- Joined
- Jul 9, 2009
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- 53
Pablo (Russian Tortoise) is really starting to show his personality after only being home with us for 1 day. Today he crawled onto my palm when I slowly put it into his enclosure. I'd like to post some pictures and describe his set up to see if you all think it's adequate. He's spoiled already!
He's in a large rubbermaid tote which measures 3 feet 6 inches by 1foot 8 inches. (He's about 2 years old, so still not full grown.) We had two endtables from our old apartment that we weren't using, so we put those together and put the tote on them so that it wouldn't be on the floor. I've read on this site and in my tort book that drafts are really bad!
He has a large water bowl that has a built-in ramp. We have a Britta filter on our faucet, so he gets clean filtered water twice a day. I make sure it's not too cold or hot... pretty much room temp. Today he went for a little swim and he even peed for the first time! (It's the little things that excite me! hehe!)
For a substrate, I made a mixture of about 70% top soil (no fertilizers or pesticides added, of course) and 30% playground sand (from Home Depot, so it's new and clean). On top of that, is some type of repti-bark that I'm not sure of the brand. It was in his temporary 10 gallon tank that my friend was keeping Pablo in for a few days till we were able to "adopt" him yesterday. My friend has several torts and reptiles and this is the stuff that he uses, so I'm pretty sure it's not cedar or pine or anything dangerous. I'll have to ask him what specifically it is. I have a spray bottle so that I can mist the substrate every other day or so to make sure it doesn't dry out.
At one end of the tote, there are some rocks for him to bask on . Above the rocks is a "Repta Sun Incandescent 75 Watt Basking Bulb" We had a 50W bulb yesterday, but the basking area only got up to about 80-82 degrees, so we decided to try a high wattage. Now that end gets up to 88 degrees or so. On the other end of the enclosure, near his water bowl, is an "Exo Terra repti Glo 5.0 Compact 26W" bulb so he gets UVB. That end of the enclosure is around 75 degrees. We don't have an outdoor pen for him yet... but both yesterday and today we took him out for quite some time to get some exercise and natural light. We're thinking of getting some type of "play pen" type thing with overhead netting for protection so that he can stay out longer each day.. and we hope to start working on a more permanent outdoor enclosure for him soon.
Finally, there is a terracotta clay pot for him to use as a hide. So far he hasn't gone into it yet, but maybe he'll "discover" it soon.
I have two questions right as of right now regarding the enclosure:
1. Should the UVB bulb and the basking light be at the same end? I noticed he spends way more time at the basking end than the other end.
2. So far no poops (We just got him at 11AM on Friday, so it's been less than 2 days).. .but I plan to spot clean his enclosure every day. How often should I totally empty out the substrate and put in new stuff?
Thanks for taking the time to review Pablo's new home. I want to make sure he's happy and healthy!
He's in a large rubbermaid tote which measures 3 feet 6 inches by 1foot 8 inches. (He's about 2 years old, so still not full grown.) We had two endtables from our old apartment that we weren't using, so we put those together and put the tote on them so that it wouldn't be on the floor. I've read on this site and in my tort book that drafts are really bad!
He has a large water bowl that has a built-in ramp. We have a Britta filter on our faucet, so he gets clean filtered water twice a day. I make sure it's not too cold or hot... pretty much room temp. Today he went for a little swim and he even peed for the first time! (It's the little things that excite me! hehe!)
For a substrate, I made a mixture of about 70% top soil (no fertilizers or pesticides added, of course) and 30% playground sand (from Home Depot, so it's new and clean). On top of that, is some type of repti-bark that I'm not sure of the brand. It was in his temporary 10 gallon tank that my friend was keeping Pablo in for a few days till we were able to "adopt" him yesterday. My friend has several torts and reptiles and this is the stuff that he uses, so I'm pretty sure it's not cedar or pine or anything dangerous. I'll have to ask him what specifically it is. I have a spray bottle so that I can mist the substrate every other day or so to make sure it doesn't dry out.
At one end of the tote, there are some rocks for him to bask on . Above the rocks is a "Repta Sun Incandescent 75 Watt Basking Bulb" We had a 50W bulb yesterday, but the basking area only got up to about 80-82 degrees, so we decided to try a high wattage. Now that end gets up to 88 degrees or so. On the other end of the enclosure, near his water bowl, is an "Exo Terra repti Glo 5.0 Compact 26W" bulb so he gets UVB. That end of the enclosure is around 75 degrees. We don't have an outdoor pen for him yet... but both yesterday and today we took him out for quite some time to get some exercise and natural light. We're thinking of getting some type of "play pen" type thing with overhead netting for protection so that he can stay out longer each day.. and we hope to start working on a more permanent outdoor enclosure for him soon.
Finally, there is a terracotta clay pot for him to use as a hide. So far he hasn't gone into it yet, but maybe he'll "discover" it soon.
I have two questions right as of right now regarding the enclosure:
1. Should the UVB bulb and the basking light be at the same end? I noticed he spends way more time at the basking end than the other end.
2. So far no poops (We just got him at 11AM on Friday, so it's been less than 2 days).. .but I plan to spot clean his enclosure every day. How often should I totally empty out the substrate and put in new stuff?
Thanks for taking the time to review Pablo's new home. I want to make sure he's happy and healthy!
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