DT brumaters thread 2013-2014

thatrebecca

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Gomez and Morticia have been up from brumation for a week now and all seems well. I've been giving 45-minute warm soaks every other day and we've been lucky to have great basking weather. Both are eating and exploring their expanded new enclosures.

I just wanted to say thanks to everybody for enduring all my questions and worries on my first winter with torts.

Angela, Tom and Yvonne all provided tips and info that were invaluable, not to mention the moral support from multiple other forum users! Thanks, guys! And here are the kiddos...

Morticia:
ImageUploadedByTortForum1394567590.629787.jpg

Gomez:
ImageUploadedByTortForum1394567625.035693.jpg
 
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thatrebecca

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Team Gomberg said:
I don't think you've shared photos of their enlarged, dog proof, new diggs yet ;)

Hah! You're right! I wanted to wait till it's planted and looking pretty, but I'll show you a sneak peek of the work in progress.

We took a corner of the yard that was already fenced and had been used to store pool equipment and tools and converted it to two enclosures. Two of the walls are 8-foot concrete, one is a wood fence and one is a shed. On the bottom of the wood fence we buried ceramic floor tiles leftover from our kitchen renovation to guard against digging.

At dusk the torts come inside for reasons of climate and predators.

Here's our dog Dude modeling his stay when I have the gate open to tend to the torts, Morticia showing off the concrete walled sides and Dude modeling how it looks with the gate shut. Stay tuned for further developments!ImageUploadedByTortForum1394823883.589950.jpg
 
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Levi the Leopard

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very cool. Dude looks like a good boy :)

I look forward to the updated pictures of their new space. Do they like it so far? Showcase your brick hides, too. I'm curious to see more of that.
 

plamphier

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My 30 something CDT quit coming out of his burrow just about Thanksgiving, so the week after, fearing a wet winter cause my house is in So Cal, but at 4000 feet in the San Berdoo mtns, I put him in a box in the garage. I adopted him last summer and have never brumated a tort before, so it freaked me out quite a bit, but he wanted to be asleep. He didn't seem fussy about temps or noise or anything. He was ASLEEP. But as the So Cal-ers know, it was Warm this "winter" so he woke up and rustled around about a month ago. Tipped him out of his box in front of his burrow in the yard, he sat there looking stunned and then crawled into his burrow and disappeared for a few more weeks. Covered burrow with a tarp for the SMALL rain we had, then TODAY he came out of his burrow and sat in the sun. He had a wee drink and a piece of lettuce. I was trying to imagine sleeping for 4 months, then waking up and eating a PIECE OF LETTUCE. He's pretty slow, but it's supposed to be warm this weekend, so we'll see if he stays up. It SURE IS NICE to have him back. I miss him ALL winter. Maybe that's why they brumate? So we'll miss them. Like the kids going away to college? You think? Ha!


My big tort puts the hay in his burrow out. He DOES NOT LIKE IT. So he's in there on the icky dirt, but he seems to prefer that. I have the cinder block burrow with wood roof too, but I covered in with a tarp for the one rain storm so he'd be snug and dry and when I checked him he was. Did yours stay dry? I felt bad about not taking him out of his burrow for the rain, but I also didn't want to wake him up to move him. And he's fine, so maybe nature knows what its doing.
 

Ida

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Oh I looove the names of your torts.....awesome! What a nice set up they have, even with a watch dog. Keep sharing those pictures.
 

thatrebecca

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Thanks guys! I'll definitely share some more pix as we get planted.

Here's another post-brumating question for all of you -- how long do think it'll be before they have their first poop? I don't think they have yet, and it's been about a week and a half of eating and warm baths.
 

ascott

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Here's another post-brumating question for all of you -- how long do think it'll be before they have their first poop? I don't think they have yet, and it's been about a week and a half of eating and warm baths.

Can take a couple of weeks, easily. They are likely not consuming at full throttle yet...so will take a minute to build up the, well, big business....:D

I would keep soaking for a bit to assure they are hydrated...
 

thatrebecca

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I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for this news: Gomez and Morticia have now pooped.

Post-brumation cycle complete.
 
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