 |
Back to Tortoises Forum Forums Home Members Area
Tortoises Forum
Guido1090 RepticTay Guido1090 RepticTay Mikeornata RepticTay Guido1090 RepticTay |
| Member | Message | ||
|
Guido1090 View Profile |
Need a little info
and does anyone know about this "tortoise house"? is it a good product? is there any kind of tortoise that could stay in this comfortably for its whole life? we would take it out and let it roam some. http://www.bigappleherp.com/Zoo-Med-Tortoise-House?sc=2&category=4 thats all i need for now. i just need somewhere to start my research. so once i find out what tort is good for beginners and stays small ill start researching from there. thanks. |
||
| 05/29/08 08:54am |
|
||
|
RepticTay View Profile |
Message To: Guido1090 In reference to Message Id: 1749943 Need a little info
these are both great for first timers! they are easy, simple and highly cute! They rarely get above 8 inches long. www.russiantortoise.org www.thbs.webs.com take a look! also, the tortoisehouse is a great product, however it would not do good a sa full time home, you would eventually need something much bigger as high as 4ft by 6ft sometimes for adults. also tortoises need outdoor housing too. and they hibernate |
||
| 05/29/08 09:55am |
|
||
|
Guido1090 View Profile |
Message To: RepticTay In reference to Message Id: 1749979 Need a little info
do you mean that the tort needs a 4 foot high cage? or did you mean they need as much room as a 4’x6’ cage as an adult? i didnt think they need much height. we live in MD and it gets cold in the winters. we would probably build an outdoor area for it to roam around in while we are home in the summer. but i think we would probably bring it inside at night and during the winter months when it is cold and snowing. so an outdoor enclosure and hibernating is a must for all torts? how long do they hibernate for? how do you keep yours and hibernate them? thanks for the help. |
||
| 05/29/08 02:58pm |
|
||
|
RepticTay View Profile |
Message To: Guido1090 In reference to Message Id: 1750128 Need a little info
i meant 4 foot long and 6 foot wide as an adult and probly about 2 foot high. An outdoor enclosure and hibernation is a must for some tortoises, some such as Sulcata, leopards and similar species do not ever hibernate. But they get huge. The tortoises that dont usually hibernate are either too big or are too hard to keep. Hibernation in the wild and some captivity places are usually the hole time its cold...until it warms up. However a hermanns or russian will benefit from as little as 8 weeks hibernation. I have not hibernated my hermanns yet, they need to be extremely healthy, the right weight and so forth. Before i Hibernate i shall check their health, weight and so on. if it is not 100% correct they wont be hibernated. you should not hibernate a sick, or unhealthy tortoise, as it will be a high risk of loosing them during their long sleep. heres some photos of my hermanns and their indoor cage!
An indoor rabbit cage is usually good to use, you can use this as a combination of indoor and outdoor enclosures! take it indoors when cold and outdoors when hot. |
||
| 05/29/08 04:41pm |
|
||
|
Mikeornata View Profile |
Message To: RepticTay In reference to Message Id: 1750221
I dont belive that hibernation is necessary for Testudo if maintained properly year round. However read this I copied from russian tortoise . org Hibernation: Hibernation is a much debated topic. In the wild Russian tortoises hibernate up to 9 months of the year. In captivity they appear to benefit from as little as 8 weeks in hibernation. Before considering hibernation, its important that you are absolutely sure its in good health. Have it checked by a vet and be sure to check for parasites. If there are parasites, or the animal is too light.....then don’t attempt hibernation. There are many that I have talked to that don’t hibernate there animals and haven’t observed any negative consequences. I did not hibernate mine for the first 5 years. Its really not worth the risk if you are unsure of what you are doing. Currently I hibernate mine outdoors. I have a heated "house" .....actually a Rubbermaid deck box with a ceramic heat emitter hooked up to a thermostat to keep the temps between 40-45°F. This works well for me since the temperatures here rarely stay below freezing. My animals usually slow down on feeding in the fall. I find that in November they will start eating small twigs and dried oak leaves. I suspect this is to clean out their intestinal tracts. In December they start digging in. They typically come out of hibernation in March. For those that live in colder (or warmer climates) refrigerator hibernation is a great option. Here is a great article by Shelly Jones. Hibernation Journey , She is a member of the Russian Tortoise YaHoo group. For more information and to talk to many that are hibernating their tortoises Click to subscribe to Russian Tortoise For supplies specific to Russian Tortoises visit Carolina Pet Supply http://www.carolinapetsupply.com/catalog/ Find ANY word Find ALL words Find EXACT phrase Help Site Search by PicoSearch All material herein © ’2000 -2008 "RussianTortoise.org, Joe Heinen DC". All Rights Reserved Click to join the Russian Tortoise Group  |
||
| 05/30/08 02:41pm |
|
||
|
RepticTay View Profile |
Message To: Mikeornata In reference to Message Id: 1751104 Need a little info
They do benefit from their long sleep. |
||
| 05/30/08 03:49pm |
|
||
|
Guido1090 View Profile |
Message To: RepticTay In reference to Message Id: 1751167 Need a little info
ill show my mom all this and see what she thinks. one of her first questions when she was looking at them was "do they smell bad?" so could you all answer that for me? i figured that any animal kept properly shouldn’t smell bad at all but how easy is it for the smell to get out of control? |
||
| 05/30/08 04:08pm |
|
||
|
RepticTay View Profile |
Message To: Guido1090 In reference to Message Id: 1751195 Need a little info
if you poop pick daily and clean them regularly and soak them they will be fine. |
||
| 05/30/08 05:27pm |
|
