If I Could Turn Back Time
- Thread starter manmythlegend
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She's (that's gonna take some getting used to) around 3ish years old and I just measured the plastron at 5.5 inches. With the addition of the wrong sex that means the breeder was wrong across the board. Wrong about feeding, wrong about housing, wrong about the care in general, wrong about her sex... I don't think there's one thing that guy got right!
At least Marsha is doing well now thanks to Tom and all the rest of you on this forum! I have passed the word about this forum on to a doctor I worked with recently who has two sulcatas and I make sure to tell anyone who I hear is even thinking about getting a tortoise to check out the forum first before they purchase any.
At least Marsha is doing well now thanks to Tom and all the rest of you on this forum! I have passed the word about this forum on to a doctor I worked with recently who has two sulcatas and I make sure to tell anyone who I hear is even thinking about getting a tortoise to check out the forum first before they purchase any.
manmythlegend said:
I say again... Join the club!
Now that Marshell (yes, I'm still gonna call her that) has reached a certain size, she's spending most of her soak time hanging on the side.
I'm assuming that she's still soaking up plenty of water through her cloaca. She's certainly still pooping in the bowl so at least there's that.
I'm assuming that she's still soaking up plenty of water through her cloaca. She's certainly still pooping in the bowl so at least there's that.
Marshell weighs in at 470g (a pound and a skosh over 1/2 an ounce) after her soak today. 345g (12.17oz) in the year since her first weigh in, which was about 125g (around 4.5oz) if I remember correctly. She's more than quadrupled her weight in a single year on the wet routine and her pyramiding has come to a complete stop and all her new scute growth has been relatively smooth as you can see from the attached image.
She's back to eating stuff from the yard now. I go out on a daily basis while she soaks and pick broadleaf weeds (dandelions, thistles, etc.), grasses, hibiscus leaves, coreopsis and mallow leaves... I try to make her diet as varied as possible. My back yard looks like crap according to the HOA but Marshell is getting plenty of nutritious greens in her diet because I try to do organic as possible in the back yard.
Her indoor enclosure stays above 75 degrees but never warmer than 100 degrees with two 100watt bulbs hanging about a foot over the glass. The humidity readings I get from the weather station that is in her enclosure never get above 30% and yet she's looking really great and is active. I'm not spraying down the enclosure so much anymore since I usually just pour out her water dish into the enclosure when I refill it every day. I figure there is a layer of moisture down towards the bottom of the 3-4inch peat moss/coconut coir/orchid bark mixture that probably stays pretty constant.
She's back to eating stuff from the yard now. I go out on a daily basis while she soaks and pick broadleaf weeds (dandelions, thistles, etc.), grasses, hibiscus leaves, coreopsis and mallow leaves... I try to make her diet as varied as possible. My back yard looks like crap according to the HOA but Marshell is getting plenty of nutritious greens in her diet because I try to do organic as possible in the back yard.
Her indoor enclosure stays above 75 degrees but never warmer than 100 degrees with two 100watt bulbs hanging about a foot over the glass. The humidity readings I get from the weather station that is in her enclosure never get above 30% and yet she's looking really great and is active. I'm not spraying down the enclosure so much anymore since I usually just pour out her water dish into the enclosure when I refill it every day. I figure there is a layer of moisture down towards the bottom of the 3-4inch peat moss/coconut coir/orchid bark mixture that probably stays pretty constant.
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470 grams?? This surprised me a lot! Mine weighs 633 grams and seems to be a hell of a lot smaller than yours - especially limb size and head size. How can this be I wonder...? How old is she now? And do you know her plastron length? Really interesting.
All our leopards have pyramiding, some worse than the others. We have our oldest one 22 years and husbandry advice was a lot different. Man I'd love to go back and do it right. The up side is it hasn't effected mating, two of our females laid eggs which are in the incubator so if we get babies they will be raised alot different.
It's a learning curve all the time.
It's a learning curve all the time.
Here's a closeup of the pyramiding on Marshell's carapace. It's looking a LOT better to me nowadays but that's just my personal opinion. What do you guys think?
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i feed mine greens with a little hay mixed in, i also go out and pick grass even in winter and mix in with food. get him out in the sun as soon as its warm in your area. greens i feed are collards dandelion dark lettuces. stay away from the kale. get him a good hot spot like 100 degrees.
I regret to inform everyone that Marshell has passed away from a dog attack. I was away on vacation and the person who was caring for her thought it'd be a good idea to relocate her to their house where there was no dog proof enclosure like the one I'd built at home. Within a day or two their Labrador was using Marshell as a chew toy and by the time they rescued her, she had to be euthanized.
Oh, for cryin' out loud! I never read this thread before, and just now sat down and read it from the beginning all at one time. I was feeling pretty happy for you and Marshall and thinking what a dedicated tort keeper you've turned into. And then the bombshell in the last post.
I'm so very, very sorry. This is a terrible thing for you to come home to. And poor Marshall. Darn it anyway!
I'm so very, very sorry. This is a terrible thing for you to come home to. And poor Marshall. Darn it anyway!
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This is a tragic ending. I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. I was reading this thread for the first time as well and was very happy to hear about all your progress with your tort. Again, my condolences.
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