Pen growth update

[jjsull33]

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Haha hit send too early

My pen has been growing a ton lately, they can't do enough damage to it to even dent the growth haha

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Can the growth be too tall for them? I doubt it but its like 2-3x as tall as they are pretty much everywhere.

 

[sueb4653]

wow looks great

 

[lynnedit]

Excellent!

I found that my Russians really liked the new growth (can you say lawnmower?), but once the weeds grew tall, they don't eat them as much, just nibble here and there.

One option is to simply cut the growth down to, say,1- 2", in certain patches and it will regrow. Keep doing this in cycles.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Re: RE: Pen growth update

One option is to simply cut the growth down to, say,1- 2", in certain patches and it will regrow. Keep doing this in cycles.

I do this in both my pens. Once a week I trim a small section and do a different section each week.

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[jjsull33]

That's a good idea, I will have to trim part down tomorrow. Should I trim down to the ground or just like 1/2 way?

I'm also going to get a bunch of slate to put in, now that I know the sun patterns better I want to add a few more basking spots, plus some sort of logs for hides and the like. But this will be piece by piece for the next few weeks.

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Hah, down to 1-2 inches, I see that now.

 

[Tom]

The process of fine tuning and improving things is one of my favorite aspects of tortoise care. I am constantly looking for ways to improve everything.

I love your enclosure and I think all your ideas are great. I love it when tortoises have their own little mini forests.

 

[jjsull33]

So I have 40 lbs of river rocks sitting in my house gathering dust, I don't see why I can't but I am asking to be sure, I can put piles of these in the places I would put slate and it will give the same basking spot effect right? The rocks are too big to be eaten as well.

 

[jjsull33]

Alright so I trimmed a few paths through their forest, and I added some slate and some river rocks for basking areas and digging prevention.

Her side



She was already in her hide, and by already I mean still as it had been a few days since she last came out. Hopefully the trimming and the rock I put right in front of her hide will persuade her to explore tomorrow.

His side

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Apparently the app doesn't want to load any more pictures, an would only load the others as small size, so you'll have to wait to see his side until the app allows me to post pictures again...

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I even uninstalled and then reinstalled the app and I still can't load pics so you don't get to see his side for a while.

 

[jjsull33]

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I figured out how to use photobucket with my phone, so now I can post images again, here are some growth updates and some changes I made that had a great response.

She went from hiding constantly to exploring and eating, and he went from pacing to exploring.

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[lynnedit]

yep, that's the way to do it! Tweak, modify. I like the basking areas. Yes, if you still want to, you can use river rock. I like to place them next to a basking stone as they like to bask 'at a slant', to catch the early am or later pm rays.

 

[jjsull33]

The last pic is all the trimmings from cutting the paths it was enough to feed all 5 of my torts for 2 days haha.

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I put the river rocks in he uses them, she pushes them around haha.

These are the changes they made on their own since mine. As soon as they realized they could go through the forest they have been exploring a ton.

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That is tamachan

And that is master roshi

 

[lynnedit]

Adorable! And those baby weed sprouts are their favorites. You'll be amazed at how the growth recovers.

 

[bpham93]

Wow that looks great! what kind of plant is that? i'm looking for something to substitute for grass, and that looks like the perfect plant for it.

 

[jjsull33]

It's a mixture of Chia, crimson clover, white clover, plantain, turnip greens, chicory, and dandelion. It's been growing for about 2 months now.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Heather
Sent from my Android TFO app

 

[Jlant85]

Holy crap! Surrounded by food! Bet you have one happy tort there!

 

[jjsull33]

Not just one but two happy torts! She was reluctant to explore but now that she knows she can move through the growth she has been all over the place eating everything, just like he does.

 

[jjsull33]

Here is some more pics from this afternoon, while they were basking.
Both of them like to bask on the slate just outside their favorite hides.

The plants on top of their buried hides have all pretty much died, I'm pretty sure it gets really hot inside that hide because those plants get watered daily and look almost fried or burnt. They both bask on top a lot and she always uses that hide so I'm not worried and there is enough other growth that it doesn't matter haha.

 

[Jacqui]

I love what looks to me like a head of lettuce/greens surrounded by all the smaller leaved plants.

 

[jjsull33]

I love what looks to me like a head of lettuce/greens surrounded by all the smaller leaved plants.

Haha yes it is, I planted 1x butter lettuce, 1x green leaf, 1x romaine and 2x redleaf heads on each side, everyone died except the butter lettuce which thrived and are actually pretty huge now.