New family member on the way

[emma_mcraf]

Hi Gary. Shelby is very cute.
As the others have recommended, sterilised topsoil or coco coir is the best substrate for tortoises.
Like Becci recommends, the tortoise table is a great website to help you start Shelby off on an excellent diet. They have a plant database which helps you to know which weeds, flowers and plants are safe and they have photos to help you identify them. http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp

Ideally Shelby should be on a diet consisting of weeds. You should have no problem sourcing weeds in the summer, but right now there's plenty of cat's ear, plantain and dandelions around. Just give them a really good wash.
A lot of us grow our own weeds and the seeds can be bought really cheaply at the Shelled Warriors shop. http://www.shelledwarriorsshop.co.uk...stage-39-c.asp

You can bulk the weeds out with romaine and radicchio through the winter months.

Unfortunately shops don't always give the best advice. They often just want their customers to keep coming back in and buying substrate and food from them. Sadly, that isn't necessarily the best for certain animals, particularly tortoises.

I see you have a Vivexotic viv for Shelby. My son uses these for his geckos and they're nice vivs. Bear in mind however, depending on the size of the viv, that Shelby will grow and you'll possibly need something a bit bigger in a year or so.

This is a friendly and helpful forum, so if you have any questions, just ask. There's always someone about to offer advice.

[Suze65]

I agree with everything Emma said

[Gash]

Hi Emma thanks for the comments

The viv we are using is one of our old ones that we had our first baby bearded dragon in, we now have 2 adults so no longer used, obviously as Shelby grows and matures his accomodation will as well.

The diet is going to be our main learning curve, you were right, we were told that apart from the live food we could feed him/she the same as our dragons...obviously not. Had a good read of the site mentioned, very good info. Our main problem is i work as a field service medical support engineer, 2 of us cover every hospital in the uk, as you can guess i live in hotels a lot (South Croydon tonight), my wife though looks after the rest of our zoo, so im sure it shouldn't be too much of a learning curve, the lizards are her babies lol.

I ordered a load of food stuffs and seeds from shelled warriors on fri and it has arrived this morning so dietary measures are first to change, didnt realise that they would eat Hebe, I have about 20 bushes in the garden.

I do have one question, for anyone this is, all sites say the tortoise requires 10-12 hrs of UVB which is understandable (like the dragons), but because of his/her new environment Shelby seems to spend a lot of time in his/her house... should i take the house out so he/she can get the required UV?

Again many thanks for everyones comments, all greatly appreciated, I hope to start a blog on here of Shelbys progress when i get home at the weekend so as much help is appreciated

Regards

Gary

[Gordon]

Hi Gary im glad you didn't get upset with my questions on what food and sub straight you were using some people do and we never see them again but i have a feeling you will be around for a good time to come, the answer to your question is he will get enough uv for now and the reason he stays in his hide is that he is in a totally new enviroment so needs a bit of time to settle in but bit by bit he will venture out, as for the sub straight as others have said soil is the best and make it deep enough so he can dig in and hide as horsfields love to dig and totally trash the place

[emma_mcraf]

Originally Posted by Gash

Hi Emma thanks for the comments

The viv we are using is one of our old ones that we had our first baby bearded dragon in, we now have 2 adults so no longer used, obviously as Shelby grows and matures his accomodation will as well.

The diet is going to be our main learning curve, you were right, we were told that apart from the live food we could feed him/she the same as our dragons...obviously not. Had a good read of the site mentioned, very good info. Our main problem is i work as a field service medical support engineer, 2 of us cover every hospital in the uk, as you can guess i live in hotels a lot (South Croydon tonight), my wife though looks after the rest of our zoo, so im sure it shouldn't be too much of a learning curve, the lizards are her babies lol.

I ordered a load of food stuffs and seeds from shelled warriors on fri and it has arrived this morning so dietary measures are first to change, didnt realise that they would eat Hebe, I have about 20 bushes in the garden.

I do have one question, for anyone this is, all sites say the tortoise requires 10-12 hrs of UVB which is understandable (like the dragons), but because of his/her new environment Shelby seems to spend a lot of time in his/her house... should i take the house out so he/she can get the required UV?

Again many thanks for everyones comments, all greatly appreciated, I hope to start a blog on here of Shelbys progress when i get home at the weekend so as much help is appreciated

Regards

Gary

As Gordon says, the fact you've not taken our questions and well-meant advice the wrong way shows you want what's best for Shelby and this is the forum to be on!

I can appreciate that you're really busy with work but I'm sure together you and your wife will get used to the right diet. You'll be a weed nerd like the rest of us before you know it!

Tortoises love sheltering under hebes in the garden (or climbing over them!!). Mine don't really seem to eat it though. It would be a safe nibble if Shelby has a try. If you have green fingers, they love nemesia, campanula, petunia, lavatera, honeysuckle, nasturtium and plenty of other flowers. A few garden centres start selling 'wild flowers' in the spring and you can buy slender plantain, lady's bedstraw, cat's ear and quite a few other safe plants.
There are quite a lot of threads on the forum on safe foods. Have a look here http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/for...splay.php?f=19
If you come across a weed you're not sure about, take a photo of it and we can try and identify it for you.

I agree with Gordon that for now Shelby is settling in so don't worry about removing the little house.
It's good to sprinkle nutrabol on Shelby's food a couple of times a week and I use limestone flour the remaining 5 days. Cuttlefish is also great to have in the enclosure.

[Gash]

Shelby's new airplant feature and oh yes mmmm food lol