kingsnake.com - reptile and amphibian classifieds, breeders, forums, photos, videos and more

return to main index

  mobile - desktop
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on YouTube link to us on LinkedIn
International Reptile Conservation Foundation  
Click here for LLL Reptile & Supply
This Space Available
3 months for $50.00
Locate a business by name: click to list your business
search the classifieds. buy an account
events by zip code list an event
Search the forums             Search in:
News & Events: Herp Photo of the Day: False Coral Snake . . . . . . . . . .  Herp Photo of the Day: Bearded Dragon . . . . . . . . . .  Greater Cincinnati Herp Society Meeting - Apr 02, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Calusa Herp Society Meeting - Apr 04, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Southwestern Herp Society Meeting - Apr 06, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Hamburg Reptile Show - Apr. 13, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  St. Louis Herpetological Society - Apr 14, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  San Diego Herp Society Meeting - Apr 16, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Suncoast Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  DFW Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Colorado Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Chicago Herpetological Society Meeting - Apr 21, 2024 . . . . . . . . . . 

Re: new hingback tortoise owner


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Tortoise Forum ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Souella on December 08, 2000 at 10:13:54:

In Reply to: new hingback tortoise owner posted by Sienna on December 07, 2000 at 23:03:55:

Congrats on your purchase of these beautiful tortoises. The answers to your questions will depend on exactly which one of the four species of hingeback you have. Do you know what species you have? However, there are a couple of things that you can do irregardless of which specific hingeback you have.

First, you MUST take these tortoises to a qualified reptile veterinarian. They are wild caught despite anything the place you got them from told you. As such, your turtles need to be tested for nematodes and protozoan parasites. You will need to separate your 3 tortoises so that they can be quarantined from one another. You will have to take a fresh sample of feces (fresher the better) from each tortoise to the veterinarian for testing. You and your vet should go over every millimeter of your tortoises to check for ticks as well. Hinges commonly carry ticks and these will need to be removed also. If the feces smell uncommonly strong and the turtle drinks excessively you should also have it tested for hexamita. This will not be found in a typical fecal test and must be tested for specifically.

Second, I am curious to know just how big your tortoises are that they can all fit into a 15 gallon tank? I have 3 hinges and one is a foot long and the other two are around 4 and 6 inches respectively. That isn't enough room for any one of them. I recommend purchasing large rubbermaid style tubs which have a lot of floor space or plastic concrete mixing bins from Home Depot for each tortoise. These are economical and much easier to clean. If you are using aspen pellets then misting them down regularly will just promote quick mold growth. You should use newspaper instead for now. It will make it much easier to examine and collect their feces for testing. Provide each tortoise with something to hide in or under. They are usually pretty shy. Shallow plant saucers with clean water work very well for many people. They will be shallow enough for your tortoises to get in and out of easily. You should provide the tortoises with a heat gradient so that they may properly thermoregulate. A hot spot of just over 90 going down to mid to upper 70's. You will not be able to do this in an aquarium as the glass will trap all the heat in. Don't let the temp fall below 75 at night. If your tortoise is smooth and round, then you have a Bell's hingeback, if it is angular with a sharp drop-off at the back, it is a Forest/Homes or Serrated hingeback. Try and keep the humidity at least at 60 percent as a minimum for Bell's and much higher for Forest and Serrated. 80 to 90 percent.

House each tortoise separately to quarantine them from one another. This will allow you to monitor each tortoise individually so that you can make sure it is eating and it will make collecting feces for a fecal exam much easier since you will know which sample will below with each animals without doubt. In addition, if one tortoise falls ill, this will ensure that it does not pass it to the other two. I would keep the lighting dim for most of the enclosure. Hingebacks tend to not like bright light tho there are differences in an individual's preferences. Full spectrum UV lighting can also prove beneficial for proper calcium use.

As for diet, I would stick with dark leafy greens such as turnip, mustard, collard, and dandelion leaves. Also napolito cactus leaves are well liked as are mango and kiwi. My tortoises have also like squashes of all types and carrots. Provide the tortoises with a large variety. If the fruit is a little overripe, that is ok as Hinge's eat fallen fruits in the wild. You should also sprinkle a reptile vitamin and Calcium/D3 supplement sparingly on each meal. I use Reptivite and Rep-Cal. Hingeback's are omnivorous and further details on diet are available in the links to the care/info sheets I've included.

Good luck with your tortoises. They are not the easiest to maintain and will probalby prove pretty challenging. Please write me or the forum if you have additional questions, as I said I've currently got 3 hingebacks but have also lost 3 in the process due to their poor health when I got them. Please take them to a vet for a checkup; it could save you a lot of heartache and loss of money in the long run due to expensive vet treatment for a sick tortoise.

Here are the links, please check them out:
http://www.arav.org/journalother/hingetort.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/ckinixys.html
http://www.reptileallsorts.demon.co.uk/hingeback-cs.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/6776/hinges.txt
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/6776/missycaresheet.txt
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/6776/yertlecare.html
http://www.unc.edu/~dtkirkpa/stuff/kinixys.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/parasites.html


Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Tortoise Forum ] [ FAQ ]