Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an egyptian tort named Tank that I got from Dan Wolfe a year or two ago. His name is Tank!!! A few questions, comments, and observations.

I recently switched him onto crushed oyster shell and his been attempting to eat it, is this normal?

I added rocks into his enclosure and he is always climbing on them, should I worry about a tip over?

I just completed a outdoor pen so he can go outside next summer!!!

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1.0 Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink (Don)
0.1 Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skink (Sausage Girl)
0.0.1 Tanimbar Island Blue Tongue Skink ( Spunky Sebastian)
0.0.1 Ornate Uro (Spike)
1.0.1 Green Tree Pythons ( Male=Floyd, Baby= Verdi)
0.1 Western Hognose (Piggy)
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortiose(Tank)
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher snake ( Toro)
0.1 Albino Leo gecko (Sasha)

>> I recently switched him onto crushed oyster shell and his been attempting to eat it, is this normal?
_probably craving for calcium.

>> I added rocks into his enclosure and he is always climbing on them, should I worry about a tip over?
_keep them rock way from the heat source where he might get trapped.

>> I just completed a outdoor pen so he can go outside next summer!!!
_he should be very happy you'll see, just make sure he had a warm and dry place to retrieve when the temp drop, I've seen these guys stay out in the low 40F overnight which they didn't bother to go in their hot house but you wouldn't want to take chances

I would take the rock out. Humans have this overwhelming need to make complex (not saying that yours is) habitats that can be overkill. If you like having rock in your habitat, put in flagstone and emerse it in the substrate so that it's even with it. Tip overs are a concern. I have lost two that way and would hate to see you lose tank. IT's ok if he eats the otster shell, however, if you had food in there and readily availble he might just eat that instead of being preoccupied with the substrate.

Tortuga

I dont care how the cage looks but on this site it said they like to climb. http://home.earthlink.net/~fridjian/

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1.0 Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink (Don)
1.1 Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skink(Sammy) & (Sausage Girl)
0.0.1 Tanimbar Island Blue Tongue Skink ( Spunky Sebastian)
0.0.1 Ornate Uro (Spike)
1.0.1 Green Tree Pythons ( Male=Floyd, Baby= Verdi)
0.1 Western Hognose (Piggy)
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortiose(Tank)
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher snake ( Toro)
0.1 Albino Leo gecko (Sasha)

The climbs are a great idea. The best setup I saw for these guys was at the London zoo. The hatchlings were set up in a 150 gal tank. There was lots of places to climb and crawl under. That is where I saw the first application of a humid hide for these guys and they were flawless. The adults were kept in a display with large rock outcroppings. They were very active and seemed to like it.

This brings to mind another point. The most successful breeders of this species keep them totally indoors. Most people that have tried to keep them outdoors for any length of time usually met with disaster.

The temperature range I always recommend is 75 to 100. I know some keepers say they can go below this but I've never had any luck allowing them to go below that range. It usually caused me problems.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

Mine sure does like to climb. He stays outside from April or early May & I finally brought him inside tonight because this is the coolest evening of the season.

nice growth rings...what's your curfew? (how cool was the temp when they got lock in?)