Newbie

[Izzi]

Hi
My name is Su and my newly arrived Leopard is Izzi. I have only had her since Friday and am totally in love and addicted to her! I have a lot to learn about Torts and have already learned a lot from this forum, thanks so much! I bought Izzi and vivarium from a pet shop (I know!!) but after scouring this forum, already in the process of making a 4.6ft square tort table. Please excuse me if my name appears often asking questions as everything, seems complicated at the moment and just want to do what is right for my Izzi.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Su:

to the forum!

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

Su a warm welcome to you and Izzi. Ask away we don't mind answering questions at all. Looking forward to hearing of Izzi's adventures and seeing Pictures.

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum Su

Danny

 

[terryo]

Welcome Su and Izzi..........Post some pictures of Izzi if you can...everyone loves pictures.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the forum! I love Izzi as a name. Looking forward to pictures! That's awesome you are making a tort table. Let us know how we can help.

That table sounds small to me for the long run. My opinion would be to make a larger table and block part of it off for now if it's too big, as the table needs to grow with the tort. How old is she? That table sounds rather small for a Leopard except for a young one. A nice table can take days of work so my opinion is to make a nice one the first time and only end up building one or two as the tort grows. Some people probably like building things more than I do though...

How much space do you have to work with? Have you thought of doing two stories eventually? Type of wood? Shape (rectangular is liked by torts sometimes more than square)? Make sure to make the walls high enough for lots of substrate, and allowing the tort to climb on cage furnishings without nearing the top.

If you describe and/or take pictures of your current set up that would be awesome!

 

[Izzi]

Thanks for the lovely welcome!
Izzi is just under 2 years so I think there will be enough room as adding the viv, (permanently open) as her warm area. I don't have a lot of space to work with, I have removed my DP's gym to make room, went down really well at first but he is now coming round lol!
Hoping in the future to get the garden sorted and make her an outside area, though living in England it will be weather permitting! The table will be 4.6ft square as it is the only way I can give her more space, I am limited to the 4.6ft length.
Question? I could not get hold of any organic top soil so got screened and sterilised, will that be okay? I have mixed it with play sand and allowing it to dry out? I have tried to add pictures but will have to work out how lol!
Looking forward to hearing from you all and thanks again for the warm welcome!

 

[tortoisenerd]

Ohhh 4.6 ft by 4.6 ft! That's great (21.6 sq ft). I thought you meant an area of 4.6 square feet. If Izzi is really small (as I think a juvenile her age would be) you may block off half or whatever for now so the enclosure grows as she does. If that's as big as you can provide then you can't give her all the space at once. That actually sounds like too much for her current size anyways. Sorry I'm an engineer...

Read the bag of soil carefully. That only says what they did to the soil, not what's in it. Many come with fertilizer in it that is harmful. You really need organic, or stuff that has not been exposed to pesticides/fertilizers for at least 6 months. I would not use it without very carefully reading the bag and making sure it is all natural and organic. Most of us spend a lot of time shopping around for the special tort stuff.

Otherwise, use another substrate such as coconut fiber, Cyprus mulch, orchid bark, etc. Yes you want the soil to dry out a bit so it is moist but not wet (no water should come out if you squeeze it). You should need to add more water a little at a time and mix it up to maintain the moisture, especially under heat sources.

Is the enclosure up off the floor? Looking forward to pictures!

Try this thread for picture instructions: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-1408.html

Best wishes!

 

[Tortuslvr]

I had a beautiful red foot named Izzabella, Izzie for short but she became a he and now is called Dozer