If I Could Turn Back Time

[Floof]

Marshell is very cute! I'm so glad you got him on to a wet routine, and off of that icky hay and sand combo!

That's funny, too--I guess I'm not the only one with an undersized Leo! My little one was all of about 43 grams when I got him, and the previous owner claimed he'd purchased him as a hatchling/juvenile a year and a half earlier.. So, 2 years old, and not even 50 grams yet!! It took a couple months to get his enclosure "just right," but once I got him into a semi-closed chamber arrangement, he really started to GROW! Just like Marshell, he suddenly became active, constantly out and about and climbing and eating and generally being a happy, healthy tortoise. I'm really bad at remembering to soak and mist, but just the humidity coming off his substrate and constant access to a humid hide and a water dish have ensured his new growth is MUCH smoother. (I'm sure it helps that my climates have been more humid--Utah had a wet winter, then I moved, and the PNW is always wet!) Still not perfect, but I'm sure that will change once I can kick my memory back into shape! His last weigh-in was at the beginning of January, and he came in at 112 grams--nearly tripled in size in the 6 months since I'd gotten him! He's way overdue for another weigh-in... Just as soon as I get a new scale. I kinda dropped it... And it broke.. Oops!

Anyway, I'm sure Marshell will do GREAT for you. Just look at my little guy... Half Marshell's size when I got him at roughly the same age, plus my care *still* isn't as good as it could be (sad but true--working on it, though!), and here he is 8 months later, healthy as a horse and growing like a weed! You are doing a fantastic job, and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of Marshell's beautiful new smooth growth as he grows!!

 

[manmythlegend]

I extended the doorway a bit on the humid hide after I put Marshell outside today. Here's what I ended up with-



While I was making the opening bigger I also cleaned up inside the hide, added more coconut coir and created a depression in the middle with a "hallway" leading from the door to the center of the hide. The flap has still been left in place but it has been deepened and widened by around 1/4".

The thick piece of plastic on top of the "porch roof" is the remote sensor for the weather station I'm using to keep a consistent eye on the temperatures and humidity in various areas of the enclosure. As you can see, the water dish and saucer for food are located conveniently right outside the door. I thought the water dish being right outside the door would help keep the humidity up in the hide.

 

[manmythlegend]

Weight after soaking today- 175 grams. I have collards, radishes, etc. planted in his outdoor enclosure which I will move him to full(ish) time once the temps remain above 70 F overnight.

 

[manmythlegend]

As you can see in the image, here's Marshell back in the sand and straw days.


Here's Marshell now. I'm thinking you can see some smoother growth coming in, can't you? It might be wishful thinking on my part but I'm pretty sure there's some new smooth growth showing on his carapace.

 

[Floof]

He looks great!! I think I can see the smooth growth you're talking about, too. Good job!!!

 

[Tom]

He's looking good. His overall appearance and health just look better to me in the new photo.

 

[Neal]

Keep us updated on how the new set up suits him.

I find myself saying the same thing from time to time. Fortunately with the forum and with some contacts I have, I am always introduced to new ways and methods to tortoise husbandry. I wrote a caresheet about a year ago, and I think if I were to do it again it would be completely different. Not that it doesn't work, but there always seems to be a tweak here and a tweak there that just makes things so much better for the tortoise, and myself for that matter.

 

[manmythlegend]

A month since my last post...here's an update-
I'm having an outbreak of bugs that I believe are coming in on the leaves from the yard. My solutions? Place one of those sticky strips that comes in the little cardboard tubes hanging from the overhead light fixture directly above the tub for the gnats. I'm being much more diligent about getting up every crumb I can find of leftover food. There are still many other nonflying critters digging around in the peat though. SO...

After much research and thought into the matter I've started a colony of isopods (Armadillilium vulgare to be exact) in the tub to help keep things tidy and to hopefully eat the bug eggs that are coming in with the leaves. I've looked for them everywhere here in Arizona but all I can find are what I think are sow bugs or "Porcellio scaber" and I definately wanted the "pillbug" variety that rolls up in a ball. I called in a favor from a relative who lives in the deep south and had a pretty good starter colony of roly polys shipped to me.

As far as Marshell himself goes, things are fine. He's still active, interactive and enjoying the outdoors several times a week. Sometimes I don't make it home for any amount of time to be spent outside before the sun sets so we don't make it out every single day but it's as often as possible. I spray the enclosure down with water from the hose before I put him outside and I pull up tufts of fresh grasses from around the edge of the patio to line the inside of the hide inside the outside enclosure. I have a few plants on the patio that need watering often so the grass at the edges where the runoff occurs gets tall pretty quickly.

He's eating well as you can see. His weight last night after he was soaked was 225 grams (approximately 8 oz).

 

[J3vans]

I like the roly poly idea. I use to catch them all the time as a kid. Let us know how those work out for you.

 

[manmythlegend]

Marshell wasn't feeling particularly social today but you can at least get a good look at his scutes and how much better they look. IMHO anyway. He goes outside on the weekends only now, mainly because I got promoted at work and my hours have increased. He did stay outside overnight in the rain a few nights ago. I'm sure he enjoyed the heck out of that! Rofl! I haven't mowed his grass in the outdoor enclosure at all since the very first time this growing season and it's pretty moist and shady underneath the "canopy" in that patch.

He is 295 grams (a smidgen less than 10.5 ounces) after his soak tonight. That's almost 75 grams since my last checkin! He's eating almost exclusively out of the yard nowadays. I guess the broadleaf weeds are particularly nutritious around here. He's eating Mazuri a couple of times a week as "croutons" on his daily salad.




Side view showing how nice and smooth he's getting...unless I'm imagining things.
J3vans, I don't know if the roly poly idea is what caused the sudden decrease in bug observance in the tortoise enclosure. All I know is that the swarm has disappeared from that room. Maybe they reach some sort of "critical mass"? Maybe it is the small colony of pill bugs now living in the coconut fiber inside Marshell's house. When I went in to turn over the peat the other day I occasionally saw a small roly poly around the edges of the tub. Then I dug around his house enough to lift it out. Since he obviously no longer fit through his expanded door I needed to get the thing dug out so I could cut it. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE UNDER THERE!!! There were a few larger ones but BB sized and smaller ones were EVERYWHERE! The experiment continues but it appears I've reached an equilibrium for now.



Here he is chilling in the soak. He's trashing the water dish in his enclosure on a daily basis now. The Chinese take-out dish looks like the mud pies I used to make with the dirt under the oak tree in the back yard. Good black dirt that you had to scrape back progressively decaying layers of leaves under the tree to get your hands on, since it was the closest chocolate analog in all of dirtdom. I've been using the water I rinse the dish out with to water my plants and they're experiencing a growth spurt with the nutrients from the peat. Do you think if I faithfully soaked him for about half an hour every day I could take up the mud pie or no?




This is "The End"...of this update!

 

[Eweezyfosheezy]

I think he looks great!

 

[Jeansie1988]

How high should the humidity be for these guys?

 

[manmythlegend]

IT HAPPENED!
As you've seen in some of the photos, Marshell takes his soaks in a blue bowl I got from the hospital. When we first stated the soaking he took a little time to walk his way around the edge. I remember sitting there watching him and thinking, "I'll be glad when he can poke his head over the edge." Tonight, it happened!

Nowadays the little piglet takes up half the bowl! He can basically make it around the bowl in 6 steps these days. The difference in his shell growth is absolutely amazing. It has smoothed out completely! He's currently eating the leaves from an hibiscus I trimmed back from a walkway. I ended up with two gallon ziplock bags full of green leaves and small buds. Once he finishes those I have a fresh crop of stuff coming up from the nightly rainfall we've been having lately.

 

[manmythlegend]

After the soak today Mashell weighs in at 425g (a little over 15oz). There's a fresh crop of broadleaf weeds coming up in yard so he's eating those now along with a weekly handful of Mazuri. I'll get some pictures of him later and post them for y'all.

 

[marcy4hope]

looking forward to seeing more pictures of him.

 

[manmythlegend]

As you can see, this is an older picture of Marshell which shows him in his soaking tub back in the day before I switched him to the wet routine. Remember, this was around a year ago and he had remained pretty much the same size since I'd originally gotten him.


Here is a picture I took around 20 minutes ago. He takes up almost half of the tub now and I'm thinking of switching him to a bucket because he's doing his best to climb out of the tub and it's only a matter of time until he succeeds.

 

[Tom]

I am very happy for you, but I am really not surprised. Nice job. So glad you tried the wet method. Now please go tell everyone else to try it too.

 

[Neal]

He's looking good! How has the new growth been?

 

[manmythlegend]

Marshell is doing great as you can see from the pics. He's (or is "he" a she?) doing great! My ex-next door neighbor has questioned Marshell's sex...she says the fact that his underside isn't concave means Marshell is actually Marsha.

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Marshell hanging out in the great outdoors. I think you can see Goober in the background.

 

[wellington]

How old and long is he now? My leopard just showed his true self/sex to me in the third week of January or around there. He is 6inches and 1pound 10 1/4 oz. and will be two in march. I was hoping for a he and got it, ya. Yours might take longer though, there's no set time. Here's a pic of my male

Looks to me like your might be a she, but could still be to young to truely tell.

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Looking at yours again, with the pic of mine. I would get you have a girl.