Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a leopard tortoise yesterday and of course I already have some concerns. For the substrate I have rabbit food I heard from several people that it made good substrate because if they did eat it would pass through there system easily. My tort is only like 2" long right now and I'm worried that because the substrate is so loose that it may be hard on his legs. Also my tort won't eat out a dish he will only eat if his greens are sitting on the substrate is it alright to do that or should I get a small plate and make it even with the substrate and then but the food on that? Also is it alright to have a small water dish on the side without the light? Also when I get my tort out of the tank and set him down his arms seem to move in and out almost like his breathing is pushing them in and out. Am I just overreatcting or is this unnormal? Sorry I have so many questions but well he's my new little buddy and I want the best for him. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry a couple more things. I'm feeding it a mix of romaine and mustard greens with repcal calcium/d3 mix onto it. Also I had a tempeture gun and the basking end has a high of 90 and the other end is in the 70's he seems to stay in the 70 degree temps. Is that normal? Again I'm sorry for all the questions I'm just worried he isn't getting what he needs.

I would recommend changing the substrate over to a mixed hay substrate. The rabbit pellets are too dusty and cause URI's, also...they are made of alfalfa. Suitable hays include timothy, orchard grass, bermuda grass and many other low protein high fiber hays....

Also....for the food...checkout online what they should eat...

a mixture of hay, the above, with weeds (clover, plantain etc), opuntia (cactus), and many other things. Dandelion is great (available at health food stores and organic grocers). check out some great websites like chelonia.org and tortoisetrust.org

Here are links to a couple of really good sites that should give you lots of information :
http://www.thetortoisehouse.com/
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/care.html

My leopards also didn't seem to like the food dish. I use a block of wood thats 1 1/2 inches thick and 13 inches on a side which fits in the corner of their pen. I put the greens on that and this way they don't eat sand or dirt with their feedings. It easily lifts out for cleaning like a cutting board. Tom

Timothy hay is good to use.