Hi: I live in the San Francisco Bay area, where we have many micro-climates. It can be up to 20 degrees F cooler or hotter, just 10 miles from my house, for instance.
I'm the proud new adopted mother of a teeny baby redfoot from a feed and seed store. Hir (don't know if it's a she or he at this point) name is Gibson Sunburst, and yes we are all guitar players in my family - and now a tortle keeper too. It's hard to say "tortoise" all the time so we call Gibby our Tortle.
He is sleeping a LOT and I appreciate the public domain threads about baby torts sleeping a lot, thank you! The only thing I have left to try is a MV UVB bulb instead of the compact fluorescent UVB bulb we originally purchased.
I currently have two hides- one cool side one hot side, and a lot of edible plants in 2" pots (the leaves droop when I mist the habitat and Gibby can eat the leaves without danger of being poisened.) I've got about a 4:1 mix right now of cypress bark and coconut coir. The temp is between 70F at night to around 92F during the day, during the hottest part of the day.
Gibby was housed, very dangerously, with two rambunctious, older sulcatas when I noticed him. He was huddled in the corner, tucked in his shell, with the desert sun beating down on him and very little water- the flat water dish was under the desert-style heat bulb. The sulcata babies were frolicking and happy and eating all the food while Gibby tried to tuck up and stay humid. He was also walking on hard-packed pelleted bedding, like you would have for a hamster.
So- he's happy when he's out of the "sun" and humid, I"ve noticed.
Also according to this forum, I've taken him out in the yard and watched him the entire time. (He can really move when he gets going over a flat surface- it doesn't surprise me that people say they looked away for a few seconds and now can't find their torts in their yards.)
Yesterday he ran down, and ate, a shell-less snail.
I'm a long-time bird keeper. It is amazing how similar the life forms are between reptiles and birds. All similar to dinosaurs, I'm told by my biology friends. :>)
Mantissa3
I'm the proud new adopted mother of a teeny baby redfoot from a feed and seed store. Hir (don't know if it's a she or he at this point) name is Gibson Sunburst, and yes we are all guitar players in my family - and now a tortle keeper too. It's hard to say "tortoise" all the time so we call Gibby our Tortle.
He is sleeping a LOT and I appreciate the public domain threads about baby torts sleeping a lot, thank you! The only thing I have left to try is a MV UVB bulb instead of the compact fluorescent UVB bulb we originally purchased.
I currently have two hides- one cool side one hot side, and a lot of edible plants in 2" pots (the leaves droop when I mist the habitat and Gibby can eat the leaves without danger of being poisened.) I've got about a 4:1 mix right now of cypress bark and coconut coir. The temp is between 70F at night to around 92F during the day, during the hottest part of the day.
Gibby was housed, very dangerously, with two rambunctious, older sulcatas when I noticed him. He was huddled in the corner, tucked in his shell, with the desert sun beating down on him and very little water- the flat water dish was under the desert-style heat bulb. The sulcata babies were frolicking and happy and eating all the food while Gibby tried to tuck up and stay humid. He was also walking on hard-packed pelleted bedding, like you would have for a hamster.
So- he's happy when he's out of the "sun" and humid, I"ve noticed.
Also according to this forum, I've taken him out in the yard and watched him the entire time. (He can really move when he gets going over a flat surface- it doesn't surprise me that people say they looked away for a few seconds and now can't find their torts in their yards.)
Yesterday he ran down, and ate, a shell-less snail.
I'm a long-time bird keeper. It is amazing how similar the life forms are between reptiles and birds. All similar to dinosaurs, I'm told by my biology friends. :>)
Mantissa3
