I'm new to tortoises, and got a little in over my head, and am quickly back-peddling to do it right.
I have 4 tortoises, and will soon have 4 separate enclosures for each one. I have one male Russian, one female Russian, one Female Greek, and one unknown Leopard.
The Leopard is a juvenile and in an enclosed indoor enclosure - similar to ones posed in this forum by Tom. "Her" name is Cheetah, but I'm not sure she is a she. However, I'm still trying to understand how long she needs to be in the enclosed enclosure. She's just under 4 inches. From what I've read, it sounds like she is ok to go to an outdoor enclosure during the summer, and either use a warming night hide or take her inside. Until I get the night hide built, I'll probably bring her in. Plus, I'm in Colorado - so we have very bi-polar weather, so it will be easier during this transition from Spring to Summer to bring her in and out until temperatures stabilize more. The outdoor enclosure is awesome - I'll get pictures posted. Its 84 sq ft, covered with secure wire and locks. Lots of plants, I use the grazing tortoise mix from CarolinePetSupply.com to plant up the area. Then I'm going to add some squash seeds, hibiscus, and Johnny jump-ups. My neighbors look at me like I'm crazy because I get excited with all the dandelions growing in our rock areas of our yards because I dig them up and re-plant them in the enclosure (we don't treat them with weed killer since I do this).
The others each have 36 sq ft enclosures (although I'm in the process of still building one of them) and each have the Russian grazing mix from the same store, and those are coming up nicely, plus I have a forsythia in one of the enclosures, more hibiscus, Johnny jump-ups, dandelions, and squash. All three are adults - the Greek was supposed to be a Russian, but she was my first and I didn't realize Petsmart labeled her wrong - oops! The other two are adoptees from a local reptile humane society. All are great, we did refrigerated hibernation this last winter and the Greek did the best. I need to tweak my system this coming winter for the other two so they do better. Then everyone has indoor enclosures, but I need to expand the Russians/Greek's so they each have larger, separate enclosures. The Russians are Olga and Vladimir and the Greek is Bornasha (because we were sure she was a she when we got her, so Natasha, but then at her check-up the vet said it was he, so we thought Boris; so now it's Bornasha - but maybe we should scrap it all together and go with a neutral Greek name, any ideas??)
Any ideas of a good vine plant, hopefully with flowers, to grow outdoors? Other than bindweed?
Glad to be here!
I have 4 tortoises, and will soon have 4 separate enclosures for each one. I have one male Russian, one female Russian, one Female Greek, and one unknown Leopard.
The Leopard is a juvenile and in an enclosed indoor enclosure - similar to ones posed in this forum by Tom. "Her" name is Cheetah, but I'm not sure she is a she. However, I'm still trying to understand how long she needs to be in the enclosed enclosure. She's just under 4 inches. From what I've read, it sounds like she is ok to go to an outdoor enclosure during the summer, and either use a warming night hide or take her inside. Until I get the night hide built, I'll probably bring her in. Plus, I'm in Colorado - so we have very bi-polar weather, so it will be easier during this transition from Spring to Summer to bring her in and out until temperatures stabilize more. The outdoor enclosure is awesome - I'll get pictures posted. Its 84 sq ft, covered with secure wire and locks. Lots of plants, I use the grazing tortoise mix from CarolinePetSupply.com to plant up the area. Then I'm going to add some squash seeds, hibiscus, and Johnny jump-ups. My neighbors look at me like I'm crazy because I get excited with all the dandelions growing in our rock areas of our yards because I dig them up and re-plant them in the enclosure (we don't treat them with weed killer since I do this).
The others each have 36 sq ft enclosures (although I'm in the process of still building one of them) and each have the Russian grazing mix from the same store, and those are coming up nicely, plus I have a forsythia in one of the enclosures, more hibiscus, Johnny jump-ups, dandelions, and squash. All three are adults - the Greek was supposed to be a Russian, but she was my first and I didn't realize Petsmart labeled her wrong - oops! The other two are adoptees from a local reptile humane society. All are great, we did refrigerated hibernation this last winter and the Greek did the best. I need to tweak my system this coming winter for the other two so they do better. Then everyone has indoor enclosures, but I need to expand the Russians/Greek's so they each have larger, separate enclosures. The Russians are Olga and Vladimir and the Greek is Bornasha (because we were sure she was a she when we got her, so Natasha, but then at her check-up the vet said it was he, so we thought Boris; so now it's Bornasha - but maybe we should scrap it all together and go with a neutral Greek name, any ideas??)
Any ideas of a good vine plant, hopefully with flowers, to grow outdoors? Other than bindweed?
Glad to be here!