Hi,

We aquired two tunisian tortoises from a friend of ours who decided they were too much like hard work to keep. He bought them the market a week or so before (the shop has since been shut down)

We believe them to be tunisian, but as yet dont know whether they're girls or boys.

We have had them for a year now, and dont think they are much older than this as they were tiny when we got them.

Im so chuffed that they're still alive as most of the literature we read this time last year said that Tunisian babies dont usually live past a year when in the UK.

So now im considering a tank upgrade. At the moment they have a very nice tort table that we built for them with a 18" UV lamp and a heat bulb. We use Chipsy Mais bedding as everything we read said not to use sand or soil as they cant digest it and may die if they eat it, Chipsi mais is just corn stuff and fully digestable.
We feed them rocket, watercress, cress, and various other leafy lettuces (all organic of course), and occasionally they get apple or a bit of grape (which they love!).
We dust all the food with nutrobal every other day.


So i have a few questions, if anyone could answer them i would be very greatful.


1. Is it safe to use sand? Ive been reading alot of conflicting articles lately on this.

its not safe to use it on its own but it is safe...and the best when mixed with soil.

60% top soil
40% play sand

is the perfect mix and far better than what your using at the moment

__________________

sand on its own no. top soil/play sand mix of 60/40 respectively is the BEST substrate you can use tho.

It's also the most natural thing in the world. Corn substrate (corn is the seed of the plant thus is very high in protein) Altho safe if ingested..in the sense it can't cause problems, could cause other problems in the long run.pyramiding,kidney failure if ingested in large amounts.

If you don't want to use top soil/play sand mix. then the next best substrate is a substance called Hemp (aka Aubiose, Hemcore) As found here Horse Bedding
safe if ingested and won't cause any problems due to protein levels, like can occur in the corn type bedding,and the alfalfa pellets.

try to give a variety of weeds (like listed in the weed sticky) rather than just lettuce.

__________________

Fruit and vegtables can bad for tortoises so it is best to feed then a weed diet (see list of weeds at the top of the shelled section)
for babies, food should be dusted with pur calcium powder and nutrabol daily I think.


Welcome To The Forum

__________________

Thanks for replying...

I did have more to write, but hit enter by accident!!

I have some pictures of my tort table and the babies themselves, how can i post them on here? it says i may not add attachments.

I just wanted to check the tort table setup is ok. Ive tried to make it as interesting as possible for them.

Also read and seen alot of pics of tunisian tortoises, and wanted to confirm they are tunisian with you guys on here. Also im worried their shells arent growing right. Some sites ive been on said they should be smooth, and some have had pictures similar to mine as a healthy example. Again, if i find out how to post pics i'll do it asap.

Finally (for this post anyway)

Im considering combining heat and uv lamp in one. Any recommendations on which is best to get?


Thanks again
Sammy

to post pictures you need to host them on a photbucket account. if you don't have them i can post them for you if you email the pictures to me (xxangelktxx@hotmail.com)

healthy growth is a smooth shell..lumpy shells aka Pyramiding are due to overfeeding,incorrect diet and supplimenting etc

the powersun is good but some people have had reliability issues with it. the t-rex combined is very good as is the megaray combined (supposed to be t-rex but without the brand name..cheaper too)

__________________

I use the MegaRay no problems as of yet but I have only had it a short time.

__________________

okay here come the pics , hope you don't mind i've put the pics in one file..well three files in total but a group of pics per file as such..just saves loading time for people

__________________

These are on behalf of the OP

next one


last one

__________________

They've fallen out with each tonight, sleeping at different ends of the house! (maybe he's had one too many and been kicked out!!)



Thanks for posting those for me Katiexx