Meet Ernest T./Ernestine

[manmythlegend]

It's been a week and I've been watching Ernest T more to make sure he's okay. I've made a few adjustments to the routine and I'm hoping this'll all work itself out. I've gone back to grocery greens as the staple. Mainly because between the baking summer heat and my picking, I'm out of weeds! I'm still throwing moistened Mazuri in there every 3 days or so and I'm sneaking extra nutrients in by soaking them in freshly squeezed grape and carrot juices occasionally. Fresh water is available at all times and always has been, in case I forgot to mention it before. I sometimes wonder how much of his calcium needs are met just by him drinking this "liquid rock" we have here in the Phoenix area.

The enclosure is under the patio sitting on top of a picnic table that has one end in the sun part of the day. He's been staying in his hide that'll eventually move into the outdoor enclosure with him. He burrows down in the damp substrate under it and shoves his head under the hide wall in one corner so he can scope his back yard from the safety of his hide. I don't have an image of it but it's one of those large resin tortoise carapaces they have available for sale everywhere. It's funny, the shell hide is made to look moderately pyramided and Ernest T isn't. Once we put them in the enclosure I plan to dig out a bit underneath it and put some of his substrate down there to keep the humidity up underneath the hide.

 

[Neal]

Sounds like you're doing all the "right" things.

The tortoise is looking great!

 

[Trevor Ostrander]

Very nice! Keep up the good work.

 

[manmythlegend]

Seems Ernie is back on track with weight gains. 276 grams yesterday and that's a 47 gram gain since the last weigh in!

 

[manmythlegend]

Today is Ernest T's first "pip day"! His weight this morning after his soak- 317 grams!

 

[Neal]

My FB page prompted me to re-share a picture I posted a year ago when we found a bunch of leopard tortoises walking around in our backyard, and I was wondering how they all ended up.

Let's see a picture!

 

[manmythlegend]

Here's this month's update:
Since @Neal asked for pics (last month...sorry it took so long!) I decided to weigh early this month so I could post that with them. Ernest T's weight is 372 grams this morning!
His current greens of choice is Escarole.

He still gets soaked every morning for a half hour. I also dump a gallon or two of water into his enclosure, which is still outside on the patio, around twice a week and this keeps the substrate relatively moist. He pushes the dry stuff on top aside and digs down a half inch or more to rest his plastron on the damp stuff pretty constantly.

Here's a view from the side showing how relatively smooth he is.

And a shot of his plastron for whatever reason.

 

[manmythlegend]

This month Ernest T's weight is 402 grams. Only 52 more grams to go and he'll be a whole pound! At the rate he's going it shouldn't take more than a month and a half for him to reach that weight. Fingers crossed... I just realized that my prediction that he'd be outside in his pen by the end of summer was around a year off. I guess I could've had him out there by now but he still seems small enough for a bird to carry off so we wait.

 

[manmythlegend]

This month Ernie's weight is 428. The enclosure has been brought back into the garage and the heating/lighting has been set back up. Humidity readings of 48-50% and temps of 68-78F degrees on the cooler end of the enclosure. The water dish is sitting right underneath the lighting so the evaporation will bring up the humidity in the enclosure and I'm getting condensation in there on a regular basis.

The main greens have been Escarole lately with Mazuri soaked in the water that drains off the greens when I run them through the salad spinner or carrot juice I've squeeze from the shredded carrots I mix into the greens. He's also had a rotation of endive and dandelion greens lately but the escarole's been on sale for most of this month so we've stuck with that.

 

[manmythlegend]

Ernest T's weight is 478 grams! Yay!!! He's over a pound finally! I'll get some pics soon to post.

 

[manmythlegend]

Ernie's weight after soaking today: 582 grams. Also, I've forgotten to get any new pics... my bad! I'll get on that ASAP!

 

[diamondbp]

Ernie's weight after soaking today: 582 grams. Also, I've forgotten to get any new pics... my bad! I'll get on that ASAP!

tick tock tick tock...........waiting

 

[manmythlegend]

Ernie's weight today 662 grams (1.5ish pounds). Promise I'll get the pics this weekend when we move his enclosure to the back yard again. I do believe he''s big enough to live outside this year. I'm still going to build a wire lid to go on the outdoor enclosure but he will definitely go outside full-time this year.

 

[manmythlegend]

Here we go! Pictures, as promised. Light bulb for scale on this one.

 

[manmythlegend]

Don't worry... I'm not done yet. More PICS!!!

This is going to be Ernest's first year in his outdoor enclosure! The tax refund will help me build a nice wire mesh lid to fit over the outdoor setup for the summer. The indoor enclosure is still that same Rubbermaid tub and the same substrate is in there that has always been.

Front view. The scrapes across the top of his carapace are from when he catches it on the front lip of his hide and drags it around. Eventually it catches on something and he drags himself out from underneath it.

Here's his caboose! He's back to eating sow thistle from the yard for the most part. Occasional Mazuri that's been soaked in the juices that come from the bottom of the salad spinner from preparing the greens or squeezed out from freshly shredded carrots are also fed. There's other treats thrown in there here and there but it's not enough of a staple thing to even mention. Basically any kitchen scraps that are safe for him to eat. I don't plant Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia in there anymore because he started ignoring it and it kept rotting so I stopped wasting it.

 

[Badkneesbond]

He looks amazing. Great care!

 

[manmythlegend]

Here's Ernie outside his hide. That lip on the front is what's been rubbing on his carapace.

I don't know if he's big enough to sex yet but from what I can tell so far it looks like we've been right all along about his maleness. You can see how much he keeps his plastron burrowed into the substrate. It's FILTHY! Good thing his warm soak tub is ready.

Here's where you can see exactly how damp it is inside the enclosure. See the condensation on the wall behind the hide? Excuse the mess... the springtails will take care of it soon enough. I forgot to remention the bag of orchid bark mixed in the substrate earlier. I'm sure it's mentioned further back in this thread somewhere but I forgot about it earlier.

Here he is blazing a trail for the food dish. I haven't sprayed the enclosure down all winter. All I've done to add water to the system is pour out the trashed water when II change it out. When I lift up the water dish I just tilt it over and fill the hole left in the substrate. By the time I get the water dish rinsed and replaced, the trashed water has absorbed into the substrate somewhat and then I refill the dish with fresh. This has kept the enclosure fairly damp at all times. If I had to make a guess as to what to call the substrate's moisture content/consistency... I'll go with "bog like".

 

[manmythlegend]

Ernie's weight today post soak- 733 grams.

 

[manmythlegend]

He looks amazing. Great care!

Thanks! I couldn't have done it without @Tom and @Neal!

 

[manmythlegend]

Ernie's weight today: 887 grams. That's 0.2 ounces short of 2 pounds for those who don't do metric. His enclosure is sitting outside so he can acclimate to that noise and light level again after being in the dark garage all winter. I had a light on the enclosure but it wasn't anywhere near full daylight so I'll give him a week or so to adjust before I stick him in the outside enclosure with the sunshine. That'll give me time to rig up a lid to keep birds and dogs out.