Hi Donna
Joe, I just want to clarify something. Our babies have three pens. An indoor pen as described in another post. An "outdoor" pen (this is the one on the screened porch. And a portable rock garden play area that allows them to climb etc. This we sometimes move outside on the screened patio and sometimes we move it inside depending on whether they need more heat or cool.
Why three pens and the added stress of moving the tortoises from one enclosure to another? Stress can also lead to more parasites and other illness. Young tortoises are more easily stressed due to their small size and natural predators in the wild. Essentially this added stress factor could put one over the edge and cause death too.
Each day or at least four times per week we take them outside for about 30-45 minutes to bask in the sun and eat fresh clover and dandelions.
Natural sunlight is best, however since you are presently having trouble with your tortoises, stress reduction is essential. My thought would be is setup one indoor enclosure that is large enough to provide a temperature and humidity gradient, with a quality UVB bulb such as a T-Rex. This would be best for the tortoises right now, until health issues can be brought under control, appetitie and activity return.
When we bring them inside the temperature of our home with air conditioning is much cooler and dryer, so as not to shock them with extremes we bring them to the enclosed patio pen.
The focus needs to be at the level of the tortoises and not the air. Many have air conditioned homes and are able to set up indoor enclosures in this type of envrionment and partially closing off the enclosure is effective at providing a warm and humid area in the enclosure as is a good UVB/heat bulb. This can be accomplished through the construction of a tortoise table made of plywood for example and by cutting another piece for the top that covers half the enclosure.
They seem to really enjoy it. They are never directly in the sun nor would I leave anything or anyone directly in the sun, especially here in southeast Florida. What we do is this. We have roll up shades on our patio. We place there pen perpendicular to the patio screen. This allows the sun to hit 2.5" of their strata at 2 pm. At that point the temp at that small area is between 90-92 degrees. Mid range in the pen is at 85 degrees and the cool end is between 75-80 degrees. Substratum is moist. From 2 pm - 5 pm when the sun is the hottest, we lower the shades to reduce the amount of sun that comes in, thus reducing the 2.5" of of sun by 1". Additionally, I slightly rotate the pen counter clockwise so that the SW corner of the cage (originally at about 6:30 and the SE corner is at 5:30 while center of the cold end is at 6 o'clock) to about 7:30. The allows only 1 small corner (the ne corner of the hot end) to get some sun. In the evening after dark we let them cool down to about 65-70 degrees.
Much too hot as there is no area to enabling the tortoises to coll themselves during the heat of the day. This is not what is inferred with temperature gradient either. During the day, there has to be an area that is cool in the range of 70 degrees.
I am very concerned about Taj. He is still not eating. We have an appt with our vet for his second treatment in two weeks. I will speak with the vet tomorrow and see how he wants to proceed. In the interim we have separated the babies. Even though nothing is showing in Mahal's fecal sample, I do not want any cross contamination.
Exposure has already occured here and most vets opt to treat the entire group. Again, negatvie fecal doesn't indicate no parasites, only the sample was clean.
I remember you told us initially that the word on the street was that this guy in northern FL was not actually domestically breeding but importing the hatchlings and many were ill. My vet said most of these guys import babies the day after they hatch and many do die. We told the vet that we even though we do not particularly trust this pet shop, we took these babies (best looking and acting of all of them) as a rescue mission, but apparently this wasn't a good idea either.
Not entirely a bad idea either. But best to buy from a reptuable breeder. But this is another topic entirely.
I have made up my mind that if anything happens to Taj this will be it for me. We will continue to love and care for Louise and Mahal, but I don't think I will take on any more torts. Emotionally I cannot handle another death right now.
To ensure the best possible outcome or at least a chance that all survive, please take the information given here seriously and reduce the amount of stress on your tortoises. Too hot is another stressor, moving from enclosure to enclsoure is highly stressing, parasites, poor diet, poor environment is very stressful too.
After the death of Afra and now this illness of Taj who is so fragile, I fully understand why my vet gets so upset with tortoise trade. BTW, she had a spurs thigh, and her partner grew up in FL and used to rescue gopher tortoises that were losing their homes due to construction.
I work with sick turtles and tortoises every day and when I post my experiences and they aren't taken seriously this is frustrating too. You have gotten great advise here, and I know you want to do the best for your tortoises. However, the stress instilled presently is not the best route to take. For now one enclosure that enables body temperature regulation, offers humidity at the level of the tortoise, good diet, and the provision is a high quality UVB/heat bulb is the best choice to give the best opportunity of recovery and health.
