I love Leopards but living in Maryland and not being independently wealthy went with a Red foot tortoise who stay a lot smaller in most cases. As already mentioned you need a lot of room for these guys. Most people keep them wrong because of educational ignorance, or because they wanted a big...
Outdoor torts can easily go unnoticed since most hide during the day when it's bright out. Also most outdoor enclosures are heavily planted to provide protection and shade so they can be easy to miss. I also would echo the owners may not have known where to post, or may have posted in areas...
It's very normal for them to hide during the day and be shy. In the wild if this wasn't a natural instinct they'd be eaten fairly quick. Red foots also hate bright light. Mine stays in her night box all day until the sun moves out of the yard around 5 even with plenty of plants to hide in...
Mine comes in at night because I'm a spaz so my night box is really just her large hide during the day when it's hot out but we keep it open. I used a 12x10 dog kennel staked into the ground and covered the bottom one foot in deer cloth so she can't climb and see out. I do not use a cover...
Depending on the time of year my RF often night feeds in late spring/summer because of the heat outside. She spends most of her day nestled in her outdoor tort box filled with wet coco coir and comes out around 5 to eat before I toss her back in her indoor enclosure for the night. Her food is...
Hmmmm usually only fertile eggs explode when something goes wrong, but your female may just need more time to lay fertile eggs and they're duds. Could also be temp fluctuations you're missing.
You would have to be able to keep the room 80-85 degrees day and night with humidity at around 80% which will mold your walls......get a big cage otherwise you're risking respiratory illness and/or injury.
Protein is good 2-3 times per month. My RF who is 2 and never a noisy breather scared me as well this winter, but I think it was my humidity being too low. Now that I sealed her vents off in the cage she is fine.
Anything used to seal the inside has to be "food safe", and still aired out for months. I'd just use the shower curtain inside for now. Before you know it you'll need an 8x4 cage next year and then need to worry about his permanent environment.
He's burrowing because he's overheated and cooling off, but then basking because he gets too cold while buried. In an open top in a cool climate it's just not possible to provide a stable heat/humidity environment and MVB's get waaaaay too hot for a RF plus dry out the cage. I'd get a cheap...