COLD DARK ROOM

Tidgy's Dad

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5 Year Member
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Feb 11, 2015
Messages
48,236
Location (City and/or State)
Fes, Morocco
At least with the heat gun I can make sure the Christmas turkey is cooked at the correct temp lol my poor husband is going to get accuate heat readings of random parts of his body until I'm bored of the new toy lol please say I'm not the only one who would use the heat gun for my personal amusement lol
No, I play sci fi films and test everything in sight all the time.
Don't worry, it's totally adult.
Ahem.
 

Tidgy's Dad

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5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
48,236
Location (City and/or State)
Fes, Morocco
Good evening all. Actually it’s nearly tomorrow!

We are driving home from an excellent day’s tennis. The last match, Federer v 20 yr old Zverev was the best. Federer won, but Zverev clearly has a bright future.

Have a good rest of the day everyone :)
Very glad you had a good day. :)
Speak soon, my friend. :D
 

Moozillion

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Apr 26, 2012
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10,744
Location (City and/or State)
Louisiana, USA
Pic didn't send in last msg

View attachment 222814
Hello and Welcome to the Forum! :)

I also have a Hermann's tortoise, Elsa Elizabeth. I got her back in 2012 when she was 4 inches long- that's about the earliest size/age that sex can be determined reliably with this species.
My tortoise has ALWAYS loved to bury herself in substrate. I use plain old garden dirt from my yard because I know there are no chemicals in it. That's what they would bury themselves in out in the wild, so I figure it's pretty natural! I have also purchased bags of organic potting soil- sometimes it was really good soil, another time it was just ground up pine bark!:mad: [I did NOT use it when it was ground up pine bark because the oils in the pine are irritating to their skin and eyes]

What I do is dig a shallow trench at least a foot long in her enclosure, pour about 1-2 pints of water into the trench and wait a minute or two for the water to soak into the substrate. Then I cover the trench shallowly. I make several of these trenches all over her indoor enclosure. This makes the soil underneath MOIST, but not soaking; and the soil on top DRY, so she won't get fungus diseases from standing on wet dirt. So whenever she buries herself, she's down in moist (but NOT SOAKING WET) dirt: nice and humid for her!!! This seems to work really well for my tort. But as I said, she has LOVED to bury herself from the very first day, so it suits her well. I don't know if your little one likes to bury himself or not?

When she was very little, I laid a sheet of plexiglass across the top of her enclosure to help keep the moisture in, and I think it helped. Plants in the enclosure are said to help keep moisture up, but mine always died. :(

I have seen some very clever and inexpensive ways of providing a cover to keep humidity in- one of the best was plastic sheeting held up like a tent over the enclosure!
 

Moozillion

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Louisiana, USA
Good afternoon CDR. Good afternoon Adam.
My old cat is still alive although the VET wants to euthanize him today ( but I don`t want to )
He got an antibiotic shot and pain medicaments. I have the next VET visit with him on friday. The VET thinks that he has a tumor in his nose. The nose is slightly swollen and a little bit bleeding.
When there is no health improvement to see on friday I will let him go.:(

Bee, when I am faced with the decision about euthanizing a pet, I remind myself I have 2 choices: 1 is to help him pass on gently, the other is to let him suffer for days or weeks until he finally dies. That makes the decision very easy, and the only pain left is mine. But that is better than pain for him.

You have a very beautiful heart that is loving and strong. :<3:
 

Moozillion

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Oh, yes- I almost forgot!

I read that Hermann's tortoises are native "to the oak thickets of eastern Europe." Luckily, we have a willow oak tree in our back yard! About this time of year I rake up all the leaves every few days and dump them into Elsa's indoor enclosure!!!!! She loves burying herself in the leaves. And it's fun to hear her walking around under the layer of leaves, crunching them underfoot! :) They also help hold the moisture in. She buries her front half really well, but often leaves just the very last bit of her shell showing. So then my hubby and I get to play the game "Spot the Tortoise Bum" to see who can find her first!!! :D:D:D
@xlondon-ladyx
 

Moozillion

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Good evening, Bea!:)
Splendid posts as usual.
(though i'd be very careful what was in the garden dirt.)
I love to play 'spot the tortoise bum' as well!
Tidgy's is pretty enormous and not difficult to spot.
Like wifey's.
OW!
OW!
OW!
OW!
Not like wifey's at all. :(

Tee hee hee!!!! [emoji12]
I see Wifey is keeping you in line!!!![emoji8]
 

xlondon-ladyx

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Joined
Nov 12, 2017
Messages
134
Location (City and/or State)
London uk
Hello and Welcome to the Forum! :)

I also have a Hermann's tortoise, Elsa Elizabeth. I got her back in 2012 when she was 4 inches long- that's about the earliest size/age that sex can be determined reliably with this species.
My tortoise has ALWAYS loved to bury herself in substrate. I use plain old garden dirt from my yard because I know there are no chemicals in it. That's what they would bury themselves in out in the wild, so I figure it's pretty natural! I have also purchased bags of organic potting soil- sometimes it was really good soil, another time it was just ground up pine bark!:mad: [I did NOT use it when it was ground up pine bark because the oils in the pine are irritating to their skin and eyes]

What I do is dig a shallow trench at least a foot long in her enclosure, pour about 1-2 pints of water into the trench and wait a minute or two for the water to soak into the substrate. Then I cover the trench shallowly. I make several of these trenches all over her indoor enclosure. This makes the soil underneath MOIST, but not soaking; and the soil on top DRY, so she won't get fungus diseases from standing on wet dirt. So whenever she buries herself, she's down in moist (but NOT SOAKING WET) dirt: nice and humid for her!!! This seems to work really well for my tort. But as I said, she has LOVED to bury herself from the very first day, so it suits her well. I don't know if your little one likes to bury himself or not?

When she was very little, I laid a sheet of plexiglass across the top of her enclosure to help keep the moisture in, and I think it helped. Plants in the enclosure are said to help keep moisture up, but mine always died. :(

I have seen some very clever and inexpensive ways of providing a cover to keep humidity in- one of the best was plastic sheeting held up like a tent over the enclosure!
Thank you so much yes ( lets call him/her Mr handsome) as we don't know the sex for sure.... yes he loves to burrow that and eating and bath time are his fav things to do!
 

xlondon-ladyx

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Joined
Nov 12, 2017
Messages
134
Location (City and/or State)
London uk
Hello and Welcome to the Forum! :)

I also have a Hermann's tortoise, Elsa Elizabeth. I got her back in 2012 when she was 4 inches long- that's about the earliest size/age that sex can be determined reliably with this species.
My tortoise has ALWAYS loved to bury herself in substrate. I use plain old garden dirt from my yard because I know there are no chemicals in it. That's what they would bury themselves in out in the wild, so I figure it's pretty natural! I have also purchased bags of organic potting soil- sometimes it was really good soil, another time it was just ground up pine bark!:mad: [I did NOT use it when it was ground up pine bark because the oils in the pine are irritating to their skin and eyes]

What I do is dig a shallow trench at least a foot long in her enclosure, pour about 1-2 pints of water into the trench and wait a minute or two for the water to soak into the substrate. Then I cover the trench shallowly. I make several of these trenches all over her indoor enclosure. This makes the soil underneath MOIST, but not soaking; and the soil on top DRY, so she won't get fungus diseases from standing on wet dirt. So whenever she buries herself, she's down in moist (but NOT SOAKING WET) dirt: nice and humid for her!!! This seems to work really well for my tort. But as I said, she has LOVED to bury herself from the very first day, so it suits her well. I don't know if your little one likes to bury himself or not?

When she was very little, I laid a sheet of plexiglass across the top of her enclosure to help keep the moisture in, and I think it helped. Plants in the enclosure are said to help keep moisture up, but mine always died. :(

I have seen some very clever and inexpensive ways of providing a cover to keep humidity in- one of the best was plastic sheeting held up like a tent over the enclosure!
When our tank got delivered the perspex got cracked in shipping so they sent out new perspex to replce the cracked ones...so I'm going to use that to cover the top.... last night when the tank was 95f I covered the wire top with towels and turned the light's off kept him warmer all night he wasnst totally burrowed down only his little legs even this morning he was comfortable and woke up the same way so converting kept the cold night air out
 

xlondon-ladyx

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Joined
Nov 12, 2017
Messages
134
Location (City and/or State)
London uk
Iv been trying to do that but with the hemp his on at the min it doesn't hold the shape ( don't panic the coco coir is on its way ) with that I'll be able to make a better raised area
Iv emailed the seller and asked them to cancel the order for the basking platform and I'm just going to hand raise the new substrate when it comes
 

JoesMum

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Oct 26, 2011
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21,606
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Kent, South East England
Good morning all.

Sara, it looks like you had a busy day yesterday!

Daughter had a pretty diabolical day yesterday :( She got to the badger set she’s researching to find that someone, presumably an irate farmer, had filled it in. Not a small job; it requires a digger :(

Then her car got stuck in mud. And right at the end of the day she lost her phone. She thinks she might have dropped it in the supermarket car park. So now she needs to try to claim on the insurance, but she needs the IMEI number to block her phone, but that’s on the box and the box is here... we hope; I’m going hunting.
 
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