Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[GFletcher]

Hello all.

I am new to the Tortoise has pets, I have always wanted one growing up and recently with the finances being on my side I decided to fulfill a little childhood hope.

We have a shop called Pets Pad which specializes in snakes, gecko's, dragon-kind and fish along side the usual bird species and rats , bunnies and so forth, and because we use them for our other pet care (its almost a zoo .) we bought them from there, seeing has these two lovely Tortoises were in a largish Vivarium just a tad bigger than mine but come to that soon, I was amazed by them more than the the other types of Tortoise on offer in the shop.

So I before I dived in I got the guy in the shop which is the expert for the exotic pets shall we say because they have an assistant for each department which is great for not getting lead the wrong way. So my set up

Housing - looks like this


We have a jungle/forest background at the back of the glass to show scenery 3 of them plastic plants that add life and texture to the Vivarium 1 of which hover hangs the water dish to provide some shade has they drink/bathe

Food wise we are trying Oranges, Apple, Grapes (seedless Black and normal) and they adore strawberries, we was told they had recently been introduced to mushroom but wasn't over keen we have some and I am waiting for them to settle fully without disrupting their favorite food source. Food and water are changed daily to allow freshness to their food any dried food comes from what they have dragged out themselves

They have a UV light which is place towards the front of the enclosure, and a 100w bulb to the rear left. I have the lights switched on during the day and and as soon as night comes I was advised to turn off so they can cool down.

I spray the substrate which is a mixture of what looks like bark and a solid block that turned into soil?? not sure what that called but had fun creating the flooring this is done twice a day.

I am just wonder what else I need, I am going to be picking up a thermometer soon, i know i forgot.


My Vivarium is in my room and natural daylight is via the window which is next to them so they can tell when its morning and night

Things I have noticed and would like some comments and not the "omg doom and gloom" which some people thread, I just like some feedback to help them be happy.

1. "Victor" likes to spend his day away from the log housing, and when he not eating can be found laying in the water dish

2. "Horus" likes to be under the log housing and comes out for food, tho he/she? does like to use the water dish to bathe in too but prefer the log also he/she has tendency to dig an hole and put his/her head into it to sleep?

they have both been in the pet shop together for a long time so they are used to each other as company and to my knowledge there has never been anymore in there with them.

[scrambled legs]

hello,

i keep homes hingebacks,

i can help but i'm due at work in a sec, i can reply later todat if that helps.

what strength uv bulb are you using? they require a 5.0 uvb and nothing more. this replicates their rainforest light.

i'd ditch the lightbulb and replace it with a ceramic bulb, they don't like bright lights.

in the wild these tortoises require 90% humidity and try your best to replicate that.


will pm more later.

where in uk are you btw?

thanks

Neil.
_________________
1.2.0. Geochelone pardalis
0.0.1. Testudo marginata
0.1.3. Kinixys homeana
crested geckos, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, cat, jackapoo, poodle, a gazillion fish.

[GFletcher]

im in Doncaster -

I'm using a UVB 5.0 exo-terra.

[scrambled legs]

righto!

lunchtime at work.....

for an enclosure, housing your tortoises, i would STRONGLY urge you to move away from a vivarium. vivs aren't a likeable way to keep a tortoise, any tortoise.

to keep animals, you must recreate a natural environment. yes a viv will keep the humidity up but there are ways to do it that aren't so detrimental to their well being. to create a good living environment for the hinges, you'll need a tortoise table. this way you can get the ceramic bulb one end and in return have a cooler end. the tortoise can pick and choose which end to spend time in. vivariums don't let tortoises have a cool end and the air becomes stale because of bad/no throughdrafts.

ok theres no point in making a wooden table like the drier species of chelonia would reside in, ,.. simply buy a plastic tub.. at our local aquatics store, for £25 you can get a big black square tub about 1.5m x 80cm. the walls are about 30 cm high.. this is perfect for a small humid species of tortoise.

for a homes hingeback, the substrate would ideally be a mix of john inness no.2 or no.3 and some large bark chips. get it all wet and mix it all up.
try and aim for a large soaking pool as hingebacks spend literally hours on end just soaking and defecating in their water, they swim perfectly well so depth isn't an issue as long as they can nearly completely submerge in the water.

we include hides and dens and a bit of spaghnum moss to hide in but they just prefer to bury down during the day, your hinges should be active early morning and late evening.

keep the ceramic bulb on a pulse stat and keep the warm end about 26c , don't let the heat get below 20 degrees at night.

this isn't an easy species of tortoise to keep for a first tortoise, funny that they didn't try and sell you a hermanns or a spurthigh.

as for food, freshly picked weeds are staple but include small ammounts of fruits, bit of veg...

strictly no cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, kale or anything in the brassica family because this binds to calcium in the body and will create stones or goiters for your tortoise. dandelions are always a good bet.

leave some bits o wood on your lawn in the garden, in a place where the bugs lurk and go out bi nightly with a bugbox. your hingebacks are omniverous but in the wild would mainly eat insects. snails, millipedes and worms, .. try mealworms from birdfood shops,

once a week get some protein in there, give mushrooms, soaked koi pellets.. if they don't eat them then thats not good... tortoises are like kids, .. they refuse to eat whats good for them, they'll rather have the tastier unhealthier alternative. so persist with the shrooms and try not feeding them for a couple of days first then they should have a pick at them

suppliment food a couple of times a week with nutrobal.

are your home hingebacks captivebred???

if they are not then it would be a very good idea to get them to a vet and take a stool sample for worms and protozoa.

imported specimens are usually highly stressed and loaded with parasites.
a viv probably doesn't help.

please don't take any of this advice as critism, hey, . i've got two other species of tortoise and for me the hingebacks have taken a lot of getting used to.

please ask me anything about them , i'll help you get the best out of them.

thanks.

Neil.
_________________
1.2.0. Geochelone pardalis
0.0.1. Testudo marginata
0.1.3. Kinixys homeana
crested geckos, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, cat, jackapoo, poodle, a gazillion fish.

[scrambled legs]

just had a look at my books and the best one is the tortoise feeding manual by andy highfield.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tortoise-Turtle-Feeding-Manual/dp/1873943237

forgot to mention humidity. spray nicely twice daily and the best hygrometer on the market for price is

http://www.kimbosreptileworld.co.uk/dial-hair-hygrometers-p-77.html?osCsid=b0bf3bcef604df7193d7d766d4732d72


the digital hygrometers in todays reptile stores and those cheapy ones for about £3 are pretty lame, i've tried most of them and the one above is the best i've seen.

if you want pics of our tortoises or the enclosure, please pm me and i can text them but i only have a phone camera right now due to dropping the digital

speak soon.

neil.
_________________
1.2.0. Geochelone pardalis
0.0.1. Testudo marginata
0.1.3. Kinixys homeana
crested geckos, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, cat, jackapoo, poodle, a gazillion fish.

[scrambled legs]

i'm pretty forgetful today,

there is another book by 'misty corton' called 'leopards and other african tortoises,' you'll be able to find it from the amazon link above. this book has a good section on hingebacks.

forgot too to ask you how old your tortoises are.

Neil.
_________________
1.2.0. Geochelone pardalis
0.0.1. Testudo marginata
0.1.3. Kinixys homeana
crested geckos, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, cat, jackapoo, poodle, a gazillion fish.

[GFletcher]

the shop believe them to be of 3 years of age. They have been in a vivarium environment for as long as I have been visiting the store with my bro and dad, this is where they get the chicken mixtures from.

I ordered 2 temp gauges earlier for humidity and temp.

So to put into practice what is best.



something like that has an housing?...

[scrambled legs]

that housing looks great but with a species that requires so much humidity and spraying twice daily with a permanently soaked substrate, you'll definately need the plastic pond tub... you could also try a plastic sandpit??

i've a friend that when his redfoots multiplied, he kept the hatchlings in a laminated wooden table, when he went to clean them out, he picked the table up and it ripped the walls off and left the base on the floor because the wood was so damp and rotten!

i recieved your pm and later on today i'll write you a shopping list. trust me, when your hingies get used to new surroundings and your feeding regime, they make good pets, our four all get on fine, they are aged from 5 down to a year old. some people say they need to be housed seperately and individually but in all honestly... its down to the tortoises, .. if they fight then seperation is needed, .. if they get on with each other then clearly no problems there.

will be in touch.

Neil.
_________________
1.2.0. Geochelone pardalis
0.0.1. Testudo marginata
0.1.3. Kinixys homeana
crested geckos, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, cat, jackapoo, poodle, a gazillion fish.