I ordered him on Wednesday for a Saturday delivery, I took the kids to their well child Dr. visit and the tort arrived while we were out. My husband took him out of his shipping container, and said he was already alert and moving, even though they told me that he would be hibernating (I kept thinking of hyperleep).
It was perfect, my husband had the video camera rolling when Linus came in, we showed him the tortoise (he is a juvenile Russian). Linus (my now 7 year old) was speechless. After we convinced him that the tortoise was alive and it would be his for the rest of his life he couldn't stop smiling.
We have him in a big rubbermaid tub for now, I have a friend building a table for us, I got over my substrate panic, used 40 lbs of organic topsoil, then some T-Rex sani chips, kind of mixed it up a bit, then topped it with T-Rex Cypress mulch and sprinkled some Timothy hay around too. He has a water rock and a half log hide, that really isn't wide enough, unless he burrows under it a bit, which is what he did. I have a lamp on a stand with a mercury vapor bulb, to provide both heat and light.
Linus named him Fred (but if it turns out if he's a girl then we will name her Freida) We think it is a male, because he has a very long, pointy tail and the anal area of his plastron is "V" shaped around his tail. However, the plastron is totally flat, I thought that females were flat and males had some curvature. My 10 year old suggested that perhaps he was transgendered, and just hadn't had all the surgeries yet (!) I really need to know where she is getting stuff like this. I'm thinking he's male and I'm just not seeing the curvature.
He is a juvenile, about 4 years old I think. I'll have to figure out how to share photos. Not sure if this link will work: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?i...et=a.1704019647181.2096062.1438696958&theater
a better picture is on my husband's FB page http://www.facebook.com/album.php?i...et=a.1079043378912.2013121.1311108724&theater
They said to put him in a bowl until he starts moving, so my husband put him in a pasta bowl.....which will now be heavily cleaned and sterilized!
Thanks for your help over the last week.....Now to just keep Fred alive. he's eating everything you put in front of him, I joked that he'll be the only tortoise on Nutra-system~
It was perfect, my husband had the video camera rolling when Linus came in, we showed him the tortoise (he is a juvenile Russian). Linus (my now 7 year old) was speechless. After we convinced him that the tortoise was alive and it would be his for the rest of his life he couldn't stop smiling.
We have him in a big rubbermaid tub for now, I have a friend building a table for us, I got over my substrate panic, used 40 lbs of organic topsoil, then some T-Rex sani chips, kind of mixed it up a bit, then topped it with T-Rex Cypress mulch and sprinkled some Timothy hay around too. He has a water rock and a half log hide, that really isn't wide enough, unless he burrows under it a bit, which is what he did. I have a lamp on a stand with a mercury vapor bulb, to provide both heat and light.
Linus named him Fred (but if it turns out if he's a girl then we will name her Freida) We think it is a male, because he has a very long, pointy tail and the anal area of his plastron is "V" shaped around his tail. However, the plastron is totally flat, I thought that females were flat and males had some curvature. My 10 year old suggested that perhaps he was transgendered, and just hadn't had all the surgeries yet (!) I really need to know where she is getting stuff like this. I'm thinking he's male and I'm just not seeing the curvature.
He is a juvenile, about 4 years old I think. I'll have to figure out how to share photos. Not sure if this link will work: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?i...et=a.1704019647181.2096062.1438696958&theater
a better picture is on my husband's FB page http://www.facebook.com/album.php?i...et=a.1079043378912.2013121.1311108724&theater
They said to put him in a bowl until he starts moving, so my husband put him in a pasta bowl.....which will now be heavily cleaned and sterilized!
Thanks for your help over the last week.....Now to just keep Fred alive. he's eating everything you put in front of him, I joked that he'll be the only tortoise on Nutra-system~
