Tortoise-world Forum

Today I collected my new love - a four year old leopard tort, now named Amaryllis.

He is living in a 3 ft vivarium for the time being, an outside playpen is in the planning stages and the living room is being tortoised proofed!

Ive joined the forum in the hope of hearing some valuable experience of keeping these guys.

Hi Clare and welcome from me and mine.

Hi Clare and welcome to tortoise world.

hiya Clare and :welcome: to tortoise-world
love the name Amaryllis

Thank you for the welcome, looking forward to browsing the site and learning more.

First pics of my baby!





He has been out for a walk round the living room tonight, had his bowels open, eaten some food and sat in his water, let us stroke his head and under his chin and tried to get under the sofa - Im happy that he is settling in ok!

Hi Clare,

Welcome to tortoise-world!
Don't want to scare you away on your first post, but I thought you might appreciate some friendly advice since this is your first tortoise! If the viv is only a temporary option it might be good to turn it on it's back so that it offers more ventillation. Also, those pellets he is on are not the best substrate for a leopard tortoise. They swell when wet so are quite dangerous if they are ingested. I'd use a substrate such as plain soil that is a bit more natural for the tortoise.

Hope you don't take this the wrong way- I just thought I'd let you know for the sake of the tort.

Josh

Hi Clare, Welcome!

(03-23-2010 12:04 AM)tortoise_dude Wrote: [ -> ]Hi Clare,

Welcome to tortoise-world!
Don't want to scare you away on your first post, but I thought you might appreciate some friendly advice since this is your first tortoise! If the viv is only a temporary option it might be good to turn it on it's back so that it offers more ventillation. Also, those pellets he is on are not the best substrate for a leopard tortoise. They swell when wet so are quite dangerous if they are ingested. I'd use a substrate such as plain soil that is a bit more natural for the tortoise.

Hope you don't take this the wrong way- I just thought I'd let you know for the sake of the tort.

Josh

I certainly wont be taking your words in the wrong way! Ive already decided that Im not happy with the viv - in particular the two things you mention - apparent lack of ventilation and the substrate.

Yesterday the glass front was steamed up when I got home from work and the air inside felt humid. He came out for some exercise and the viv was aired. OH is under instruction to open the doors during the day if this happens again (works from home) but obviously this has to be under supervision. I like the tip of turning it on its back - glass can be open with no risk of falling. Other solutions considered here last night included adding more ventilation via grill covered holes?

Substrate - breeder recommended this one, being digestable but I have a couple of issues with it already. If has a rather strong unpleasant smell, not the main reason for changing it - tort comes first but as he is living in the house I would really prefer it not to smell. Also it is breaking up fast and is making a mess, he cant dig down in the amount we were given to start with either - not deep enough.

Soil concerns me as once it is damp it will grow things like fungus in a warm environment - how often do you change it? Any other suggestions that might be suitable for me and Amaryllis? They had him on wood shaving type substrate in the brreders shop, so I did wonder why he recommended a different substrate as his prefered one - you would think that he would use his bedding of choice himself?

As for the viv being a tempory option - I meant that he would be getting a bigger home in time (and once our house has sold). Ive been led to believe that he needs a viv for the warmth at his age and cant go on a tort table until he is 10ys +. How true do people feel this is? Could he live on a tort table with light and heat?

Im open to and would be grateful for any advice that people have from there own experience. In fact if Im going to change the actual enclosure then I would prefer to do it sooner rather than later, so the viv can be sold in good condition to recoup some pennies - they are too expensive to use for a week and then forget!

my leo is out all day and night in the summer and is a similar size to yours!!

if you look in the enclosures section theres a guy who has about 20 leos all living out. he has some good advice in his thread