Impressa Project

mikeh

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I was lucky to acquired 5 hatchlings in mid October of 2017. All 5 are doing very well at this point, it wasn't easy, but there has been progress on my and their end, things are getting much easier.

Given how uncommon these guys are, thought I would quickly share just couple of photos for now(of the leader-overachiever of the group). I find the colors coming out on this specific animal quite striking, under certain light conditions(5000K-6000K temp) the head looks almost as if airbrushed.

If there is interest, I will post photos of the others and share experience taking care of these guys.

This photo was taken prior to the day of arrival
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...this is how the animal looks like 5 months later

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PA2019

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Interested! Looking forward to seeing/learning how you maintain the group.
 

Yvonne G

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What. . . are you kidding me? Of course we're interested!
 

NorCal tortoise guy

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Can we ask where you got the hatchlings? Very impressed! I understand they are very hard to keep helthy and happy I would love to know all about how you are doing it!
 

mikeh

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Thanks everyone. I got the hatchlings last fall from the same group offered as did everyone else at that time, I believe. My understanding is that the 5 got have changed hands couple of times.

I was given extensive details on and expectations of the animals prior to purchase. Based on that I started them on "intensive care" style rearing. I forced them through daily cycle as I deemed fit. The protocol followed and still follows slightly altered my rearing of emys-emys hatchlings few years ago which did extremely well. I had number of posts here on those.

Altered protocol - I reduced the temps slightly and increased already humidity further higher. I built equipment to keep constant (RH) humidity between 95% and 100% if I choose to do so, and that's how they were kept for first 6 months. Only Recently I allow the humidity drop down to ~90% during the day. Only time they experience lower humidity is during soaks and when I open the enclosure. My numbers are pretty tight, I use Spider Robotics controllers and probes for temp and humidity control.

The enclosure has inside environment that seems to be accepted but the the enclosure itself is not ideally se tip and is 42x20"....that is small for quickest adaptation as these guys can intimidate each other under certain circumstances - food and hiding/resting spots. They really should be housed alone for quickest adaptation. I always feed them individually as they will bite each other's face for food, unlike emys emys which only ever got aggressive with each other over earth warms. I do have materials to built 3 more enclosures in near future.

Some of the hatchings were eating decently from start, the weakest animal didn't eat anything for first two weeks and after only bit of black warms once every second day. I didn't have much hope for this animal, it was super light, dull colors, softer on plastron then others and it started to grow mold/fungus on its carapace which I smelled and which I brushed of every two days. Only thing it had going for itself for its feistiness. It would try to bite me when agitated enough, so I force fed it when it opened its mouth to bite. That was a struggle for few weeks, but slowly things got easier. It pulled through and today this animal is the most aggressive eater although still smallest of the group. Photo below is how the animals looks today.

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2nd difficult animal, photo below, oddly was the biggest animal of the group at arrival and the only animal with visible growth. Two other animals have noticeably fought up and outgrown it. This animal is noticeably different in character/behavior and physical appearance then all others. It's very light color overall with lightest eyes. There is also noticeable difference in the shape of its head. I think at least this animal may be from different clutch then others. This animal was also light eater at first which was due to the fact that it took the longest to adjust - two months. It took the longest to be content in its environment, often nervously pacing and climbing walls, today is still most out and about but I don't observe the nervousness.

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Some other quick experience so far.... it takes me at least an hour every day to cycle them, prepping food, feeding, UVB sessions at soaking every 3rd day.

Fun facts that differ from what I read from others...

They never drink water...but urinate on regular bases, water dish is ignored, this may be due to high water content in food and constant high humidity.

They don't care to sprayed, seems to annoy them, they don't lift up their butts to when sprayed or try to drink-squeek their beers during spraying.

When hungry - one day of no food, the activity increases. By day two with no food they start to pace the enclosure.



They are all strong eaters now, tend to overeat and go into food coma. When full they just chill looking around all day. They will skip food for one day after overeating every 5-6 days.

Overall they are hard to read, I still don't know what day temp. they would mostly prefer.

They soak up heat from the warm air by typical all legs fully stretched out. There is no direct heat in the enclosure, temp is regulated by ambient and mildly under substrate.

They are very sensitive to temps change - but can handle up to 95F water temp at 75F ambient when soaking for 20 mins without stress if the instant temp change isn't drastic. I didn't experiment with higher temps. Usually I keep water between 90-93F when soaking in 75F ambient room temp. I always cool them down to low 83-82F before putting them in warm water. Seems they stay still longer soaking up the heat. Important to monitor ambient temp when soaking. I would soak them in that warm of water if ambient temp was 85F.

I keep the enclosure at 86-89F day time and 75-77F night time. Seems at 86F they are still trying to heat up, at 89F this behavior of ambient heat soaking seems to diminish.

I would advise not exposing them to instant drastic temp change. For example when their core is 70F dunking them into 95F water. I think they may go into shock without gradual increase.

Below is a phot of largest two, water temp here was 94F, ambient 75F
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To close up for now are couple photos of their enclosure. The photos are taken through a double pane lexan hinged top with heated aluminum spacer, the enclosure is fully closed thus low quality photos. This photo is not stages, it's a more rare moment, I think they went without food for a day prior so they are out and about waiting for food.
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Thanks for checking my write up....More in few weeks....questions are welcome....cheers all
 

mikeh

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Hello everyone and welcome. Been a while, quick update on the young Impressa group of 5. I have had these guys over 9 months now and all appear to be doing well at this point. My guess is they are a year or just over a year old.
Below are some recent photos. Biggest one is 4 1/2” smallest 3” and rest mostly in the middle.

Some of observation....
Compared to emys emys I find these guys challenging....more specialized food still, they can be hard to read....i still am not sure what their ideal-proffered daily temps, they get randomly irritated and nervous. They are curious but more timid than emys emys. They also don’t seem to be as relaxed, maybe they are not fully content with their enclosure and/or tight quarters.
One is already showing signs of aggression - head bobbing, mounting and biting at a face. I will post a video at the end if I figure out how. Interestingly the aggressor up until now was the most timid animal.
He/she will be terminated from the group shortly....I have been procrastinating but really need to built few enclosures at this point.
They are strong eaters, all by now. Did have some challenge with two of them not eating on regulator bases. I can manipulate their activity with food. When full, and they can over feed, they will all be mostly sedentary. When hungry their alertness and activity noticeably changes, walking around and escalates to aggravated pacing as hours of hunger pass by. They recognize my fingers well, and will aggressively bite when hungry. The bites are strong for their size but don’t break the skin, yet. They will fight each other for food if there isn’t enough to go around.

They are a pain, but it’s exciting seeing them develops and grow.
Below some photos... the food is as discussing as it looks (mush of purple yam, butternut squash, fresh figs, little bit of finely chopped plantain weeds, clover, oyster mushrooms, papaya, fish food, and live black warms)

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Basking in warm air
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Didn’t figure out how to upload feeding video, so some photos
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mikeh

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Hello and welcome....it’s been a while. Here is the update on the group of 5 hatchlings I obtained in fall of 2017 (group A) and another two groups Of 3 and 4 hatchlings I obtained in fall of 2018 (Group B and C). At the end of the post are few photos of some group A group B, C.

Overall it’s been a rocky road....all of group A were doing very well for the first full year with the exception of initially getting animal A5 jump started on food. A5 was a very weak animal on arrival that I initially had little hope for, but with some force feeding for 1st month it jump started and acclimated just like the other 4 and all was well and dandy, until late fall of 2018, exactly one year.

In fall of 2018 all 5 animals went off the food for a full week (my thoughts on why this happen little later), animal A5 along with the strongest and by far the biggest animal A1 did not return to feeding. It took me few weeks to find a vet I felt comfortable with. By this time the two animals haven’t had any food in close to two months. Their weight and condition slowly deteriorated. I found a vet I felt comfortable with in January and we started doing mouth and anal cultures. Cultures reveled very high concentration of E-coli bacteria in both animals. By this time the animals have further deteriorated in weight and appearance. Fluid and vitamins/mineral injections were administered couple times along with liquid antibiotics. The bacteria was tested for resistance to the antibiotics. The animals seemed to slightly respond to either fluids/vitamins or the antibiotics for couple of weeks, but They still didn’t take any food and relapsed couple weeks later. At this point it’s been over 3 months since they had any food intake. One of the animals was retested and showed high levels of E-coli still, a strain that showed resistance to the administered antibiotic. Both animals were put back on different antibiotic 3 week daily cycle of injections this time. This was hard on me and animals, the antibiotic had to be kept in freezer and fridge and disposed of every week. I did not fully finished week 3 of antibiotics. However, the animals responded well and became alert and active. They also had their good size first meal in 4 months on their own shortly there after. Unfortunately, this was also the first last meal for animals A5. It continued to be active for next couple weeks with no interest in food, yeast infection was confirmed and oral antibiotics were administered. The animal was force fed for next couple weeks, but continued to decline even further. For past week I determined there was no light at the end of the tunnel. The vet felt otherwise and did another culture two days prior to today. The animal passed away yesterday 5/24. I am at the vet with the animal A1 as I type this as different complications have developed with this one...I will finish this later.

Animal A2 and A4 are doing well, phot below
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TammyJ

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They are amazing and precious - best of luck with the remaining ones!
 

mikeh

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Jun 16, 2013
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Its going pretty well Tammy, thanks. Biggest one, 1st photo is pushing on 7” slc. Oh, oh and I already got flashed, so definitely have at least two males. PS: Their penis is black.?
Second photo, few of them are very aggressively, bold and go right for my hand when they are hungry. Wish I could upload the video of it attacking, biting my hand.

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