Well we've only had torts for three months, but we've learned one of the cardinal rules -- that we'll be forever tinkering with the enclosures.
We recently made some changes to the outdoor enclosure for our juvenile CDTs, and I'd love some feedback.
Before we had one big burrow that received afternoon sun and a few different aboveground hides scattered around the enclosure.The main problems with it were -- we couldn't easily access the torts,
Doh! Hit send too soon. Anyway, in the remodel, we built two smaller quasi burrows, dug a foot down and lined and covered them with concrete pavers which we can lift off to access the torts. We put another layer of plywood on top when it's hot or rainy. We have a few inches of dirt, covered by a few inches of orchid bark as the flooring in there.
We also moved the burrows to the end of the enclosure that gets morning sun, and switched their orientation so they face east.
A couple questions:
1) I'd like to add plants that we won't have to water so much that the burrows get damp. (One thing we learned from round 1). Suggestions for the sunny, hot San Fernando Valley?
2) Even though we put them to bed in separate burrows every night, the torts always end up in the same one by mid-day. Does it matter?
Here are pix of the new setup:
One other thing. That tort is Morticia, the 3-year-old. She was asleep in the burrow when I pulled her out to model the scale. She wanted me to tell you that, because she feels she has bedhead in that picture and she's really annoyed that I took it. It's a darn good thing there was some hibiscus in it for her.
We recently made some changes to the outdoor enclosure for our juvenile CDTs, and I'd love some feedback.
Before we had one big burrow that received afternoon sun and a few different aboveground hides scattered around the enclosure.The main problems with it were -- we couldn't easily access the torts,
Doh! Hit send too soon. Anyway, in the remodel, we built two smaller quasi burrows, dug a foot down and lined and covered them with concrete pavers which we can lift off to access the torts. We put another layer of plywood on top when it's hot or rainy. We have a few inches of dirt, covered by a few inches of orchid bark as the flooring in there.
We also moved the burrows to the end of the enclosure that gets morning sun, and switched their orientation so they face east.
A couple questions:
1) I'd like to add plants that we won't have to water so much that the burrows get damp. (One thing we learned from round 1). Suggestions for the sunny, hot San Fernando Valley?
2) Even though we put them to bed in separate burrows every night, the torts always end up in the same one by mid-day. Does it matter?
Here are pix of the new setup:
One other thing. That tort is Morticia, the 3-year-old. She was asleep in the burrow when I pulled her out to model the scale. She wanted me to tell you that, because she feels she has bedhead in that picture and she's really annoyed that I took it. It's a darn good thing there was some hibiscus in it for her.
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