Hello all, I haven't been here in a good long while, life got busy. Lol. I was scanning through post and though I since I got a current weight and measurement I would do quick update on Jessee.
Where to start, well first he no longer gets called Jessee, I don't know it just didn't seem to suit him, he seemed more like a Buddha, so that's what he is called these days. He just turned 2 in December, and I've had him a little over a year and a half now. I got him he was 41/2" and today measures in at exactly 9". When I got him he was 310 grams, not sure what that is in pounds but I can no longer get a weight on my scale that does grams so it's just pounds now, today he weighted in at 6.79 pounds. He seems to be growing at smooth pace. I get measurements and weights every couple months and I haven't had any large or extremely small gains, it all seems to be about even measurement to measurement. He is a super healthy eater and I haven't had much issues. Last winter I of course worried my butt off, "am I doing everything right", "is he getting enough of everything he needs", We had a little spell of shell rot, I noticed it just after it started, I contacted the breeder I got him from, confirmed it was shell rot and I started treatment immediately. I found the source causing the shell rot and remedied that as well. His sleeping spot was under this hollowed out log and where I set his enclosure up w Eco earth and peat moss to grow live plants in it for him I had to water the substrate and the substrate he happen to dig down in and sleep in was damp and was causing the rot. I removed the log, dig out a spot and placed a dish pan in the area and cut out an opening, then I covered it w a different log to kinda make it feel closed off for him. The dish pan was only filled w dry bark eliminating the dampness issue. This threw his routine off for a minute but he got back to it rather quickly. He went through the winter season and spring finally freaking got here. Now he had just got settled and started back at his routine toward the end of the winter. He came out his hide a certain time everyday, he ate, he soaked himself in his "pond", he would ramble around a while and back to his hide. So w spring finally here I was able to start taking him outside for some real sun, some real roaming room. Summer finally got here and.he got to spend every single day outside in his yard. At first he wouldn't even move. I would put him out in a sun spot, he would sit there until he got warmed up then move himself to his shade and that's where he stayed. It took a good month for him to start exploring and walking his yard. But once he got to it he got to it. It was very exciting watching him motor around and explore. He's stop and munch and then pick up and go again. I would pick weed or random flower blooms, hibiscus leaves, just whatever and lay them around his yard in piles so when he explored he could find different.things and try them. He ate everything I offered except grape vine leaves, he refuses to touch them still. He is starting to show a personality. I will catch him watching me, when I put his food down he will go to.it and sit and watch me until I leave and then he will eat. When I soak him he will look at me like "seriously I'm about to big for this pan lady", and the biggest thing I have noticed is I believe he's starting to connect me as his caregiver. It use to b that if I didn't have his food offered but the time.he came.out his hide he would go on and soak and back to his hide but I've started noticing that I can go in and place his food and I will call his name, he will come to the opening of his hide and then once I'm out of sight he will come on over and eat. When I first got him he was super shy, which was a huge adjustment for me cause I was use to sulcata torts, and they was completely different when it come to being shy. But he's coming out of the shyness now somewhat. I spent the summer picking different weeds and flowers and leaves, I started dehydrating some of them and started chopping some of them up and freezing in ice cube trays so in still able to provide him the summer diet he seemed to like. I do add mazuri to the weeds twice a week, so he gets all his balanced stuff. Around Christmas I got some compressed cubes of hay (their labeled for horses but it's just organic grass so it's safe) and I started offering those. I soak them in warm water and give it to him once it's all softened and damp, he gobbles it right up just as he does anything else. He's a super healthy eater and besides the straight refusal to eat grape vines leaves he eats anything offered. I give him cactus twice weekly as well. I do not supplement any vitamins or anything, I provide cuttlebone in his enclosure for him to have as he wishes, which I have only seen him munching on a handful of times. His dried and frozen stuff was all picked straight out the ground spring summer and fall so his variety is wide. I picked up a spring mix couple days ago and offered that in the mix of stuff a couple nights ago just to give him something he wasn't use to.
Hopefully if all goes as planned this will b the last winter he will have to spend inside. I have plans in the works to get moved by next winter. I'm not exactly 100% sure just yet but we have narrowed it down to either south Florida or the southern eastern part of Texas. Either location will provide him a year round outside housing set up so it should work out rather well. Once I can.provide him a year round outside housing set up I plan to add 3 more to the mix!
Here's some pics:
This is his new dry hide.
Which u can see he is about to outgrow.
He really has started watching me more.
I never could figure out something safe to.remove that white dot on his shell so I said leave it, it can b a growth marker. Lol.
And this is his soak pan that's he's also about to b to big for. Lol. He's growing like the weeds he eats. Lol.
Where to start, well first he no longer gets called Jessee, I don't know it just didn't seem to suit him, he seemed more like a Buddha, so that's what he is called these days. He just turned 2 in December, and I've had him a little over a year and a half now. I got him he was 41/2" and today measures in at exactly 9". When I got him he was 310 grams, not sure what that is in pounds but I can no longer get a weight on my scale that does grams so it's just pounds now, today he weighted in at 6.79 pounds. He seems to be growing at smooth pace. I get measurements and weights every couple months and I haven't had any large or extremely small gains, it all seems to be about even measurement to measurement. He is a super healthy eater and I haven't had much issues. Last winter I of course worried my butt off, "am I doing everything right", "is he getting enough of everything he needs", We had a little spell of shell rot, I noticed it just after it started, I contacted the breeder I got him from, confirmed it was shell rot and I started treatment immediately. I found the source causing the shell rot and remedied that as well. His sleeping spot was under this hollowed out log and where I set his enclosure up w Eco earth and peat moss to grow live plants in it for him I had to water the substrate and the substrate he happen to dig down in and sleep in was damp and was causing the rot. I removed the log, dig out a spot and placed a dish pan in the area and cut out an opening, then I covered it w a different log to kinda make it feel closed off for him. The dish pan was only filled w dry bark eliminating the dampness issue. This threw his routine off for a minute but he got back to it rather quickly. He went through the winter season and spring finally freaking got here. Now he had just got settled and started back at his routine toward the end of the winter. He came out his hide a certain time everyday, he ate, he soaked himself in his "pond", he would ramble around a while and back to his hide. So w spring finally here I was able to start taking him outside for some real sun, some real roaming room. Summer finally got here and.he got to spend every single day outside in his yard. At first he wouldn't even move. I would put him out in a sun spot, he would sit there until he got warmed up then move himself to his shade and that's where he stayed. It took a good month for him to start exploring and walking his yard. But once he got to it he got to it. It was very exciting watching him motor around and explore. He's stop and munch and then pick up and go again. I would pick weed or random flower blooms, hibiscus leaves, just whatever and lay them around his yard in piles so when he explored he could find different.things and try them. He ate everything I offered except grape vine leaves, he refuses to touch them still. He is starting to show a personality. I will catch him watching me, when I put his food down he will go to.it and sit and watch me until I leave and then he will eat. When I soak him he will look at me like "seriously I'm about to big for this pan lady", and the biggest thing I have noticed is I believe he's starting to connect me as his caregiver. It use to b that if I didn't have his food offered but the time.he came.out his hide he would go on and soak and back to his hide but I've started noticing that I can go in and place his food and I will call his name, he will come to the opening of his hide and then once I'm out of sight he will come on over and eat. When I first got him he was super shy, which was a huge adjustment for me cause I was use to sulcata torts, and they was completely different when it come to being shy. But he's coming out of the shyness now somewhat. I spent the summer picking different weeds and flowers and leaves, I started dehydrating some of them and started chopping some of them up and freezing in ice cube trays so in still able to provide him the summer diet he seemed to like. I do add mazuri to the weeds twice a week, so he gets all his balanced stuff. Around Christmas I got some compressed cubes of hay (their labeled for horses but it's just organic grass so it's safe) and I started offering those. I soak them in warm water and give it to him once it's all softened and damp, he gobbles it right up just as he does anything else. He's a super healthy eater and besides the straight refusal to eat grape vines leaves he eats anything offered. I give him cactus twice weekly as well. I do not supplement any vitamins or anything, I provide cuttlebone in his enclosure for him to have as he wishes, which I have only seen him munching on a handful of times. His dried and frozen stuff was all picked straight out the ground spring summer and fall so his variety is wide. I picked up a spring mix couple days ago and offered that in the mix of stuff a couple nights ago just to give him something he wasn't use to.
Hopefully if all goes as planned this will b the last winter he will have to spend inside. I have plans in the works to get moved by next winter. I'm not exactly 100% sure just yet but we have narrowed it down to either south Florida or the southern eastern part of Texas. Either location will provide him a year round outside housing set up so it should work out rather well. Once I can.provide him a year round outside housing set up I plan to add 3 more to the mix!
Here's some pics:
This is his new dry hide.
Which u can see he is about to outgrow.
He really has started watching me more.
I never could figure out something safe to.remove that white dot on his shell so I said leave it, it can b a growth marker. Lol.
And this is his soak pan that's he's also about to b to big for. Lol. He's growing like the weeds he eats. Lol.
