I'm Gettin' Too Old For This. . .

Yvonne G

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. . . what I call "The Ins and Outs of Spring and Autumn!

Our 10 day weather forecast shows the coming nights to dip down into the 50s, even though the days are still up there in summertime mode. This means I have to bring the tortoises in at night, then back out in the morning. And the sheds I have to bring them into haven't had any attention for the past three or four months.

So this a.m. I started in the Leopard shed. I took the broom to all the spider webs, then swept up all the old poop and basically cleaned them all up. I re-set the time on the timers and made sure all the RHPs and lights are working. Our power company has a new thing where they charge you more for electrical usage during certain times of the day. My time period is from 4p to 8p. So I set the night timers to come on at 8p and go off in the a.m. at 8a, and I set the day timers to come on at 6a and go off at 4p. I'm hoping that during the totally off period from 4p to 8p the sheds won't cool down too much for the inhabitants. I'll have to monitor it. So, here's the Leopard shed:

leopard shed a.jpg

And inside on the left is a sectioned off area for Chasen, a two or three month foster I've now had for two years. I still have to vacuum out the old substrate and add new:

leopard shed b.jpg

Straight ahead is the leopards' night box:

leopard shed c.jpg

To the right and up on the wall is a tort table for a YF that's too small to live with the big ones yet:

leopard shed d.jpg

And to the right is the YFs' night box. You can see the exit to their 'porch' and yard at the right of the picture:

leopard shed e.jpg

To be continued. Tomorrow, if my body agrees, I'll be tackling the Manouria shed.
 

wellington

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We are getting the same temps here. High 50's at night, 80's during the day. I luckily only have to carry one tort inside. The others can go in on their own.
Next year, they all will be able to go in on their own. Changed things around and didnt get the ramp built for the one.
I hate that about Springs and Fall. Such wacky temps.
 

Yvonne G

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We are getting the same temps here. High 50's at night, 80's during the day. I luckily only have to carry one tort inside. The others can go in on their own.
Next year, they all will be able to go in on their own. Changed things around and didnt get the ramp built for the one.
I hate that about Springs and Fall. Such wacky temps.
Yeah, normally I don't have to worry about it until October. But our whole summer was 90% triple digit days, much hotter than normal, so stands to reason the fall/winter is going to be unusual too.
 

Len B

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Yeah, normally I don't have to worry about it until October. But our whole summer was 90% triple digit days, much hotter than normal, so stands to reason the fall/winter is going to be unusual too.
I really don't have problems with the temperature change, my problems are to much shade as the sun goes south and the shorter days. So every fall I have to trim a lot of plants back to let more sun into the enclosures. Usually all leaves are down by Thanksgiving.
 

Tom

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Yeah, normally I don't have to worry about it until October. But our whole summer was 90% triple digit days, much hotter than normal, so stands to reason the fall/winter is going to be unusual too.
I have SA leopard babies and Sudan Sulcatas hatching out of the ground right now. This usually doesn't happen until mid to late October. It was a hot summer, wasn't it...
 

Yvonne G

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So yesterday I didn't get to the Manouria shed as I had to take care of my weekly trip into town. But I did it today!

The Manouria shed is on the opposite side of the garage from the leopard shed, under a huge mulberry tree:

manouria shed a.jpg

This shed is for 2.1 Manouria emys emys. Straight ahead from the doorway is the shed:

Manouria shed b.jpg

After a full meal Duc is feeling rambunctious:

Manouria shed c.jpg

Manouria shed j.jpg

Directly opposite the door to the shed is the Manouria night box. Last year I made it two cinder blocks high, but Duc seemed to like the privacy of the box for his advances and he kept bumping the roof with his head, so I made it three cinderblocks high. So far I haven't had time and inclination to cut new panels for the doorway:

Manouria shed d.jpg

To the left of the night box, and over a separating fence is a night house for the new male we got this past summer:

Manouria shed e.jpg

On the wall above the other night box I made a really nice tort table for two very young Manouria emys phayrei I'm raising, but when I put them and their food in the table I found out my eye's memory is very faulty! They're way too big to over winter in this table. So. . .

Manouria shed f.jpg

Manouria shed g.jpg



. . . I had to clean out an area over on the car port for them:

Manouria shed h.jpg

Manouria shed i.jpg

Next is the SA leopard shed. I'll try to get to it tomorrow.
 

Yvonne G

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This next one's not very exciting. The SA leopard shed is about 8'x8' and there's just their night box on the east wall. I DO have a couple tort tables hanging on a couple walls in there, but they're unoccupied.

Pay particular attention to the eucalyptus branch on my neighbor's tree that's over the top of my shed.

SA shed a.jpg

Then inside and to the right is their night box. There are five tortoises in here and the night box is across the full wall of the shed.

SA shed b.jpg

One of the inhabitants:

SA shed c.jpg
 

AZGirl

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Sep 11, 2019
Messages
111
Location (City and/or State)
Arizona
. . . what I call "The Ins and Outs of Spring and Autumn!

Our 10 day weather forecast shows the coming nights to dip down into the 50s, even though the days are still up there in summertime mode. This means I have to bring the tortoises in at night, then back out in the morning. And the sheds I have to bring them into haven't had any attention for the past three or four months.

So this a.m. I started in the Leopard shed. I took the broom to all the spider webs, then swept up all the old poop and basically cleaned them all up. I re-set the time on the timers and made sure all the RHPs and lights are working. Our power company has a new thing where they charge you more for electrical usage during certain times of the day. My time period is from 4p to 8p. So I set the night timers to come on at 8p and go off in the a.m. at 8a, and I set the day timers to come on at 6a and go off at 4p. I'm hoping that during the totally off period from 4p to 8p the sheds won't cool down too much for the inhabitants. I'll have to monitor it. So, here's the Leopard shed:

View attachment 333740

And inside on the left is a sectioned off area for Chasen, a two or three month foster I've now had for two years. I still have to vacuum out the old substrate and add new:

View attachment 333741

Straight ahead is the leopards' night box:

View attachment 333742

To the right and up on the wall is a tort table for a YF that's too small to live with the big ones yet:

View attachment 333743

And to the right is the YFs' night box. You can see the exit to their 'porch' and yard at the right of the picture:

View attachment 333744

To be continued. Tomorrow, if my body agrees, I'll be tackling the Manouria shed.
 

AZGirl

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Sep 11, 2019
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111
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Arizona
Our temps are dipping in low 50s already here in Mile High AZ. And we have been getting rain. Parker does not like thunderstorms so have been bringing him in at night also. He is slowing down already.
 

Maggie3fan

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I have been cutting branches off the big decorative plum tree that has just gone wild...I had to increase Mary K's enclosure so she might get a spot of sun... I cut my 20 ft lilac tree to about 4 feet one branch at a time...with my handy dandy Stanley 12 inch hand saw. It gave me some weird sense of empowerment, so then I cut ...nope I have photos too, I'll make a thread......I am very glad I didn't have to do all her chores, that's too much work for me...lol
 
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