Enclosure Overhaul For My Woods

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travisgn

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Overhaul is a tad strong, but I made some changes over the last couple days. The original pics (and story) can be seen here.

I finally named them, Turtle #1 is now Icarus, and Turtle #2 is Helios.

Not too much to see here, but you can see I added a CHE in the middle to get temps up.
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Added a water heater.
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More hides, plants, visual barriers, etc.
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Look carefully and you can see a little turtle peeking out between the plant and the hide. :)
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This is the filter I am using. It is by TetraFauna. As you can see the intake grate is very large, and I was getting a LOT of big debris in the filter. In the bottom pic you can see I covered it with a piece of much finer filter cover that my roommate had. Much better.
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I have several gallon water jugs that I re-use for all my pet needs. I took one and poked about 8 holes in the cap with a heated finishing nail. I can now really bring the rain down onto my guys. :)
 

Kristina

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Looks good :) Has the aggression lessened any with having more places to "get away" from each other?

I have a garden sprayer that I got at Walmart for $9. It holds about a gallon, and I love how I can adjust the nozzle. It "rains" for all my "muddy" chelonians (Hingebacks, Redfoots, Box turtles) at least once a day.

I bet those two Ornates are friggin' THRILLED to have some humidity. Seriously, I always wonder if they can actually think about the fact that things were bad, now they are better. Just an, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" moment, lol. Same with taking a tort that has spent its whole life in a 10 gallon tank and putting it outside for the first time. Just a great feeling. I am really glad you got these guys.
 

travisgn

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I'm still observing them for aggression. They have so far mainly stayed in the basking spot or in the water. They seem to tolerate each other when they need to share those spaces. With the addition of the CHE to get the temps up in the rest of the tank, I hope to see them utilizing the other hides and things.

The aggression has so far been at its worst during feeding time, so I am now using two feeding stations which also helps.

Today I watched them for about 45 minutes as they moved around the tank after I made some changes. When they were out of sight of each other, they were clearly at ease. As soon as they caught sight of each other, they would walk slowly towards each other, necks extended, until they were face to face. But then one of them would flinch and eventually they'd back away. For the first time I saw the slightly larger one, Helios, try to deny Icarus access to the water, but he gave up after a few minutes and Icarus followed him in. They tend to "face off" or to sniff the other's rear (I don't know if they are actually smelling, or maybe trying to nip them, but that's what it looks like).

Another interesting thing is that one is not completely dominant over the other. While Helios tends to bully Icarus, if Icarus shows aggression Helios will back off. It's probably about 80/20, though, with Helios doing the majority of the bullying. They seem to be averse to actual confrontation, though, so when Icarus gets his courage up, Helios just backs off.

I want to watch them for a couple more weeks before making any kind of decision. However, I am already starting to think that it might be in both of their best interests to have their own territory to "conquer".
 
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