Well this past week I took a step I've wanted to take for a few years now, I purchased 3 Indian Star hatchlings! This brought me to write about what to do when you receive a tortoise whether it be from shipping or even a person to person deal.
1st thing I do every time I get a new tortoise is to soak. For this 1st soak I make it extra long (about 30 min) and switch out the water with warm water a couple times during the soak. This will hydrate the tortoise and give me peace of mind knowing for a fact its been soaked.
Next I place the tort in its enclosure. It's a good idea to have the enclosure sprayed down, cleaned, and have full food and water bowls upon the tortoise entering its new home. Another good idea is to make sure the temperature has been steady for a couple days. Instead of just putting the tort in the enclosure and watching him/her walk around, I place the tort(s) by the food so they know where it is then I leave them alone completely. I will take a peak every couple of hours to make sure things are ok but I like to leave them alone so they can adjust to their new environment without me bothering them.
Many people worry when their new tortoise sleeps most of the time. Not to worry, 99% of the time your tortoise is perfectly fine. Tortoises (babies especially) sleep most of the time, not to mention they are still adjusting to a new environment.
Happy torting! :)
Friday, July 20, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Dealing With Irrigation
Last night at 3:25 AM was irrigation time. People in the Desert can probably relate to this but I'd assume people back east might have no idea what I'm talking about... Regardless, irrigation is normally a simple process unless you have tortoises.
For my Sulcatas it's not big deal, the water comes, they move. During they day they soak and escape the nasty AZ heat. My Greeks however are a different story. They have an area that stays dry even in irrigation but half of there enclosure goes under water. You'd think they'd just go to dry land when the water comes in but no, they either hold their breath or try scaling the fence. So even in the middle of the night I have to go to their enclosure and move them to the dry land. No big deal right? Yes! Once I move them they continually go back to their near drowning experience. Once I repeat the process several times MOST of them get the hint.
Despite the tortoises lack of street smarts the irrigation creates an opportunity for the grass to grow thick and replenishes their feed. It's also a great way to cool things down and gives me a few days off from spraying down their enclosures.
For my Sulcatas it's not big deal, the water comes, they move. During they day they soak and escape the nasty AZ heat. My Greeks however are a different story. They have an area that stays dry even in irrigation but half of there enclosure goes under water. You'd think they'd just go to dry land when the water comes in but no, they either hold their breath or try scaling the fence. So even in the middle of the night I have to go to their enclosure and move them to the dry land. No big deal right? Yes! Once I move them they continually go back to their near drowning experience. Once I repeat the process several times MOST of them get the hint.
Despite the tortoises lack of street smarts the irrigation creates an opportunity for the grass to grow thick and replenishes their feed. It's also a great way to cool things down and gives me a few days off from spraying down their enclosures.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Prepping For a Vaccation
Well it's the 4th of July weekend and an all to common problem that I'm sure most tortoise owners have faced, who's going to take care of my tortoise(s)?! For me an other breeders this is an especially difficult problem... Besides all the adult torts, there are close to 100 babies that require quite a bit of care and attention. I'm the kind of person who has to have things done my way so it's hard to find that person you trust with all the responsibility.
What I do to prepare for a short trip is make sure everything is 100% perfect when you leave: clean water and food dishes, fresh food, sprayed down thoroughly, cleaned enclosure, and an extra long soaking right before departure. Sure no one can take care of them as well as me (or so we think...) but 99.9% of the time I'm sure our torts will be fine when left in the proper hands.For the person who is watching your torts make sure besides telling and showing them what to do, write out detailed instructions for them to refer to and check in with them daily to see how things are going.
Young torts need to be checked on and taken care of a MINIMUM of twice a day. Tell whoever is watching them to look out for ones that are flipped over. A drastic, yet worthwhile (in my opinion) step to take is to place a security camera in front of the enclosure. Not necessarily for security purposes but it's nice to be able to check in on them with a live feed to the cell or internet (surprisingly not that expensive) to make sure everything looks correct and even more importantly none have flipped over.
Hopefully this helps some of you prepare and eases some worry when you leave your torts, I know all too well how stressful that can be. Now lets hope this doesn't jinx my trip...
What I do to prepare for a short trip is make sure everything is 100% perfect when you leave: clean water and food dishes, fresh food, sprayed down thoroughly, cleaned enclosure, and an extra long soaking right before departure. Sure no one can take care of them as well as me (or so we think...) but 99.9% of the time I'm sure our torts will be fine when left in the proper hands.For the person who is watching your torts make sure besides telling and showing them what to do, write out detailed instructions for them to refer to and check in with them daily to see how things are going.
Young torts need to be checked on and taken care of a MINIMUM of twice a day. Tell whoever is watching them to look out for ones that are flipped over. A drastic, yet worthwhile (in my opinion) step to take is to place a security camera in front of the enclosure. Not necessarily for security purposes but it's nice to be able to check in on them with a live feed to the cell or internet (surprisingly not that expensive) to make sure everything looks correct and even more importantly none have flipped over.
Hopefully this helps some of you prepare and eases some worry when you leave your torts, I know all too well how stressful that can be. Now lets hope this doesn't jinx my trip...
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Welcome!!!
In addition to my website at azsulcata.com I thought it'd be beneficial to blog about our daily tortoise news so people know what happens in the daily world of a tortoises breeder. This is just meant to be information based full of tortoises stories, successes, failures, and things I learn on a daily basis to help out the average tortoise owner! I'll start off with a small example of today's events:
Lately the biggest obstacle of what I like to call, "Tortoise Farming" here in Arizona has been the scorching heat! It seems like every hour I'm constantly spraying tortoises down and filling up water bowls, it's relentless. Today however was a welcome change to that routine. We received some much needed rain and it's been in the mid 70's all day, beautiful tortoise weather. Interestingly enough my Sulcatas didn't even come out to enjoy it, they all stayed in their hides. Getting used to the 40 degree temperature swing I suppose? My Testudos (Greeks and Russians) seemed to thoroughly enjoy the change as they were out grazing from dusk till dawn. No need to spray down today! :)
Lately the biggest obstacle of what I like to call, "Tortoise Farming" here in Arizona has been the scorching heat! It seems like every hour I'm constantly spraying tortoises down and filling up water bowls, it's relentless. Today however was a welcome change to that routine. We received some much needed rain and it's been in the mid 70's all day, beautiful tortoise weather. Interestingly enough my Sulcatas didn't even come out to enjoy it, they all stayed in their hides. Getting used to the 40 degree temperature swing I suppose? My Testudos (Greeks and Russians) seemed to thoroughly enjoy the change as they were out grazing from dusk till dawn. No need to spray down today! :)
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