Using rocks from the street?

[Akuma]

I have a strange rare tortoise species that loves to get stuck between rocks and tight spaces.
I talked to an expert regarding the issue and he told me I should get rocks and formations for my tortoise box.

Not far from my house there is a mining company that has a huge ammount of rocks spread everywhere, some of them on the public street.

Can I use those rocks from the street and put them in my tortoise box?
Granted that I wash them, brush them and the put them in boiling water before.

What do you people think?

 

[Yvonne G]

If you wash them well, I see no problem with it. I would also put them into the oven to "cook" out any little no-see-ums that might be present. I don't keep the Pancake tortoise, but all the pictures I've seen show them snugly fitted into cracks and crevices in the rocks. I think if you do a search of Tim and Robin posts you'll see some pictures of their Pancake set-up.

Yvonne

---

Here's the link to Tim/Robin's pancake tortoise:

http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-8905.html

Yvonne

 

[Akuma]

I would also put them into the oven to "cook" out any little no-see-ums that might be present.

You don't think that putting them in boiling water is going to do the job?

How many degrees and for how long? 200 °C for 10 minutes perhaps?

 

[bettinge]

If they fit in boiling water, that will kill all! I would say an hour in the oven at 200 degrees, but I guess it all depends on how big the rocks are!

 

[Yvonne G]

You don't think that putting them in boiling water is going to do the job?

Sorry...I thought you were talking about some very large flat rocks. I didn't picture you having a pan large enough to boil them. Yes, boiling them for a few minutes would work, if you have a pan that big.

Yvonne

 

[Akuma]

They don't have flat rocks here at all - speaking of which I'm looking for flat rocks but I cannot for the life of me find any.
I live in the middle of the metropolitan city and there's no rocky terrain or anything around here.
I guess I'll ask around in some mining company.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Could tiles such as for your house sold at a home improvement store work? Or, buy paving stones for walkways at the same type of store. Things like this are sold for a couple dollars each, so to buy five or ten or whatever for a tort enclosure isn't too bad. You could even use glue or something to fasten them to make sure they are safe if you are stacking some together.

 

[Akuma]

Sadly, paving tiles are *IMMENSLY* expensive here in Sweden. We're talking probably 20 Euros per tile ($35 USD) which I cannot afford if I am to buy ten of them.

I'm thinking of finding large rocks that I can saw/carve myself or perhaps make some out of clay and bake.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Wow that's crazy. What about asking for a deal on broken tiles? Many times they will have some lying around they will either toss or sell close to free as people don't want the broken ones. In the U.S. a slate tile (12 by 12 inches) will be about $2. Are you saying these are really $35 in Sweden?

 

[Crazy1]

I'm not sure tiles would work but flat paver stones would. If you can make them out of clay, ceramic that would be the ticket. You could make as many as you want and in whatever thickness or design you like. Or if you can get cement and make your own flat forum you could pour your own rocks out of cement. If not then just rocks stacked, but securely, should certainly work I would think. But please know I do not have Pancake torts. Perhaps Robin and Tim could help with this question?

 

[chadk]

I guess for rare species, babies, and especially if kept indoors you would want to clean teh rocks really well.

Personally, i'd be most concnerned with chemicals and oils from the road and traffic and stuff.

I keep my torts and turtles outside and clearly I'm not cleaning the grass, dirt, rocks that make up their homes!!

Careful with the oven approach. If there is water absorbed into the rock, it could, in theory, explode as the water expands inside.

 

[DoctorCosmonaut]

What species?

 

[chadk]

pancake - see the link in the first post...