2010 South African Leopard Thread.

[Tom]

I will always feed them daily, or allow them to graze all day every day.

 

[jtrux]

There isn't a good age to feed less. They should always be allowed to eat as much as they want. The caloric value of weeds and grasses is very low so they really need to be eating quite a bit to get their daily needs, hence why a tort can cram down soo much food in comparison to their actual size.

 

[Hallbomber]

Copy that. Thank you guys.

 

[Tom]

Copy that. Thank you guys.

Any time. Now please don't go bombing anybody's hallway.

 

[Hallbomber]

Hahahaaaaaa. My last name is Halbmaier, I work in a paramilitaristic medical field as a paramedic, and no one can pronounce my last name so they all just say "Hallbomber."

 

[DesertGrandma]

Hahahaaaaaa. My last name is Halbmaier, I work in a paramilitaristic medical field as a paramedic, and no one can pronounce my last name so they all just say "Hallbomber."

I am so glad you cleared that up. I always wondered if you were a terrorist, haha.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Tom, are the tubs of water in your leopards heated box working well?

Do you have records of what humidity it is in there?

Does the hay bedding have issues with the humidity?

Are they still smooth since the move outside?

Heather
sent while on my purple android TFOapp

 

[Tom]

1. Not great, but certainly better than nothing. I'm considering a damp substrate for in there, but they defecate in there so often... The tubs DO work well as a bit of a heat sink.
2. It usually hovers in the 40's, unless I crack open the lid, then it drops way down.
3. Its still too dry for the hay to mold.
4. Meh. They aren't as perfect as I'd like, but better than any I've seen out in the tortoise world. These guys were started in an open topped enclosure, so they've never been perfect. My next batch will be in a closed chamber from day one. Then we will have a good comparison.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

can you explain "heat sink". I've read that from you before but don't understand what it is.

Thanks for the response. Definitely answered my questions Very helpful.

 

[Tom]

can you explain "heat sink". I've read that from you before but don't understand what it is.

Thanks for the response. Definitely answered my questions Very helpful.

Sure. I hope I don't mess it up in technical terms. Basically a larger heated (or cooled) mass resists temperature change longer than a smaller mass. All the water in there gets heated by the heater and after the heater kicks off, that 10 gallon mass of water holds stored heat energy. Its sort of the opposite of your fridge. Today's high efficiency fridges have a tough time maintain cool temps when they are empty. All the "stuff" in them helps to maintain the temp once the cooling mechanism gets the temperature down.

A glass of warm water will cool faster than a 55 gallon drum of water.

A comparison can be drawn from inertia. In fact the term heat inertia applies.


... does this make sense? Its too early for this and I'm to distracted. Ice Age is on and my little girl has so many questions...

 

[Levi the Leopard]

I get it!

Thanks

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Tom,

Can you share the current stats of your leopards?
I, along with many others I'm sure, would love to know their sizes now and how their shells look since moving outside.


Heather
sent while on my purple android TFOapp

 

[Yvonne G]

I was outside taking a few pictures of a new leopard rescue and most of my leopards were out, so I took a couple pictures of them. It's so hard to get them to stay still, so they're not good pictures...that and trying to keep the dog out of my face as I'm sitting on the grass. This is the biggest of my two 2010 leopards:

They're still pretty smooth, just a slight amount of bumpiness on the very topline. The one not pictured is about half the size of this one. But he comes outside and eats grass every day, and I still feed them a mixture of greens and weeds and he eats that real good too. I don't know why he's so small.

 

[conservation]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Thanks for sharing Yvonne.

Don't know if you noticed in my CTTC Show pics but I used yours as some examples

 

[Yvonne G]

Thanks for sharing Yvonne.

Don't know if you noticed in my CTTC Show pics but I used yours as some examples

LOL! I had to go back and see what you were talking about. Yea! I made the book!!!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hey, all you 2010 South African Tom's leopard-ers:

We haven't updated in quite a while. Let's see how your babies are growing. Here are mine. They're going to be 3 in August this year and they're a little bumpy because I wasn't real industrious with the hot and humid theory, but compared to my babcock that was raised dry, they're perfect. This is the biggest one next to an adult babcock:

And this is both the 2010's next to the same adult babcock:

This is the two of them together:

And a side view so you can see their bumps:

And a plastron shot. The small one has a big, male tail, however the anal scutes look female, while the big one has a small, female tail, plus the anal scutes point straight back like a female:

 

[Baoh]

Yvonne, what is the scl of the larger Gpp?

 

[Yvonne G]

He/she is 10" long.

 

[Baoh]

Nice. Thanks. That is useful information to me.