Some questions about the leopard tortoises..

[Thanja]

Hi there...

Before I get to my question please notice that I’m from Denmark and my English aint that good and I'm pretty new here and in the reptile world in general. I’ve read (I think) almost everything there is to read about tortoises online, and expect to buy some books too at some point just to be safe.
I have recently taken over my step-fathers leopard tortoises (2 pcs. They both are about 2 - 3 years old, maybe older or maybe younger we aren’t sure), but even though I, as I said before have been reading a lot, there still is a lot I am not sure about, mostly because online there is various information which sometimes contradict each other. I hope that when I ask my questions i wont get yelled at because I've already got them but dont know enough about them, however, I am more than willing to read and learn everything there is to find on my leo’s, so they can have a good long life + it could be kinda cool too if they lived long enough to be handed over to my kids (once I get some ofc.)

Before I get to my question, I’ll like start by briefly tell what I already "think" I know about Leo’s:

• They will become very large, in fact quite large
• They are an African species
• They must not be placed in hibernation
• They love weeds, especially dandelions and clover (mine does at least), but must have a balanced diet with vitamins and calcium as a supplement plus a few days a week, where they fast.
• AND of course fresh water every day
• They cant have any fruit, cus its unhealthy for them.
• They must not grow too fast because they will get a deformed shell and the interior will not match their outer shell
• They must be warm about 40 degrees C under the heat lamp and approx. 25 degrees C in the "cold" end.
• A UVA and UVB light is very important for them to incorporate the calcium and the vitamins they get. (It works a bit like the sun outside)

Now for my question, is there anything I've written that does not fit or perhaps is partially true, have I misunderstood something?

And then for it to bathe, how do u bath them, for how long and how often does it have to htake and is it really necessary? I ask bcus I’ve read several different answers to that question all around the internet.
Regards to their homes, most of u agree that 1m2 per tortoises is a minimum, but must only be when they are young / teenagers, for they become the rather large? But how large is large when they are captive?
Well back to their homes, can this be in stores? Have some of You maybe some pictures that could be a source of inspiration for me? Perhaps, if it is not too much, could You please come up with a list of "must have" things / equipment etc. + maybe not "must have", but " accessories " which can make it a little cozy (if one can even say that).

It would also be nice if You could tell me what books I should get so I can read more about these beautiful tortoises!

I would be grateful if someone here could help me a bit. And I must say that this forum is great and I have already learned a lot from you.
Thank you! and sorry this long message.

And now to some pictures of my lovely Leos


Here are my leos back when my mom first got them 1½ year ago


And Here they are when I got them, 2 weeks ago


The small one -Parvo


The Big One -Magna


And one more pic of Magna


I hope some of u can help me, and Thanks in advance


/Thanja
Proud owner of 2 lovely Leos

[rocio]

Hi Thanja, your Leopards are indeed lovely. I also have two. Mine are 6 years old now and I have had them one year. I bath mine twice a day,well I don't bath them as such, there's no soap involved!! I put each one in a separate plastic box with enough warm water to come up to just above the bottom shell and they sit in that for a few minutes or for many minutes, depending on how they feel. They nearly always drink both bath times and usually pee as well and sometimes poo.. I live in southern Spain so for many months my two are outside but in the evening I bring them in and they have a large tortoise table with a heated cave at one end. If the temperature is below 80F I switch their ceramic heater on. Outside they have two enclosures. A grass one and a concrete one. They are on the concrete at the moment as they have eaten all the grass down and it is recovering. Once your tortoises are several kilos in weight, they will need as big a run as you can provide. I feed mine once or twice a day depending on how much food is available,. When on the grass run they have usually only the grass and the weeds growing in it to eat but while on the concrete I feed them twice a day with leaves,flowers and weeds. They do not poo every day but every 2nd or more usually, every 3rd day. They can pass a lot of poo on a poo day!!! They pee every day. I hope you enjoy your Leopards as much as I enjoy mine. Valerie

www.cactusinspain.com

[Daryn]

Lovely tortes well done

[Thanja]

Originally Posted by rocio

Hi Thanja, your Leopards are indeed lovely. I also have two. Mine are 6 years old now and I have had them one year. I bath mine twice a day,well I don't bath them as such, there's no soap involved!! I put each one in a separate plastic box with enough warm water to come up to just above the bottom shell and they sit in that for a few minutes or for many minutes, depending on how they feel. They nearly always drink both bath times and usually pee as well and sometimes poo.. I live in southern Spain so for many months my two are outside but in the evening I bring them in and they have a large tortoise table with a heated cave at one end. If the temperature is below 80F I switch their ceramic heater on. Outside they have two enclosures. A grass one and a concrete one. They are on the concrete at the moment as they have eaten all the grass down and it is recovering. Once your tortoises are several kilos in weight, they will need as big a run as you can provide. I feed mine once or twice a day depending on how much food is available,. When on the grass run they have usually only the grass and the weeds growing in it to eat but while on the concrete I feed them twice a day with leaves,flowers and weeds. They do not poo every day but every 2nd or more usually, every 3rd day. They can pass a lot of poo on a poo day!!! They pee every day. I hope you enjoy your Leopards as much as I enjoy mine. Valerie

Hi, Thanks for u advise, i will try and "bath" my leos and see if they like it or not. I've noticed that when they poo, they really POO hehe...
Again Thanks and thanks for ur nice words about Magna and Parvo

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/Thanja
Proud owner of 2 lovely Leos -Magna and Parvo

[Thanja]

Originally Posted by Daryn

Lovely tortes well done

Thanks...

-----------------------------------------------
/Thanja
Proud owner of 2 lovely Leos -Magna and Parvo

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Thanja

[COLOR="YellowGreen"]Hi there...

Before I get to my question, I’ll like start by briefly tell what I already "think" I know about Leo’s:

• They will become very large, in fact quite large
• They are an African species
• They must not be placed in hibernation
• They love weeds, especially dandelions and clover (mine does at least), but must have a balanced diet with vitamins and calcium as a supplement plus a few days a week, where they fast.
• AND of course fresh water every day
• They cant have any fruit, cus its unhealthy for them.
• They must not grow too fast because they will get a deformed shell and the interior will not match their outer shell
• They must be warm about 40 degrees C under the heat lamp and approx. 25 degrees C in the "cold" end.
• A UVA and UVB light is very important for them to incorporate the calcium and the vitamins they get. (It works a bit like the sun outside)

In general terms, I think your points above are good. We could probably expand on each of the points and complicate things for you if we wanted to . But to keep it simple, I would say you have the right idea.

For bathing, I will either just run the hose over the tortoises to rinse of their shells and let them drink from the hose, or for the smaller ones I will place them in a tub of water deep enough for it to submerge its head underwater for about 10 - 15 minutes ever day or every other day. It's not necessary to do it this way, it's just how I personally do it.

For the type of leopard you have, I would expect something in the 25cm - 38cm range as a full sized adult. Though it's possible to have some smaller and larger than that.

I really don't know what types of books you might have available in your area, or if your english is well enough to read the books I would recommend, but here it goes:

Author: Ed Pirog: http://www.amazon.com/Sulcata-Leopar...+tortoise+book

Author: Richard and Jerry Fife: http://www.amazon.com/Leopard-Tortoi...+tortoise+book

This book is my favorite leopard tortoise book: http://www.amazon.com/Leopard-Africa...+tortoise+book

Your leopards look great!

[winemaker1958]

Here are some of the books we use.
sulcata and leopard tortoises-E.J.Pirog.
leopard and african spurred tortoise-Holger Vetter-we use this a lot.
the tortoise and turtle feeding manual-A.C.Highfield

we have more if you need the titles.
we also have a dvd practical care of leopard and sulcata tortoises.www.tortoisetrust.org

hope this is helpful.

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by Thanja

Hi, Thanks for u advise, i will try and "bath" my leos and see if they like it or not. I've noticed that when they poo, they really POO hehe...
Again Thanks and thanks for ur nice words about Magna and Parvo

-----------------------------------------------
/Thanja
Proud owner of 2 lovely Leos -Magna and Parvo

When I first had my Leo who was already large @ 6kg, my husband knew that I loved elephants and thought that I had one hidden when he went down the garden. It was massive but very good for the garden.