Matilda prefers a home kept like a. . .

jeff kushner

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. . .frigging Moonscape, something straight out of a WW1 field......!! She is the great destroyer of all that is holy and good!

LOL


To her defense, she's watched everything around her and now underneath her removed.....her stand just got put on the mat for refinishing.......

but it's all coming together and soon she'll be able to step into the 1970's all over again, just differently....we'll get her calmed down then....she will find her inner chi....whatever the heck that means

Oh, right, she wasn't there for the 70's........

Happy New Year guys.......

jeff

moonscape.jpg

moonscape.jpg
 

jeff kushner

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Great idea...kinda obvious right? I'm going to renovate her home, was just waiting a couple days till I got her now local done.

I'll put my shoes on and go out in the rain for her. Kerry will think I'm a hero!

Will topcoat her stand this morning, then I'm only waiting for the slider blind and 2 white end tables...then figure out a desk and location for it.....

Ps today is not my birthday...

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Maggie3fan

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Great idea...kinda obvious right? I'm going to renovate her home, was just waiting a couple days till I got her now local done.

I'll put my shoes on and go out in the rain for her. Kerry will think I'm a hero!

Will topcoat her stand this morning, then I'm only waiting for the slider blind and 2 white end tables...then figure out a desk and location for it.....

Ps today is not my birthday...

View attachment 338384
lol...happy non birthday anyway...that's an awfully big bed for a box turtle isn't it?
One damn turtle and you have a temp gun on the bed???Set up!!! Photo op set up
 

jeff kushner

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Lol.....the temp gun is to check the new heater in the bed.....20220101_084554.jpg20220101_084543_HDR.jpg

Kerry made steak and eggs then gave Matilda a piece.

She does love her new leaves Y, thanks for boinking me on the head!

Happy New Year Mags
 

jeff kushner

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Well I'm a little bored, Kerry has a sinus issue so she "can't come round here" this weekend.....(it makes her want me more when I tell her she can't come over---shhh) and Matilda is pissed at me again, she smells bad, like musk turtle bad....lol.....I overwatered her earth to the point that I have to take her home down, separate the worms and clean out her stinking home. Yuk....but not her fault, I let it get out of whack and I know better. Shame on jeff, again.

I think I'll revamp her home with less soil depth and better accessibility for her to all areas of her home since it's not very large, for the Winter. I'll try to remove the foam formations to give her more area. When I picked her up and found out how badly she smelled, I could tell she has grown again....she's finally expanding! I have the next size up in PVC fittings so I'll incorporate the larger sizes even though they will dominate her landscape. I'm thinking maybe half-buried fittings would still work and be "less filling"...we'll see....but she's still stuck with her tank on a stand in my bathroom cause of the construction for another month.

My new room isn't done yet. I'm running into shipping lead time issues with the 2 added white nightstands which have to be in place before I can decide on where to put; a yet-to-order desk, my refinished dresser, and the refinished nightstand that Matilda has her tank sitting on, normally.

I can't "see" the room till those new stands are in place, they play too big a part so I can't make final locations yet.....and the best info I have is 4 more weeks....end of the month. I gave up on finding 2.25" pulls and filled one set of holes, I have to do the same 5 coat process(of the special kit) to mirror the rest of the drawer-faces but on 10 spots the size of a pencil eraser I should be done tomorrow.....and the slider door blind hasn't been delivered but there's no "downhill" effect like the night stands. I have a blk sheet over it for now and the room is STILL 20 times brighter than it used to be!

I love how it's coming out though and I do sleep in it now, love my new mattress too, much better than my old one...and tonight I paid my Discover balance for everything but the contractor who was paid and the yet to be bought desk.

Mixed feelings, right? LOL Debt free but comparatively, broke......

Yeah, I warned you, I'm a little bored.....
 

Jan A

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Well I'm a little bored, Kerry has a sinus issue so she "can't come round here" this weekend.....(it makes her want me more when I tell her she can't come over---shhh) and Matilda is pissed at me again, she smells bad, like musk turtle bad....lol.....I overwatered her earth to the point that I have to take her home down, separate the worms and clean out her stinking home. Yuk....but not her fault, I let it get out of whack and I know better. Shame on jeff, again.

I think I'll revamp her home with less soil depth and better accessibility for her to all areas of her home since it's not very large, for the Winter. I'll try to remove the foam formations to give her more area. When I picked her up and found out how badly she smelled, I could tell she has grown again....she's finally expanding! I have the next size up in PVC fittings so I'll incorporate the larger sizes even though they will dominate her landscape. I'm thinking maybe half-buried fittings would still work and be "less filling"...we'll see....but she's still stuck with her tank on a stand in my bathroom cause of the construction for another month.

My new room isn't done yet. I'm running into shipping lead time issues with the 2 added white nightstands which have to be in place before I can decide on where to put; a yet-to-order desk, my refinished dresser, and the refinished nightstand that Matilda has her tank sitting on, normally.

I can't "see" the room till those new stands are in place, they play too big a part so I can't make final locations yet.....and the best info I have is 4 more weeks....end of the month. I gave up on finding 2.25" pulls and filled one set of holes, I have to do the same 5 coat process(of the special kit) to mirror the rest of the drawer-faces but on 10 spots the size of a pencil eraser I should be done tomorrow.....and the slider door blind hasn't been delivered but there's no "downhill" effect like the night stands. I have a blk sheet over it for now and the room is STILL 20 times brighter than it used to be!

I love how it's coming out though and I do sleep in it now, love my new mattress too, much better than my old one...and tonight I paid my Discover balance for everything but the contractor who was paid and the yet to be bought desk.

Mixed feelings, right? LOL Debt free but comparatively, broke......

Yeah, I warned you, I'm a little bored.....
Nothing does you in faster than waiting on furniture or appliances to show up & waiting & waiting & waiting. If it's not in the warehouse when you buy it & they give you a delivery date & you don't stay on top of it, you won't get it, even weeks after the deadline. I know, I'm a spoiled American.

Is anyone seeing a raid on pasta products at their grocery store? First it was the Walmart in Owasso, now it's Reasors, the only 2 supermarkets in my 10-mile shopping radius. Shelves are still nearly empty more than 2 months later.

So Jeff, holidays are over. No excuses for not paying more attention to Matilda's living quarters. How's she going to get a hubby if she smells like Eau de Musk?
 

jeff kushner

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LOL...I bid & build(if successful) large commercial projects in and around DC. What we are hearing from Equip reps like Trane, Vertive etc...... is that if the equip contains a computer chip, 26 weeks minimum!

I haven't seen any runs on food.....but I slough off my grocery shopping till I can go with Kerry or send my daughter....so I haven't gone for a couple of weeks.

The little girl was helping me remove the worms from her soil this morning......but then she acted like she was running the show so I relegated her to the sink while the work is going on......20220108_085157.png20220108_094407.png
 

jeff kushner

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.......still waiting on the 2 white night stands.......so my little box turtle is still in her tank, relegated to the bathroom till the night stands come in and I can figure on where to locate everything, other than the bed....BUT my wireless slider blind was delivered yesterday and the delivery date on the nightstands is the 18th, for now.....LOL

I'm not complaining....I ordered my blind, a month ago on 12/12. It was assembled to my height and width specs along with fabric choices for slats and valance, motor location, stacked to the left to open to the right.....on the other side of the Earth! Then they delivered it in a box lined with 4- 7' sections of Unistrut to protect it......the Chinese are severely upping their game as of late!

30 days order to delivery ain't bad......and a carpenter would have it installed in 15 minutes.....it took me 45 cause I suck at this stuff,


Yay Jeff! ........that's some James Bond stuff there....very slick design and it's 1 touch open or close! Slick, very slick install.



IMG_5779.jpg20220111_164108.jpg20220111_164253.jpg

I am replacing my desk....the one with the picnic table cover on it<LOL> and I may put a white corner desk in the alcove on the back wall with the bed, then move my dresser to where the desk is and Matilda's night stand(the refinished one) where the dresser is now. The runner there may or may not stay, depending on what I do.


Very different from the old room with it's brown unfinished wood ceiling even made it seem darker.....cave-like<LOL>........

Don't ask about the old blue wall, I did not paint it.........she was a very young girlfriend.......with issues<LOL>


maybe next post will have some turtle stuff in it!
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jeff kushner

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Finally, some actual TURTLE stuff..........poor Matilda endured nearly a week of desert environment until temps rose enough yesterday afternoon that with heavy soled "Moses" sandals, I was able to kick the spade to cut through the permafrost out there and bring in some "humidity keepers", grass......

Of course after I was all done, watered and ready to put her in......I shot the temps....oops, frozen ground = 40-45F temps....I WAITED a while while the heat lamp and ambients helped get it up to the mid 70's. She immediately went into "explore" mode and looked in the openings of her hides before selecting the coupling for the first time.

Ongoing problem;
I can't keep "green" in there...the light for her, while costing more than a steak dinner for Kerry and I, at a restaurant(that puts it in perspective), does nothing for plants so I ordered these from Mr. Bezos last night;
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q3F6BK5/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I use a screen top, doubled up to lower the intensity of her light now. I figure that I'll just lay these along side and run them at a lower setting for the plants..........

Any advise on this? Good move, bad? I am mainly concerned with the red light.....I don't know all the biology but I am aware that she sees somewhere like 4000 shades of red.

I am really trying to lower her stress.....she's seen and heard a lot going on for the past 6-8 weeks and I doubt that shes too happy about it so we interact a lot and I spend a lot of time with her.. Wow, just realized that framed differently, that could read; " I spend all my time in the bathroom".....LMAO....
 

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jaizei

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Finally, some actual TURTLE stuff..........poor Matilda endured nearly a week of desert environment until temps rose enough yesterday afternoon that with heavy soled "Moses" sandals, I was able to kick the spade to cut through the permafrost out there and bring in some "humidity keepers", grass......

Of course after I was all done, watered and ready to put her in......I shot the temps....oops, frozen ground = 40-45F temps....I WAITED a while while the heat lamp and ambients helped get it up to the mid 70's. She immediately went into "explore" mode and looked in the openings of her hides before selecting the coupling for the first time.

Ongoing problem;
I can't keep "green" in there...the light for her, while costing more than a steak dinner for Kerry and I, at a restaurant(that puts it in perspective), does nothing for plants so I ordered these from Mr. Bezos last night;
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q3F6BK5/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I use a screen top, doubled up to lower the intensity of her light now. I figure that I'll just lay these along side and run them at a lower setting for the plants..........

Any advise on this? Good move, bad? I am mainly concerned with the red light.....I don't know all the biology but I am aware that she sees somewhere like 4000 shades of red.

I am really trying to lower her stress.....she's seen and heard a lot going on for the past 6-8 weeks and I doubt that shes too happy about it so we interact a lot and I spend a lot of time with her.. Wow, just realized that framed differently, that could read; " I spend all my time in the bathroom".....LMAO....


What do you mean, the light for her does nothing for plants? If its a tube UVB, it provides light just fine for plants, tho it might not be bright enough for anything more than houseplants. Fluorescents and LEDs need to be relatively close to the plants to really work well, else the plants get leggy. You don't need special lights for the plants, might just need more light.
 

Maggie3fan

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Finally, some actual TURTLE stuff..........poor Matilda endured nearly a week of desert environment until temps rose enough yesterday afternoon that with heavy soled "Moses" sandals, I was able to kick the spade to cut through the permafrost out there and bring in some "humidity keepers", grass......

Of course after I was all done, watered and ready to put her in......I shot the temps....oops, frozen ground = 40-45F temps....I WAITED a while while the heat lamp and ambients helped get it up to the mid 70's. She immediately went into "explore" mode and looked in the openings of her hides before selecting the coupling for the first time.

Ongoing problem;
I can't keep "green" in there...the light for her, while costing more than a steak dinner for Kerry and I, at a restaurant(that puts it in perspective), does nothing for plants so I ordered these from Mr. Bezos last night;
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q3F6BK5/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

I use a screen top, doubled up to lower the intensity of her light now. I figure that I'll just lay these along side and run them at a lower setting for the plants..........

Any advise on this? Good move, bad? I am mainly concerned with the red light.....I don't know all the biology but I am aware that she sees somewhere like 4000 shades of red.

I am really trying to lower her stress.....she's seen and heard a lot going on for the past 6-8 weeks and I doubt that shes too happy about it so we interact a lot and I spend a lot of time with her.. Wow, just realized that framed differently, that could read; " I spend all my time in the bathroom".....LMAO....
LOL!!! My sister talked me into putting a buncha leafs for a couple of my box turtles....so I hunted up a group of cold wet leafs and neither box turtle goes in them yet...
 

jeff kushner

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I bought her the jewel-encrusted(should be) Zoo med T5 HO......I know little about "light" other than i see it far too many hours per day...lol but I read here that it was a pretty good bet for her. I never tried to grow anything in a tank before, well that was legal and even that was 50 yrs ago. I just assumed these lights, as bright as they are, would at least keep healthy grass growing and we all know about assuming. So, I bought 20 bucks worth of grow lights to see if they will help, if they don't, I haven't lost much and will take a different direction in laying out her home. I'm realistic about the grow lights though, at 20 bucks, the bar isn't set very high.....living grass would be good...

Look at you Mags, changing "what we do" doesn't come naturally to some of us.... I'm proud of you buddy! and I'm sure your guys will figure out what the leaves are sooner than later, maybe when they dry out or the guys get bored.....turtles HAVE to get bored, right? I mean, sitting and staring for hours on end....LOL
 

TaylorTortoise

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Great idea...kinda obvious right? I'm going to renovate her home, was just waiting a couple days till I got her now local done.

I'll put my shoes on and go out in the rain for her. Kerry will think I'm a hero!

Will topcoat her stand this morning, then I'm only waiting for the slider blind and 2 white end tables...then figure out a desk and location for it.....

Ps today is not my birthday...

View attachment 338384
Is this your home?
 

jeff kushner

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Yes Taylor, I am doing some renovations and poor Matilda has been forced into the master bath while the activity is going on. The upside is that with the added grow lights, her grass is showing no signs of degradation even after 4 days....a first! She was sleeping in the 45D fitting this morning.

My night stands are supposed to be delivered today so one step closer....and today is WEIGH DAY.....I didn't have the heart to wake her this morning to weigh her. We'll do it after work.

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