- Joined
- Apr 23, 2009
- Messages
- 590
I am a fan of Punch and Loki, very nice torts!
My redfoot family
- Thread starter pfara
- Start date
Your enclosure is so amazing and beautiful Alma. They all have beautiful smooth growth too.
It means so very much coming from you, @terryo ! I'm always in awe whenever I see your projects. You've been such an influence and I always try to provide a beautiful setting for my chelonians like you do for yours. Hopefully my outdoor enclosure ends up a fraction as nice as yours.
Very beautiful enclosures and torts. I love my red.
Today was their monthly charting day. I thought I'd post their numbers since most of them are turning 18 months this month. I'll also post their actual 18 month numbers once they all hit it. I ended up getting outside calipers for a more accurate length measurement so these numbers should be pretty close to the real thing.
Sunset: 15.4 oz, 5-1/16"
Loki: 22.15 oz, 6-1/4"
Jingle: 11.9 oz, 5"
Punch: 19.8 oz, 5-5/8"
Comparing sizes in their soaking bins. First pic was in November 2013, second is of today:
Soaking days are the only day I can get a pic of all of them together:
(Jingle and Punch)
(Loki and Sunset)
Loki left standing after all the "meatballs" are gone:
Jingle:
Punch:
Sunset: 15.4 oz, 5-1/16"
Loki: 22.15 oz, 6-1/4"
Jingle: 11.9 oz, 5"
Punch: 19.8 oz, 5-5/8"
Comparing sizes in their soaking bins. First pic was in November 2013, second is of today:
Soaking days are the only day I can get a pic of all of them together:
(Jingle and Punch)
(Loki and Sunset)Loki left standing after all the "meatballs" are gone:
Jingle:
Punch:
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2012
- Messages
- 13,454
Nice! I have four of them myself .
What a beautiful family you have over there........Just beautiful.
KnNTiny
Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2014
- Messages
- 36
Those guys are so adorable. I love your enclosure. We are new to the tort family. We have a Russian name Tiny. We (my mom and I) love reading all the post and learning all that we can about torts. I will be following you because you have inspired us. The more info we get the better we can take care of Tiny.
We got her from Petsmart. I saw her and fell in love, so my mom and Dad broke down and helped get her for my sister and I. So her habitat is all wrong but little by little we will fix it. I will show my mom this thread so she can see the type of plants we can get and how GREAT the enclosure could look. Although I am primarily responsible for Tiny (that whole teaching me responsibility thing. I'm 13) I think she is just as obsessed with Tiny as my sister and I. Which is a good thing. LOL!!! She will only give the best to her.
I'm so excited about having Tiny and building the BEST enclosure for Tiny. Once we are done I will provide my own thread and before and after pics.
I do have a question for you though. What is meatball day?
KnNTiny
We got her from Petsmart. I saw her and fell in love, so my mom and Dad broke down and helped get her for my sister and I. So her habitat is all wrong but little by little we will fix it. I will show my mom this thread so she can see the type of plants we can get and how GREAT the enclosure could look. Although I am primarily responsible for Tiny (that whole teaching me responsibility thing. I'm 13) I think she is just as obsessed with Tiny as my sister and I. Which is a good thing. LOL!!! She will only give the best to her.
I'm so excited about having Tiny and building the BEST enclosure for Tiny. Once we are done I will provide my own thread and before and after pics.
I do have a question for you though. What is meatball day?
KnNTiny
KnNTiny
Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2014
- Messages
- 36
Here is my favorite pic of Tiny.
KnNTiny
KnNTiny
Thank you so much and I'm super glad that I've inspired you. It's nice to hear that you want to create a better habitat for your russian. Trust me, your tort would be happier for it and you and your family will be, too. It's pretty rewarding learning how to grow plants and make your place look more beautiful and to know how to create your own specialty salads for Tiny. I wake up each morning and I have a garden in my bedroom.. it's pretty fricken awesome.
Meatball days are special occasions when I make Mazuri meatballs for my torts. See this thread on how to make them: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/tortoise-meatballs.39021/ I usually add a few things here and there to switch it up, but the main ingredients that are listed in DeanS' recipe is the same. These are also the days that they get their supplements (multivitamins and calcium). I don't do it too often since the meatballs are treats and because I don't want to oversupplement them. But these meatballs are great ways to introduce new, unwanted foods, or medicine should your tort ever need it.
I don't own a russian, but if you ever need any help with anything tort or plant related, feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer, I can always try figuring it out.
Oh, and Tiny is beautiful
Sunset turned 18 months today. She ended up just passing the 1 pound mark at 16.35 oz and she measures 5-1/8" scl.
And I don't have many pictures of Jingle so I thought I'd post some of her today. She has such a personality on her; she chased me and the camera around while I was taking pictures:
This isn't tortoise related, but I thought I'd share the new plant I ended up getting to see if I could control gnats a little. It's a pitcher plant (Nepenthes x ventrata, most likely):
And I don't have many pictures of Jingle so I thought I'd post some of her today. She has such a personality on her; she chased me and the camera around while I was taking pictures:
This isn't tortoise related, but I thought I'd share the new plant I ended up getting to see if I could control gnats a little. It's a pitcher plant (Nepenthes x ventrata, most likely):
is that a fluorescent uvb?
Yes, one of the 48" dual hoods (holds 2 tubes) has reptisun 10.0 uvb bulbs. I have two dual hoods, one has newer uvb bulbs in it and the replaced ones (weaker uvb) are in the second hood. I don't like wasting working bulbs but I still provide strong uvb in the main hood (the one over the food and water dishes). I also have 3 incandescent spots for basking and 2 CHEs over the biggest water sources. CHEs are on a thermostat, the incandescents are on timers from 7am-8pm while fluorescent tubes are on from 8am-6pm. By staggering the light timers, I create a sunrise and sunset look.
Oh, and I also have a waterproof heat rope under half the enclosure.
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its the uvb T5 or T8 or? where did you get that fixture i've been looking for a longer fixture like that
T8. I wanted to try T5s but I was always scared that it'd be way too bright for our liking. The fixtures are from Home Depot, one of the best places to go for tortoises lol
i'm going to try T5 10.0 but there will be lot's of shade i'll check out home depot thanks!
For some reason, Punch and Jingle have been more active than normal this morning.
Sunny:
So far my enclosure expansion is doing pretty well. I can also safely say that my newly acquired pitcher plant actually works pretty well at attracting gnats. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's reduced the gnat population down by a whole lot, but anything helps and they're for sure prettier than yellow sticky traps.
Also, now is the time to start fall indoor gardening! This is my version of "square foot gardening". All cold weather plants are germinating as we speak. The plants on the top shelf will soon be moved into the tortoise enclosure room to make space for the plants on the lower shelf.
Sunny:
So far my enclosure expansion is doing pretty well. I can also safely say that my newly acquired pitcher plant actually works pretty well at attracting gnats. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's reduced the gnat population down by a whole lot, but anything helps and they're for sure prettier than yellow sticky traps.
Also, now is the time to start fall indoor gardening! This is my version of "square foot gardening". All cold weather plants are germinating as we speak. The plants on the top shelf will soon be moved into the tortoise enclosure room to make space for the plants on the lower shelf.
@pfara, you have the most ANAZING setup!!! How much of it do they eat? Do you replace it often?
May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES
May, Aussies, & THBs
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES
Thanks so much, May! They actually don't eat the plants as much as they trample and rub their butts on it. Just today my fears came true and I found a bromeliad on its side lol..
They do take drive-by nibbles and you can see chunks taken out of some plants but it's not enough to severely traumatize the plants. I do have tons of clone backups, though. Just in case something happens to the enclosure where I have to start from scratch or if I just have a dwindling plant. Many of the plants I have can be cloned pretty easily.
