Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been looking for a really good care sheet for Golden Greeks and as of yet, haven't found one. I've recently acquired 1.1 Golden Greeks. They are currently in a 40-breeder tank with T-Rex 100-watt UVB bulb on one end, undertank heater and cermaic heater on the other end for night-time warmth. For substrate I am using a combination of rabbit pellets and timothy hay. I acquired these a bit unexpectably so my set-up is a "make-do" until I figure out the best way to care for them.

As much information as anyone wants to give me would be great.

Wendy

Your setup sounds pretty good, but in my personal opinion, undertank heaters are totally useless and should not be used. It is the heat from above that they use to thermoregulate themselves. If the animal wants to cool off by digging down into the substrate, how can he do it if there is heat coming from underneath? That's how they cool off in the wild. Digging into the earth.

I also don't like rabbit pellets because they don't allow the torotose to get any traction. It's like me or you walking on marbles on the kitchen floor. Not fun.

Thank you for the info. I keep my Redfoots and Russians outside in the warmer months. Inside during the winter. The Leos were to small for outside but will go out this spring. I fully intend to keep the GG indoors because I live in an area of high humidity.

Do you keep water in with the GG or soak? And if just soaking, how often?

Wendy

You said you live where there is high humidity. Where would that be? I live in central IL. Humidity doesn't get much higher. I will be putting mine out next year when and if thier pin is done.

I use a UTH in my tort's indoor enclosure, and I'm going to give you my thoughts and you can argue your point (or you can agree with me, I can live with that). The UTH is controlled by a thermostat to heat to approx. 75 degrees at night, only under the area where the tortoise sleeps. My reasoning is that during the day, the ground absorbs a certain amount of the sun's heat, and that heat is radiated back during the night, and therefore a UTH set to a low temperature is not far outside the realm of normal--I understand that in reality the radiated heat would not be constant throughout the entire night, but then using a CHE to provide nighttime heat isn't very natural either, right? The ambient temps in my house can fall into the low 60s/high 50s at night, and at this point I'm not comfortable with that low a drop for a hatchling.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

I just don't think it is necessary to provide nightime heat if you have the tortoise indoors, especially a medeterranean tortoise. The nights get plenty cool where the tortoises are found for a good amount of the year. Trust me.

Yes, the earth does absorb the sun's warmth, but it also does dissipate overnight and by the time midnight comes around, it isn't going to be that any warmer than the outside air temp unless it is a very deep burrow. You have a Hermann's right? They do not generally sleep in burrows in the wild unless they are lucky enough to find one dug by another animal. They just dig in a little into the earth enough to partially cover themselves, or, more often, ram themselves into thick weeds. Your house will not get cold enough at night to phase him, trust me. As long as he can get under the basking light during the day, he will be fine.

I know you have your own ideas though, and that is fine. I guess I will let you do it your way since I can't reach through the computer screen and bop you one.

Ok, ok. Maybe I'll at least turn it down. You're not the only person to tell me to cool it down at night.

Also--I hate to be a stickler, but I'm kind of anal about word usage. It's "faze," not "phase"--as in "He wasn't fazed by the competition". Sorry, I just can't help it. Generally you write quite well.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

.

Well, I did say I was a know-it-all. Actually, when I was in high school, I wrote an article for the school paper using the word "faze" (correctly), and without my knowledge the supervising teacher changed it to "phase," and I've been irked about it ever since.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Notice how those little things stick with you?
Ed

.

My only defense is to say it must have been the FAZE of the moon that made me misuse that word. I'm just kidding. I do know the difference between the two and their proper usage, so I must have had a brain cramp. Mea culpa. Believe it or not, I really do have a fairly good command of the English language, but for some reason on this board my spelling and grammar have been atrocious. I need to start proofreading. If I am going to hang out here with someone who is such a stickler for proper English and word usage, I'd better clean up my act.

By the way, you can count me as an admirer of your articulate writing and your obvious intelligence, as well as your helpful and informative deportment.

"You're not the only person to tell me to cool it down at night."

Hmmm, one could take that a couple of different ways. Did your husband tell you that? Heh heh.

Mike

Although my writing is by no means perfect! I was lucky enough to have an excellent and demanding English teacher when I was a senior in high school (who, BTW, gave me a D on my first paper). She was dictatorial, but boy, was she good.

Considering my husband can't stay awake past nine, and my 7 year old is going through thumb-sucking withdrawal and sleeping in our room (if not our bed), uh...no.

I did turn down the UTH, though, so no bopping is necessary.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

I had a really dictatorial English teacher as well. She was called "mom." Forget fairy tales, her favorite book to read to us from was the dictionary.

That is good that you are turning down the tortoise. I promise he will love you for it. Well, at least a tortoise's idea of love. Once you see that he is okay with it turned down, maybe you can continue to ease it down gradually over time until it is, you know, OFF.

This one almost got by me. Did you say your 7 YEAR old son is going through thumb-sucking withdrawals? When did you take away his baby bottle? Last year?

You must not have kids, or you would know that a pretty good percentage of kids OLDER than 7 are thumbsuckers (also that it's a hard habit to break). He got palate expanders (orthodontia) a couple weeks ago, and had to stop cold turkey. Hey, at least he doesn't drink or do drugs, lol.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Ha! Ha!

One of the sponsors of this forum is a great place for info:
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/
Link

my slant is to keep it as simple as possible. (I'm gagging as I type this.) That dude Tortoise head gave some good advice exept for the temperature drop. I never suggest you design a temperature drop because it usually occurs naturally unless you have a climaticly controlled environment. I keep mine on sand with a water dish and an ambient temperature of about 80F and they are thriving.
Ed
(they luuuuuuuuuuvvvvvvv Mazuri chow)

Ed, you are a real snot, you know that?

For the record, my dog and cat like Mazuri, too. AND my husband tried a Grassland Tortoise Yummy because it smelled so good, but he says they don't have much of a taste.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

.

np
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko