is essentially a single species group (I mean, there's Graecus, the ibera outlier, but his care is so similar to the margies that, really, he's just another Eastern Mediterranean Testudo (and a robust one at that), so it really hasn't felt like too much of a difference in protocol. I feed and water Graecus last, and I just make sure to wash my hands before and after I deal with him. Very simple.
But I don't know. Over the past few years, I've just been getting that itch to get a good sized African tortoise. You guys know how that is. I longed for the familiar with sulcatas, but also felt I could satisfy this curious inclination with something new, a new type of tortoise whose company I've yet to experience, whose needs I've yet to attend, which is what drew my interest to the South Africans. I've read so much of what Tom has posted on both of these guys, and on so many occasions, I've felt both that vicarious living through his experiences with these beasts is such a joy, but at the same time, something I would like to experience again first hand.
So, this gets me to the rads. I've been doing well in my business, and I finally got all the initial preparations done to expand to another location with my two partners. Career wise, my life has been going astoundingly well. I am an incredibly fortunate person. And yesterday, I was given even greater news that made my life just that much better. My partners have thrown in together to get me a radiated tortoise. They've set up arrangements with a gent in Houston, and I'm driving over there to pick one out. As soon as I heard this news, I started pulling some of my old heat panels out of the closet, along with one of those big Christmas tree tubs from the container store and some old cork bark bits that haven't seen the light in close to half a decade. Now, I've get a coir bedded setup with corkbark hides and a plastic humid hide box. The top will be open during the day in my reptile room (with the 300 gallon stock tank heated to a constant 82 F, the humidity is generally around seventy five percent, with a base air temperature around 80), with a screen top, over which will place a MVB in a ceramic socket. After an evening bath for the little guy, I will place a cover over the enclosure to allow the humidity to build. During the winter, the background temp tends to fall into the lower seventies during the winter, so I planned on dealing with this via the heat panels. I will install one inside the lid so that at night, the tortoise's home temp won't drop below eighty, controlled by a VE thermostat with a probe. I've got a predator proof baby pen that I haven't used this year that will serve as his outdoor enclosure. It's heavily planted already, but I'm going to see about transplanting some mixed grasses that I have in part of Jerry's old enclosure that is no longer in use. The pen is only four by six, as all of my baby pens are, but too much bigger would be difficult to cover. Plus, I don't want the kid getting lost. There isn't a heated night box in any of my baby pens, but given that I bring them indoors every evening, I didn't figure this would be an issue, especially given the high temps we are currently experiencing. Of course, I have these pens situated beneath the shade of a large Pakistani mulberry, so the pens only receive direct morning sun and then a spattering of sunlight after this during the summer. I love Paki mulberries, given the fact that during the winter, they lose their leaves, and their relatively thin branches allow for the sun to shine through, even on the chilliest of south Texas winter days (which are downright warm compared to you more northerly folk). But yes, I think I'm covering all the bases here.
I'm posting here just to see if there's any advice rad keepers can give me. I'm no novice when it comes to tortoise care, but I've never been so fortunate to keep this particular species. If it turns out I enjoy keeping rads (and whats more, if it turns out I'm actually good at it), then I will consider getting more of them to perhaps start a colony of my own (one that will, if all goes well, start producing when I'm probably in my fifties). But I don't want to jump the gun. I can't wait for Sunday when I can bring this little one home.
T.G.
But I don't know. Over the past few years, I've just been getting that itch to get a good sized African tortoise. You guys know how that is. I longed for the familiar with sulcatas, but also felt I could satisfy this curious inclination with something new, a new type of tortoise whose company I've yet to experience, whose needs I've yet to attend, which is what drew my interest to the South Africans. I've read so much of what Tom has posted on both of these guys, and on so many occasions, I've felt both that vicarious living through his experiences with these beasts is such a joy, but at the same time, something I would like to experience again first hand.
So, this gets me to the rads. I've been doing well in my business, and I finally got all the initial preparations done to expand to another location with my two partners. Career wise, my life has been going astoundingly well. I am an incredibly fortunate person. And yesterday, I was given even greater news that made my life just that much better. My partners have thrown in together to get me a radiated tortoise. They've set up arrangements with a gent in Houston, and I'm driving over there to pick one out. As soon as I heard this news, I started pulling some of my old heat panels out of the closet, along with one of those big Christmas tree tubs from the container store and some old cork bark bits that haven't seen the light in close to half a decade. Now, I've get a coir bedded setup with corkbark hides and a plastic humid hide box. The top will be open during the day in my reptile room (with the 300 gallon stock tank heated to a constant 82 F, the humidity is generally around seventy five percent, with a base air temperature around 80), with a screen top, over which will place a MVB in a ceramic socket. After an evening bath for the little guy, I will place a cover over the enclosure to allow the humidity to build. During the winter, the background temp tends to fall into the lower seventies during the winter, so I planned on dealing with this via the heat panels. I will install one inside the lid so that at night, the tortoise's home temp won't drop below eighty, controlled by a VE thermostat with a probe. I've got a predator proof baby pen that I haven't used this year that will serve as his outdoor enclosure. It's heavily planted already, but I'm going to see about transplanting some mixed grasses that I have in part of Jerry's old enclosure that is no longer in use. The pen is only four by six, as all of my baby pens are, but too much bigger would be difficult to cover. Plus, I don't want the kid getting lost. There isn't a heated night box in any of my baby pens, but given that I bring them indoors every evening, I didn't figure this would be an issue, especially given the high temps we are currently experiencing. Of course, I have these pens situated beneath the shade of a large Pakistani mulberry, so the pens only receive direct morning sun and then a spattering of sunlight after this during the summer. I love Paki mulberries, given the fact that during the winter, they lose their leaves, and their relatively thin branches allow for the sun to shine through, even on the chilliest of south Texas winter days (which are downright warm compared to you more northerly folk). But yes, I think I'm covering all the bases here.
I'm posting here just to see if there's any advice rad keepers can give me. I'm no novice when it comes to tortoise care, but I've never been so fortunate to keep this particular species. If it turns out I enjoy keeping rads (and whats more, if it turns out I'm actually good at it), then I will consider getting more of them to perhaps start a colony of my own (one that will, if all goes well, start producing when I'm probably in my fifties). But I don't want to jump the gun. I can't wait for Sunday when I can bring this little one home.
T.G.