Hi everybody,
First of all, thank you all very much for all the wonderful information you have given me on this form about proper tortoise care. I am the proud owner of two yearling leopard tortoises and we just finished making a new winter table for them. When we decided to have tortoises as pets, I thought I knew how to take care of them but I quickly found out (thanks to this forum!) that they have very specific needs and providing a proper habitat for them can be a daunting task. However once I got into it, it has actually become fun to think about how to create different temperature and humidity zones in a limited space.
The first decision I had to make was to give them a closed or open table. I really liked the idea of an open table because it makes the tortoises more part of our family if you can pet them without having to open a lid or door, however it makes it extremely difficult to maintain proper humidity and temperature levels to prevent pyramiding. The more I observed the tortoises the more I realized that they actually enjoy being stimulated by small changes in their home. I am not quite sure if tortoise can experience emotions like excitement and boredom, but my two torts will investigate immediately when I change as much as a plant in their enclosure.
What I did was the following. I decided to create a "modular" table
created from common seed trays.
The seedtrays allow me to grow grass and plants for them and I can exchange the trays easily without making a mess. Everyday I exchange one seed tray in the table with a new one. It gives the plants in the seedtray the chance to "recover" from the tortoises and it gives the tortoises fresh food and something "interesting" to explore. My table exists out of 6 trays making it a total size of 6 x 2 feet.
One tray is the "wet tray" and I put an under the tank heat mat on the bottom of it. Then I put in 2 smaller trays on top of the under tank heater (Since there is no direct contact between water and the heat mat it should eliminate the chance of the torts getting electrocuted!). One of the small trays serves as a water area (pond) and the other one as the humid hide.
The Humid hide (or steam room as we call it) was a challenge. I filled up the tray with wet spagnum moss, used a radiant heat panel as a "roof" and then covered the sides with thick shower curtain which I "attached" to the roof using velcro. I then cut in the shower curtain into a few strips creating a way for the tortoises to walk in and out as they please. Objective of this area is to keep it warm and humid! Do not cut in the shower curtain all the way to the top, the strips will start to "stick" together creating openings and allowing the heat and moisture to escape. I also added a Zoo Med repti fogger in the steam room and use a Zoo Med Hygro Therm Humidity and Temperature controller to keep the humidity at 80% and the temperature at 92 degrees. My torts were "suspicious" about the fogger initially, so I started them off by putting it on a low setting and gradually increased the frequency of the fogger being active. My two torts will use the humid hide as a sleep area. They will go in there around 8.30 in the evening when the lights turn off and will get out around 7.30 in the morning when they wake up. It appears to prevent pyramiding perfectly !
The other half of the wet tray is the "pond" as we call it. We filled it up with rocks and put a small "dwarf pennyworth" mat in there. The water is heated a little by the under the tank heatmat and the fact that you can take out the pond-tray makes it easy to change the water. I still give them daily soaks and as far as we can tell, they are not using the pond to do their business in. They just drink from it and occasionally take a dip.
The table is then followed by 4 trays of grass and weeds. I use grasses from the Carolina Petsupply (Broad leaf mix, Clover, Grazing Tortoise seed mix, oat grass, timothy grass, wheat grass) and I have had great success growing grass mats using Jonathan Green fast growing grass seeds.
In the "grassland" I have created a basking spot using a slate tile and 2 exa terra solar-glo High intensity self ballasted UV/Heat Mercury Vapor Lamps (160 watt).
The last tray is a "dry" tray where I have added 3 different plants in their pots filling the tray up using Zoo Med Floor Bedding. Since the torts will nibble from the plants so I "rotate" the plants on the table so they can "recover" This area serves as a hide and they appear to love it when the leaves stroke their carapace.
Lastly I created a "gutter" where I can put all the cables for the electrical equipment I need and where I "store" the plants that I am not using in the table at the moment (I leave them all in their pots so exchanging them is a breeze!).
The amount of greens on the table creates a lot of food for the tortoises, but I still give them fresh greens, cactus leaf, aloe Vera, mazuri and zoomed. I also add calcium and Nutribac for their extra vitamins.
Please let me know your thoughts and improvements and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards
Juliette
First of all, thank you all very much for all the wonderful information you have given me on this form about proper tortoise care. I am the proud owner of two yearling leopard tortoises and we just finished making a new winter table for them. When we decided to have tortoises as pets, I thought I knew how to take care of them but I quickly found out (thanks to this forum!) that they have very specific needs and providing a proper habitat for them can be a daunting task. However once I got into it, it has actually become fun to think about how to create different temperature and humidity zones in a limited space.
The first decision I had to make was to give them a closed or open table. I really liked the idea of an open table because it makes the tortoises more part of our family if you can pet them without having to open a lid or door, however it makes it extremely difficult to maintain proper humidity and temperature levels to prevent pyramiding. The more I observed the tortoises the more I realized that they actually enjoy being stimulated by small changes in their home. I am not quite sure if tortoise can experience emotions like excitement and boredom, but my two torts will investigate immediately when I change as much as a plant in their enclosure.
What I did was the following. I decided to create a "modular" table
created from common seed trays.
The seedtrays allow me to grow grass and plants for them and I can exchange the trays easily without making a mess. Everyday I exchange one seed tray in the table with a new one. It gives the plants in the seedtray the chance to "recover" from the tortoises and it gives the tortoises fresh food and something "interesting" to explore. My table exists out of 6 trays making it a total size of 6 x 2 feet.
One tray is the "wet tray" and I put an under the tank heat mat on the bottom of it. Then I put in 2 smaller trays on top of the under tank heater (Since there is no direct contact between water and the heat mat it should eliminate the chance of the torts getting electrocuted!). One of the small trays serves as a water area (pond) and the other one as the humid hide.
The Humid hide (or steam room as we call it) was a challenge. I filled up the tray with wet spagnum moss, used a radiant heat panel as a "roof" and then covered the sides with thick shower curtain which I "attached" to the roof using velcro. I then cut in the shower curtain into a few strips creating a way for the tortoises to walk in and out as they please. Objective of this area is to keep it warm and humid! Do not cut in the shower curtain all the way to the top, the strips will start to "stick" together creating openings and allowing the heat and moisture to escape. I also added a Zoo Med repti fogger in the steam room and use a Zoo Med Hygro Therm Humidity and Temperature controller to keep the humidity at 80% and the temperature at 92 degrees. My torts were "suspicious" about the fogger initially, so I started them off by putting it on a low setting and gradually increased the frequency of the fogger being active. My two torts will use the humid hide as a sleep area. They will go in there around 8.30 in the evening when the lights turn off and will get out around 7.30 in the morning when they wake up. It appears to prevent pyramiding perfectly !
The other half of the wet tray is the "pond" as we call it. We filled it up with rocks and put a small "dwarf pennyworth" mat in there. The water is heated a little by the under the tank heatmat and the fact that you can take out the pond-tray makes it easy to change the water. I still give them daily soaks and as far as we can tell, they are not using the pond to do their business in. They just drink from it and occasionally take a dip.
The table is then followed by 4 trays of grass and weeds. I use grasses from the Carolina Petsupply (Broad leaf mix, Clover, Grazing Tortoise seed mix, oat grass, timothy grass, wheat grass) and I have had great success growing grass mats using Jonathan Green fast growing grass seeds.
In the "grassland" I have created a basking spot using a slate tile and 2 exa terra solar-glo High intensity self ballasted UV/Heat Mercury Vapor Lamps (160 watt).
The last tray is a "dry" tray where I have added 3 different plants in their pots filling the tray up using Zoo Med Floor Bedding. Since the torts will nibble from the plants so I "rotate" the plants on the table so they can "recover" This area serves as a hide and they appear to love it when the leaves stroke their carapace.
Lastly I created a "gutter" where I can put all the cables for the electrical equipment I need and where I "store" the plants that I am not using in the table at the moment (I leave them all in their pots so exchanging them is a breeze!).
The amount of greens on the table creates a lot of food for the tortoises, but I still give them fresh greens, cactus leaf, aloe Vera, mazuri and zoomed. I also add calcium and Nutribac for their extra vitamins.
Please let me know your thoughts and improvements and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards
Juliette
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