Transitioning new tort
Posted: 15 Aug 2021, 12:14
Hello all, my first post here. We are new tortoise owners, having ended up with a 7 year old male spur thighed tortoise after he and his brother started fighting all the time in his previous home. I must say that we have now had him 4 weeks and have all fallen in love with this little guy - so much so that we all worry constantly about whether he is happy and healthy.
The reason I am posting is because this tortoise has come from a very humid and warm environment in his previous home, and also he wasn't fed on wild leaves and flowers - instead he had 20% fruit and 80% salad leaves/red pepper and what looked like peas?! I know now from my research that this is not ideal and would like to get him to gently transition to what I understand is a more suitable temperature/humidity and get him eating wild leaves and flowers.
So - the temperature question.... we have him in a 6 x 3ft tortoise table with a sand/earth substrate, and 2 combination lamps for heat and uvb. We started off with one lamp but soon realised the table was too cold except for right under the 125w lamp so that's why we got a second lamp, which is 80w. The table is in 2 sections - the 125w bulb is in a section that's 4ft long and the second section (where he sleeps in a little hut surrounded with rocks and logs) has the 80w bulb. The temperatures are 90- 93 degrees under the 125w bulb and then range from 73 to 76 degrees, depending on where we measure (with laser gun thermometer). We mist the substrate every 2 days.
Now I thiiiiink that these temperatures are ok for your average Mediterranean tortoise but this guy has been used to a much hotter room for the last 6 years. So I'm wondering if we should raise the temperature a bit more with another heat lamp?
I have a spare 100w ceramic lamp that I could set up between the 2 existing lamps. If I do that, there will still be cooler spots available elsewhere in the table.
His activity is fairly random. Some days he will clamber around alot and bask under the hottest lamp on and off for a good 5 hours a day and often tops up under the cooler lamp. Other days he just wants to sleep in his house, which is when we all start fretting! Other info that might relate to his temperature/activity is that he has never been hibernated and we soak him for 30 mins every day because that's what the previous owners did. His weight is 1.789kg and he's 21cm scl. He eats and poops regularly.
As for his diet, how do we get him to eat more wild plants? He will eat dandelion flowers (but not leaves) nasturtium flowers (occasionally eats leaves), thistle flowers, but refuses roses, plantain, clover, nettles and the other safe wild leaves we offer. He loves red pepper, strawberries and grapes (although we hardly ever give him any), grated carrots, and lettuce - this is what he's been eating this for the last 6 years. Refuses kale. He also won't eat unless he's hand fed, but we are letting this go while he settles in, and will work on that in the weeks to come. He has an outside enclosure too for when the weather is dry and warm but we have never seen him eat anything in it, which includes grass, dandelion and plantain.
Thanks for reading this long query - any advice gratefully received.
TP
The reason I am posting is because this tortoise has come from a very humid and warm environment in his previous home, and also he wasn't fed on wild leaves and flowers - instead he had 20% fruit and 80% salad leaves/red pepper and what looked like peas?! I know now from my research that this is not ideal and would like to get him to gently transition to what I understand is a more suitable temperature/humidity and get him eating wild leaves and flowers.
So - the temperature question.... we have him in a 6 x 3ft tortoise table with a sand/earth substrate, and 2 combination lamps for heat and uvb. We started off with one lamp but soon realised the table was too cold except for right under the 125w lamp so that's why we got a second lamp, which is 80w. The table is in 2 sections - the 125w bulb is in a section that's 4ft long and the second section (where he sleeps in a little hut surrounded with rocks and logs) has the 80w bulb. The temperatures are 90- 93 degrees under the 125w bulb and then range from 73 to 76 degrees, depending on where we measure (with laser gun thermometer). We mist the substrate every 2 days.
Now I thiiiiink that these temperatures are ok for your average Mediterranean tortoise but this guy has been used to a much hotter room for the last 6 years. So I'm wondering if we should raise the temperature a bit more with another heat lamp?
I have a spare 100w ceramic lamp that I could set up between the 2 existing lamps. If I do that, there will still be cooler spots available elsewhere in the table.
His activity is fairly random. Some days he will clamber around alot and bask under the hottest lamp on and off for a good 5 hours a day and often tops up under the cooler lamp. Other days he just wants to sleep in his house, which is when we all start fretting! Other info that might relate to his temperature/activity is that he has never been hibernated and we soak him for 30 mins every day because that's what the previous owners did. His weight is 1.789kg and he's 21cm scl. He eats and poops regularly.
As for his diet, how do we get him to eat more wild plants? He will eat dandelion flowers (but not leaves) nasturtium flowers (occasionally eats leaves), thistle flowers, but refuses roses, plantain, clover, nettles and the other safe wild leaves we offer. He loves red pepper, strawberries and grapes (although we hardly ever give him any), grated carrots, and lettuce - this is what he's been eating this for the last 6 years. Refuses kale. He also won't eat unless he's hand fed, but we are letting this go while he settles in, and will work on that in the weeks to come. He has an outside enclosure too for when the weather is dry and warm but we have never seen him eat anything in it, which includes grass, dandelion and plantain.
Thanks for reading this long query - any advice gratefully received.
TP