The Mr T Experience

Pearly

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They were fairly sure one of them was male. I spent the morning reading stuff on the Internet trying to see if I can figure it out. Decided I would just leave it to the experts.

It probably doesn't really matter as they will mainly be kept apart.

I have less than zero desire to ever breed sulcata. I don't think the frozen waste lands of Michigan need more sulcata.
That first one may very well be a boy, i can't see his tail well enough on the pic to tell plus again, I'm a novice at this. Whoever had them both did decent job keeping them. They look nice! Are they nice and heavy?
 

saginawhxc

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I haven't weighed or measured them yet, but if I had to guess 12-14 inches long, and 8 to 10 pounds.

They were adopted from a forum member that couldn't keep them anymore. I offered to take them if he found no other accommodations. After a couple of weeks he asked if I wanted them. So here they are.
 

saginawhxc

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The baby is our little zoo keeper in training. She LOVES her animals. Maybe a little too much. She didn't know what to think of these two at first though. She was a little tentative at first. She is about 19 month old.
 

saginawhxc

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Hot Lips going to town on a plate of store greens mixed in with a little zoo med and Mazuri, and all of that mixed with alfafa hay I soaked for a bit. Oh, some rose leafs and a single rose, and a dash of calcium powder. He demolished this dish. Frank ate a little of his, but Hot Lips ate like he hadn't been eating all day (he had).
 

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saginawhxc

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Slow week of growth for Mr T. Went from 290 to 292g. I think that is the slowest week of growth since I got him.

I did my first ever weigh in for Frank and Hot Lips. Hot Lips weighs about 10.5 pounds and Frank about 11.5. I have zero plans to weigh them every week. I figure monthly is better once I have to start using my inaccurate bathroom scale to do the measuring.

Picture of Mr T and Hot Lips sitting next to each other. This is the only time they have been in close proximity of each other and it was only done for the pictures sake.
 

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saginawhxc

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I did weigh Mr T yesterday, but I never got around to posting as it was a very busy day.

Mr T apparently worked hard to make up for lost time. The week before only saw a 2g increase to 292g. This week we saw a 26g increase! Nearly ten percent of his body weight! He is now at 318g.
 

saginawhxc

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328g. +10g this week.

Starting to sweat the oncoming winter. I don't feel like I'm prepared food wise. I have to get my indoor window boxes planted this week.
 

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Fredkas

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Oh how can i missed this thread.. o_O
Mr. T is so smooth and i like the fogger
 

saginawhxc

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Oh how can i missed this thread.. o_O
Mr. T is so smooth and i like the fogger
You're not the first to exclaim they missed this thread. I think it's just because I'm a little smelly, but it is probably just because the lack of back and forth discussion often causes this to slip into obscurity.

Mr T's smooth shell can probably be attributed to the amazing people on this forum.

Without them I would be screwed.
 

saginawhxc

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Tort adventures were had yesterday.

Came home from work to find out my heater failed and their outdoor box was cold. The twins were very chilly. The baby and the russian were left indoors, so they were fine. It was 55 degrees and rainy. Pretty much a disaster.

So I brought them and gave them a warm bath. While they were soaking I did a super clean and vacuum of the living room and tort proofed it the best I can. I've never let my torts free roam and I was less than excited to try now, but I wanted them to have a warm place to stretch out for a bit while I fixed the heater situation.

Well like clock work Frank pooped in his bath water, but as often is the case Hot Lips did not. Not five minutes after I pulled them out and set them in the living room my kid comes running out and telling me "Hot Lips is pooping everywhere." I go inside and I wouldn't say he pooped everywhere but he did make a pile and then decided to step in it. Now there was a single set of poopy footprints leading away from the scene of the crime. I was not impressed, but at the very least I own a rug scrubber so I put it to use.

Somewhere I discovered that Hot Lips is a male as he decided to flop out his tort penis and drag it all over my floor.

At this point I'm realizing why I don't do this.

Got the heater fixed and put the torts away for the night.

Exasperated and exhausted I tried forcing my hunger striking Russian rescue to eat, and out of nowhere he started eating like he hasn't ate in a month, which feels like it's all too close to the truth. He has been spending 90% of his time outside, and he has been eating something out there because he has been pooping really tiny bits everyday, but he has only picked at his food dish and that has only happened a couple of time. But today he finally decided it was time to eat. I was so excited I almost forgot about the chaos of my failed heater and reminder of why torts shouldn't free roam.
 

TerrapinStation

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Ohhhh boy. That sounds like quite the adventure.

The things we do for out tortoises........

I have spent some serious coin this week on our new rescue Sulcata, and have more to spend this weekend. But it makes me happy and she looks so content and comfortable in her temporary digs, and she has been eating everything we put in front of her.

Congratulations on your successes thus far, and very impressive setups you have.
 

saginawhxc

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I have spent some serious coin this week on our new rescue Sulcata, and have more to spend this weekend.
Yep. I'm preparing to build over the next couple of days a 20'x8' floating room in the garage for my two rescues. I've designed it in a way that I can take it down and put it up in a day so when we move (hopefully soon) it can follow us and be converted into a full shed. I wanted to go 16'x16' but I'm making do with the space available. It will easily set me back $1000-1500 before it's all said and done.

This was all tentively planned already anyways, but I was doing a good job at procrastinating, and yesterday was the slap in the face to tell me to get my butt in gear on it.

This is what cracks me up about people looking for free or discounted tortoises. Yeah technically these two were given to me, but in the first month alone they will both cost me almost $1000 each.
 

Fredkas

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Well damn you!
Your first post make me feels like i am there. You are good in story telling and have a bit sense of humor. I forgot what i am about to reply becausee...
Your second post make me wow, your floating room idea... It makes me blank, not much people can do that to me lol. I haven't think of such idea. Wow.. And that crazy amount of money make me respect you man. And It doesn't stop because...
Your third post saying you giving up your pool table..
My oh my..
Glad i find this thread. Keep it up. Give alot of pic. I would like to see it. And never forget to story telling. You are good at that ;)
 

saginawhxc

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I used to want to be a writer. Than I realized how much work writing actually was and that I was too lazy to do it.

Losing the pool table is only temporary. I'm horrible at it anyways.

As for the room/shed... we will see how it turns out. It could be a disaster. I seem to have an okay mind for this stuff though. I have no formal training in woodworking or construction but everything I build seems to turn out pretty solid. Hopefully this does too.

In respects to the compliments, thank you. I appreciate it.

Oh and lots of pictures to come. I may do a whole thread on it in the enclosures sub. Even if it turns out to be a disaster we can all look at it and laugh and learn.
 

Fredkas

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I used to want to be a writer. Than I realized how much work writing actually was and that I was too lazy to do it.

Losing the pool table is only temporary. I'm horrible at it anyways.

As for the room/shed... we will see how it turns out. It could be a disaster. I seem to have an okay mind for this stuff though. I have no formal training in woodworking or construction but everything I build seems to turn out pretty solid. Hopefully this does too.

In respects to the compliments, thank you. I appreciate it.

Oh and lots of pictures to come. I may do a whole thread on it in the enclosures sub. Even if it turns out to be a disaster we can all look at it and laugh and learn.
I know it! I think you just good at it (writing).
Yeah, if you want to start a whole new thread, give it a link here, i am afraid i missed it. Sometimes thread can be a little tricky o_O. I am sure do not want to miss it.
 
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