seeking LOTS of (Home's?) hingeback help & advice

[Jacqui]

Interesting it contains some great items, but then it has some not great ones in my opinion like the green beans and peas. So why is it, they would give her the dry food over the fresh stuff? Just general ease or because it's a habit? The fresh is better on many different levels, but atleast they are giving her something.

 

[ErinB]

RE: seeking LOTS of (Home's?) hingeback help & advice

It's just a convenience thing. Freeze dried stuff won't go bad, and our family doesn't go grocery shopping often. It's very silly to me. I have a feeling that once I leave they'll stick with fresh foods for a while, then basically get lazy.

I noticed those weird ingredients too. I was especially surprised that corn showed up in everything, it doesn't strike me as something a tort should be eating regularly!

I'm out this morning, but my new stock tank should be here today. I can't wait!

 

[Jacqui]

RE: seeking LOTS of (Home's?) hingeback help & advice

I'm out this morning, but my new stock tank should be here today. I can't wait!

Yippy!!!

 

[CJSTorts]

I don't have any tips to add that have not already been said. I want to thank you for taking over her care and working so hard to make sure she is taken care of properly!

 

[ErinB]

RE: seeking LOTS of (Home's?) hingeback help & advice

Thank you! And thanks again to everyone who's helped and been so non-judgemental during this process

Also, still no sign of the tank, but I can't set it up until Saturday anyway bc my cousins are staying in my brother's room with their baby. Online tracking still says ETA yesterday but that it's "in transit"

 

[Jacqui]

Erin, there is really nothing for us to be judgmental about. The way I look at it is, what is in the past is in the past, nothing can be said or done to change it. What is important is what we do today. Today you are going out of your way and investing a lot of time, money and energy into making improvements. IF somebody were to be judgmental, to me that would in fact be working as a negative and could cause the person actively seeking help and advise to stop doing so. So stop worrying, your fine.

 

[ErinB]

I completely agree, Jacqui. The only reason I've been a little skittish (and probably a bit defensive!) from the beginning is because I know of other pet forums where even well-intentioned newbies are sometimes attacked instead of helped, and I had no idea what to expect when I posted here. In other places I've noticed that people doing research prior to getting an animal get their questions answered, but if someone already has an animal they are derided for not trying to fix things sooner. It just made me a bit nervous since I can totally understand being frustrated with someone who impulse buys an animal as if it's a toy and then doesn't bother to take good care of it. I think I just feel so guilty about it sometimes that I almost feel like I deserve someone to come out and just be mad at me, which I know is ridiculous!

Honestly though, "tortoise people" have been nothing but helpful and reasonable even as I've been frustrated by slow-moving plans and issues with cooperation. I just keep wanting to thank everyone over and over again for being so understanding, even if it seems like that's just how people should behave haha
I think that since everyone really has their own opinion, methods, and species that they know well here it really builds a good community. For example, with rats there are so many people that keep them incorrectly and just don't care or even like them that I think it tends to make people defensive.



On another note - it just dawned on me that I never posted any pictures of our outdoor enclosure/garden. I don't love that the water & shelter is in the middle of the enclosure, but it was planted before we started putting Jenny in there. She used to make a beeline for that cat carrier, but now she tends to hang out by the lettuce for a while (like in this picture) before heading to the far back corner to dig under the squash plants. I'm going to put some water down there too, since she's gotten more comfortable wandering around. She is completely uninterested in greens and a little bit of the squash plants won't hurt her, so that's alright. There are tomato and pepper plants in there which I don't think she should get close enough to try nibbling on, so I'm going to section them off.
Anything else I haven't thought of that I could work on out there as I continue to not-so-patiently await the new indoor enclosure?

ALSO also... What lights should I plan on using with the new tank? She currently has coil UVB bulb (is this the kind that is bad for her eyes?) and some unlabeled red heat bulb - UVB during the day so now that she's outside she doesn't get it often, and red heat all the time. We also have a combo pack of bulbs - these. Is some combination of these bulbs good, or should I look for something else?

 

[Itort]

A few more hints. When thinning blossums on squash plants, drop them to her. If you get tomato worms, let her have them. She may help keep garden pest free.

 

[NudistApple]

I don't like that particular combo pack of bulbs (or any, really). That one in particular has low wattage & is much more expensive than if you were to just buy the bulbs separately.

Yes, coil bulbs are the kind that can damage her eyes.

While she is able to get out in regular sunshine frequently you don't need to worry about providing UVB indoors, just a normal basking lamp will do it.
During the winter a MVB like the ones from Powersun, Exoterra or Acadia would be a good bet. They are high wattage enough to provide great basking spots & ambient temperature as well as being very good sources of UVB.

 

[Jacqui]

On adult hingebacks, I rarely have them with a light on them, even then most often it is only a long tubed kitchen light. I have a couple of UVB lights, I move around, but nobody gets them all the time. I also seldom have a heat light on them, as they do pretty well with just the natural summer temps and then in the winter I just keep the house hotter then the normal person does.

 

[Itort]

I handle mine the same as Jacqui. Inside the only light they get is from my skink tanks (on shelves over torts) and for supplimental heat CHE. The herp room is 80 degrees.

 

[NudistApple]

Well if you can keep it hotter that is awesome, but I doubt OPs parents will be cool overheating the house just for the tortoise, especially when she isn't around.

 

[Jacqui]

Actually hingebacks (or atleast mine) usually seem to do best at more "normal" human temps like 68-72. That is when mine tend to be most active and do the breeding thing.

 

[NudistApple]

I admittedly do not know about Hingebacks or their specific care requirements! Heh. I was just working on the idea that a lot of the tortoises seem to have relatively similar temperature requirements, but I stand duly corrected.

 

[Jacqui]

I admittedly do not know about Hingebacks or their specific care requirements! Heh. I was just working on the idea that a lot of the tortoises seem to have relatively similar temperature requirements, but I stand duly corrected.

Yeah and I agree, it would normally be actually pretty correct to apply the basics from one species to another of tortoise. These guys just don't tend to follow the "rules" very well. Even within the Hingeback label, the different types are not all the same care.

 

[ErinB]

I'm sorry that all I do is come here to complain, but... I came home from work to find no stock tank and Jenny in the garden with a fresh, painful-looking scab on her nose



Should I be worried about it?

Yesterday it stormed briefly in the morning, but I left Jenny outside while I kept an eye on her since she seemed to be enjoying it and it wasn't too bad. Today, I was at work and it stormed again so my mom brought her inside. I think Jenny must have done that to herself while back inside since she is so used to being out now. Is it really possible that she did that just rubbing her nose against the side of a tub?
I really don't know what to do tonight. I'm afraid that if I stick her back in the tub inside again she's going to do more damage, but I have nowhere else to keep her overnight and I feel like leaving her out in the bathroom or something would only be more stressful as it would be an entirely new environment. I can't wait for this whole ordeal to be over with!

 

[NudistApple]

Ouch! Her poor nose. You should probably just keep it clean, and maybe do a dab of triple antibiotic ointment. I guess it is possible that she did that while rubbing her nose, but it looks more like she actually caught it on something. Is it possible that she caught her face on the chicken wire somehow?

I hope that the stock tank arrives soon, ):

 

[Jacqui]

When your Mom brought her inside, she is sure it wasn't there?

 

[ErinB]

RE: seeking LOTS of (Home's?) hingeback help & advice

My mom says that when she brought her back outside after the storm she thought it was sweet potato on her face. It was more orange before, so it's possible she saw the orange scab and then this evening she ripped it open.

It would be an awfully weird place to catch on, but it's possible. She did already have a scab there, so I wonder if she didn't just rip open the scab rather than start a whole new injury. I'm home tomorrow so hopefully the tank will show up, or at the very least I can keep an eye on her and stick to the routine!

 

[Riverhorse]

Hi, I have a hingeback that looks a lot like yours and grew up in similar conditions. I thought I would mention a couple of things that have worked for me. I use a mixture of spaghnum peat moss (which looks like dirt not like moss) and Forest Floor. Sometimes I mix in Coconut coir. The peat moss will turn her brownish.
I don't use leaves because I have read that some are poisonous particularly the ones that are on the east coast. I have also read that tomato leaves and seeds are poisonous but the flesh of the tomato is okay. So you may want to move the tomato plants out.
I found out that UVB lights stop providing UVB between 3 and 6 months. and a good pet store will test your bulb to see if it is still sending out the UVB. It also needs to be 12" from the tortoise. If it is farther away, the tortoise gets less UVB. I keep the tank at 80 degrees with hot spot of 85 and she does better in a cooler tank. She likes 80 percent humidity. which was a challenge. I bought a Mister that is on a timer. Huge help. We feed her about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped vegetables and a piece of protein once a week. We sprinkle calcium on her food once a week although your cuttlefish seems well used so you may not need it. I think her legs will need their strength built up with exercise. As mine did. A portion of food will include 40%mushroom, 40% dandelion, mazuri or mustard green, 10% zucchini, and 10% sweet potato (cooked or raw but grated fine)or 10% orange/yellow/red bell pepper. We started by mincing all her food and worked up to thin slices of mushroom and zucchini. She loves fruit but makes her poop loose so i limit it to once a week and the size of a Hershey's kiss. No cherries ever. Certain flowers are fine,Hibiscus pansy rose petals. No hostas, no hydrangea. There is a long list of poisonous foods.
Occassionally we will give her grasses in the form of ZooMed forest tortoise food, a pellet that needs to be soaked.

The animal protein we give her comes in cans. Can O'snails, Can O'crickets, etc. or live from the pet store Mealworms. from the garden: earthworms, slugs.

We bought "Tortoise House" and built an addition on it of about 15". We really wish it had a plastic floor. (We also sealed it with varnish because we think the cedar vapors from the wood were making her wheeze. )
So it sounds like your habitat might be perfect.

We found that plastic plants worked best, but I love to put a tall fern in and sometimes fresh moss. The real plants die in the heat of the tank.
or they are trampled. She likes to eat Coleus.

Sounds like you are doing great. And I am so relieved to know that someone has a hingeback whose hinges look like the ones on Pearl! She expressed her happiness by laying a clutch of 4 eggs in March.

Hope this helps.