White flesh

[zolasmum]

Well change of plans, the mat we were using is slippery. Jo Jo can not stand up without her legs slipping. The mat is Polyester or some other oil byproduct material. Today she will get a plain towel in her enclosure. Her appetite still is great, she now has bird netting over an outdoor enclosure to go in safely, but still under someones watchful eye. She has almost eaten all of her foliage so we will move it when she does. With her being outside alot there is no question her eye works. She can notice someone pretty far away and only on the left side. I can be 20 feet away and she will notice me moving, or walking up. It is almost like her sight improves over time, as does her dis-like of the artificial tears being applied.

Jo-Jo is doing so well - you must be delighted. I wonder if her vision is developing rather like that of a human baby - at first, focusing is difficult, and the "picture" is confused, but it improves gradually over time.
You don't know for sure what her vision was like originally, but I think being blinded for a long time must have reduced her ability to see properly, and she has to sort of re-learn how to see. This will make another chapter in that story I hope you are going to write !!!
We have used towels quite often with Zola in different situations - we use smooth-ish ones preferably, so his claws don't get caught in the loops. Though this summer he has spent such a lot of time walking and climbing on the breakwater that his claws have worn down quite a bit,so probably wouldn't be a problem !
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

I'm so proud of you, Grasshopper!

Thank You this is a big boost to my "Tortoise Care Confidence" I do want to say ... When the lady originally called us about Jo Jo and let us know the shell was cracked I was intimidated. I looked up "Tortoise Forum" and searched "cracked shell", of course it was you Yvonne that came up in the search, a thread that you wee helping someone. It was THIS that gave me the confidence to take in Jo Jo. The fact that I knew you and knew you could help her, or help me help her.
So Thank You Sensei.

Jo-Jo is doing so well - you must be delighted. I wonder if her vision is developing rather like that of a human baby - at first, focusing is difficult, and the "picture" is confused, but it improves gradually over time.
You don't know for sure what her vision was like originally, but I think being blinded for a long time must have reduced her ability to see properly, and she has to sort of re-learn how to see. This will make another chapter in that story I hope you are going to write !!!
We have used towels quite often with Zola in different situations - we use smooth-ish ones preferably, so his claws don't get caught in the loops. Though this summer he has spent such a lot of time walking and climbing on the breakwater that his claws have worn down quite a bit,so probably wouldn't be a problem !
Angie

This has been a pretty emotional experience, and yes I am proud. This is "going good" and is a boost to our happiness with her. I sometimes go down the "what if" road, what if this didn't go so well. I have said it before F.E.A.R. False evidence appearing real. I have to pull myself back to reality, Jo Jo is doing well and thriving in spite of her injuries.
With the towel in her enclosure she acts like a puppy, burying herself in the towel. More and more Jo Jo acts less like a tort and more like another member of the Family. I do hope that an eye lid starts to form. It must be pretty miserable to not close her eye ever. I need to remember that and give her always a place to go that is dark. That way if she wants to, she doesn't have to be in the light. Basically to give her eye a break from the light.

 

[EppsDynasty]

UPDATE: 678 grams. Acrylic supports still hard as a rock and no movement. There is some problems with things getting caught in the supports, but not as bad as I thought. She is able to traverse ground that is very "Lumpy" with little or no issues. I just knew she would get something stuck in there and be impairing her leg. It has not happened but still an eagle eye I keep on her just to make sure.
I included a few pics to show her "Pigyness" at the breakfast plate. She really get's into eating.

 

[zolasmum]

I hope you and your family are having a lovely Christmas -little JoJo looks so much better, and I'm sure this will be the first Christmas that she is able to feel happy too.
Here is a photo of Zola watching out for Santa - he is having a good day too.
Very best wishes to you all, and especially to JoJo.
Angie - and Zola,of course.

 

[TammyJ]

Jo Jo looks awesome! Can't pat you guys hard enough on the back for pulling this one off so successfully!

 

[zolasmum]

I just want to wish you and all your family - especially Jo Jo of course - a very happy and healthy New Year,
and I hope everything goes well for you all.
Please keep on with Jo Jo's news - I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks of her a lot !
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

Thank you for the well wishes and "pats on the back" and we.re back. Jo Jo has been eating well, enjoying this very warm winter we are having. On the cold days she enjoys her new home with a living room big enough for all the torts to soak by and the finished tort room. I have still continued with different things to test her eye. She will notice a hand movement from just as far away as the other eye it seems. You cannot sneak up on her without her noticing. She has become used to the routine of either of the days (cold/warm) and sunny or not. Her inside enclosure is still towels and no sand her outside enclosure is natural for her (plants and sand). I have kept a very close eye on her to see if the sand would become an irritant with no eyelid, and not yet. She has compensated for no eyelid with covering herself with the towel instead of her hide. This is where she sleeps now 100% of the time. I have been afraid of her getting stuck some how so have not put the towels in her hide. I will make a hide a little bigger for her soon.

 

[EppsDynasty]

Jo Jo says hello everyone ... She is enjoying a wide variety of Grocery items now, since winter has set in now. I am still giving a few Mazuri pellets with every meal, but am giving as wide a variety as I can get from the grocery store. I hate to feed grocery items since we live in her native environment, but as we all know it gets hard not to in the winter.
She has started this .... umm running in the air. She lifts her legs so she is only touching the ground with the supports, the begins to walk in the air. I am guessing this is to try and "scrape" off the supports under her. At first I though she was having a hard time walking, to slippery or supports were in the way but NO it's just her trying to get rid of the supports. Within a few minutes the legs go down and she lifts herself up and walks away, little stinker. It has been a REALLY cool thing to see her show her personality over these past few months. Looking back it is clear to see when there was Fear and Hesitancy, followed by Timidness then Comfort and Acceptance. I do pretty much all the care for her but she will allow our children (20&16) to stroke her neck, head and chin. I take this as a lack of fear and think it's acceptance. I would hope that by being a source of comfort and not being the cause of pain she is losing fear of us and the unknown. Meaning if there was painful things happening she would always be on alert and suspicious. Since there is not that happening she can "Relax" a little and not be fearful. Well at least thats what I hope.

 

[zolasmum]

Jo Jo says hello everyone ... She is enjoying a wide variety of Grocery items now, since winter has set in now. I am still giving a few Mazuri pellets with every meal, but am giving as wide a variety as I can get from the grocery store. I hate to feed grocery items since we live in her native environment, but as we all know it gets hard not to in the winter.
She has started this .... umm running in the air. She lifts her legs so she is only touching the ground with the supports, the begins to walk in the air. I am guessing this is to try and "scrape" off the supports under her. At first I though she was having a hard time walking, to slippery or supports were in the way but NO it's just her trying to get rid of the supports. Within a few minutes the legs go down and she lifts herself up and walks away, little stinker. It has been a REALLY cool thing to see her show her personality over these past few months. Looking back it is clear to see when there was Fear and Hesitancy, followed by Timidness then Comfort and Acceptance. I do pretty much all the care for her but she will allow our children (20&16) to stroke her neck, head and chin. I take this as a lack of fear and think it's acceptance. I would hope that by being a source of comfort and not being the cause of pain she is losing fear of us and the unknown. Meaning if there was painful things happening she would always be on alert and suspicious. Since there is not that happening she can "Relax" a little and not be fearful. Well at least thats what I hope.

That's wonderful ! She has had a long time, I'm sure, of fear and pain, before she met you, and I think now she has reached a real level of trust with you - She senses that she is entirely safe, and that she has reached that point is remarkable, after all she has been through. Congratulations to you and her both !
Angie

 

[zolasmum]

Re-reading what you were describing about Jo Jo's air walking - do you think she might just enjoy the sensation of waving her legs about freely, without having to take her weight on them ? It might be a sort of game?
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

Re-reading what you were describing about Jo Jo's air walking - do you think she might just enjoy the sensation of waving her legs about freely, without having to take her weight on them ? It might be a sort of game?
Angie

YOU ARE A GENIUS.... Imagine yourself driving down the road and "Flying" your hand in the air current. My wife just said "it may be soothing" because her Plastron was cracked so long. I imagine it as a "stretch" type of a feeling.
This tort has shown me how much I DON"T know. Meaning, so many things I think are happening are something completely different. In tortoise years I am just a toddler.
So in my reading here I always come across people talking about soaking their torts a couple times a week. I have yet to come across a thread that states they soak their torts "every" day. This is what I do, everyday I soak, feed and wash all the torts under 25 lbs. My ? is this .... Is this OK? Is it completely fine to bath a tort "everyday"? Does anyone else do this? I honestly only miss 2-3 days a month for soaks and bathing.

 

[Yvonne G]

It can't hurt, but once they get big enough to live outside I don't force soak anymore. I just keep a large enough waterer in their yard that they can soak and drink on their own.

 

[zolasmum]

It's lovely to think of Jo Jo having fun! When she had the damage to her plastron, she probably wouldn't want to put any weight directly on it, because it must have been painful, but now she can move freely, and can do what she likes! So who knows what she will get up to next ! And your care has given her the confidence to try things.
I think quite a few people do soak their tortoises daily, especially when they are little - we didn't know about soaking Zola when we got him, 22 years ago, though we did so pretty often, but he has never enjoyed it,and now it's a bit random, I'm afraid. I do wipe his eyes and tail area every day, with warm water and cottonwool pads.
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

What some weird weather we are having. Jo Jo and the others enjoy outside for an hour or two at most. Next week is supposed to be warmer, looking forward to letting her walk around more. Her Acrylic is still as sturdy as day one and as you see in the first pic she’s still a sucker for pictures

 

[zolasmum]

Jo Jo looks wonderful - it must give you great pleasure to see her eating so well, and getting stronger every minute!
Does the join between the damaged bits of her plastron show new growth, or am I imagining it? She is going to have a great time walking when it gets warmer for her. It's pretty cold here - Devon is in South-West England, and we don't usually get much really cold weather -just rain -but Zola hasn't been able to go for his long walks over the cobbled breakwater by the sea, for a while, and he really misses the exercise.
Angie

 

[EppsDynasty]

Jo Jo looks wonderful - it must give you great pleasure to see her eating so well, and getting stronger every minute!
Does the join between the damaged bits of her plastron show new growth, or am I imagining it? She is going to have a great time walking when it gets warmer for her. It's pretty cold here - Devon is in South-West England, and we don't usually get much really cold weather -just rain -but Zola hasn't been able to go for his long walks over the cobbled breakwater by the sea, for a while, and he really misses the exercise.
Angie

The joint is "filling in" amazingly well. It seems though I jinxed the supports by saying "strong as day 1." The Acrylic has "lifted" from her Plastron in the fronts. From soaking her Plastron has absorbed water and caused this. My wife explained about Acrylic nails and how they can lift off if you do dishes, laundry and other wet activities. Today will be a day to try and re-attach the fronts of the bars, with another round of Acrylic.
With so much open space on our property I have started letting 1 tort loose at a time in an unfenced area. They seem to do alot more walking when there is no visible barriers. Focus and pay attention I keep saying to myself so I don't run off to do something else, it's a needed break but forced.

 

[Yvonne G]

The joint is "filling in" amazingly well. It seems though I jinxed the supports by saying "strong as day 1." The Acrylic has "lifted" from her Plastron in the fronts. From soaking her Plastron has absorbed water and caused this. My wife explained about Acrylic nails and how they can lift off if you do dishes, laundry and other wet activities. Today will be a day to try and re-attach the fronts of the bars, with another round of Acrylic.
With so much open space on our property I have started letting 1 tort loose at a time in an unfenced area. They seem to do alot more walking when there is no visible barriers. Focus and pay attention I keep saying to myself so I don't run off to do something else, it's a needed break but forced.

The trouble with letting them know there's more 'world' on the other side of their barrier is now they're no longer satisfied to stay inside the barrier.

 

[EppsDynasty]

Here’s a side by side day 1 and about 5 weeks laterif you follow 1line at a time and compare it is pretty obvious that a lot of growth has happened.

 

[zolasmum]

Wow, you are right - there is a lot more growth - and even the broken bit on the left seems to be filling in a bit -Fantastic ! ! ! You must be so proud of her. It's a shame about the acrylic, but it's had quite a lot of stress on it, I should think . I hope the re-fixing goes well.
Zola really enjoys walking long distances straight ahead , rather than just the limited size of our garden. He also likes to have a bit of a challenge -this is his favourite walking place.

It's amazing how he tackles the climbing on the uneven surfaces.( His dad added the little sign saying "Onward"to the photo.) He has walked/climbed all the way from the edge of the sea in the distance. There are very few people around , so he is usually able to go as far as he wants .
Angie

 

[TammyJ]

The trouble with letting them know there's more 'world' on the other side of their barrier is now they're no longer satisfied to stay inside the barrier.

It must be really quite mystifying at first to them, then, if they are in a glass tank, until they realise: eureka! It's invisible but it's there...!