Hello all,
I got my life companion a little more than a month ago, these forums have been a great resource to take me through the first weeks. Thought I would start this thread as a place to dump pictures as we grow together!
It was my first time giving him a strawberry this morning, he seemed pleased. I know it's still early to be assuming a gender but I've just been referring to him as gramps because his mannerisms and general appearance remind me of my dearly departed. If you must know his full name, for the time being it is John Wesley Hardin. Gramps is currently housed in an open topped 2'x2' aquarium with a 3inch bed of coco coir. One corner of the enclosure stays between 90-100 under the UV heat lamp, depending on the daily fluctuations. I currently live in the bay area, CA and humidity is most often around 70-80%.
Gramps gets morning 30min soaks in 90-100 degree water, regular doses of Rep-Cal P-free calcium with vitD3, and weekly doses of Rep-Cal Herptivite multivitamin with beta caretene. He's made it a routine(much to my delight) to immediately take a drink then pee, most mornings while in his tub. He has a noticeable taste for radicchio and grape leaves; still trying to get my hands on some mazuri. I've learned a lot about edible plants from the sulcata-station and the tortoise table, making sure whatever I forage for him is likely pesticide free. I'll occasionally walk into the hills and harvest wild grasses, other snacks and odd items like radicchio I purchase. I recently started growing many small pots of rye/fescue that I now have in various stages, just places the first one in his cage this morning so I'm keen to see what he thinks. There is a park near by that I carry him to to for the patches of clover and some precious minutes under the sunlight. I understand the risk of public places but I've done some snooping and am fairly sure that this Berkeley park does not use pesticides, at least in the middle of the grass fields.
I haven't weighed him yet, but judging from what I've seen around here and his growth rings, I'm assuming he's close to a year old at the moment. Right after I took this photo, Gramps closed his eyes and pee'd all over my bed. :') Another precious and priceless moment, I love him so much.
I had my few days of freaking out about those white-ish things on his shell, even bought a tube of clotrimazole, but I'm pretty sure those are hard water deposits. I didn't even bother applying the cream, unless a few of you can convince me to. I've seen a few recommendations to apply cold-pressed organic coconut oil to remedy the deposits, ill try that eventually.
The back of his shell is pretty interesting, am I correct in seeing a split + 2 extra..?
Some of the valleys between scutes in the back are pretty deep, and you can see the slight pyramiding thats taking place. I'm not too worried though, because otherwise he seems healthy and there's just lots of stuff going on back there.
No pyramiding in the front scutes.
No widespread pyramiding evident from the side view, agree? Also, think that might be a juvenile wart on my thumb...
Hate doing this to him, but it's for the sake of you and this thread! His underside looks fairly normal, yes?
Thanks for looking! Guess my lurking days are over, excited to say hello to this community and would like to continue sharing moments with Gramps!
I got my life companion a little more than a month ago, these forums have been a great resource to take me through the first weeks. Thought I would start this thread as a place to dump pictures as we grow together!
It was my first time giving him a strawberry this morning, he seemed pleased. I know it's still early to be assuming a gender but I've just been referring to him as gramps because his mannerisms and general appearance remind me of my dearly departed. If you must know his full name, for the time being it is John Wesley Hardin. Gramps is currently housed in an open topped 2'x2' aquarium with a 3inch bed of coco coir. One corner of the enclosure stays between 90-100 under the UV heat lamp, depending on the daily fluctuations. I currently live in the bay area, CA and humidity is most often around 70-80%.
Gramps gets morning 30min soaks in 90-100 degree water, regular doses of Rep-Cal P-free calcium with vitD3, and weekly doses of Rep-Cal Herptivite multivitamin with beta caretene. He's made it a routine(much to my delight) to immediately take a drink then pee, most mornings while in his tub. He has a noticeable taste for radicchio and grape leaves; still trying to get my hands on some mazuri. I've learned a lot about edible plants from the sulcata-station and the tortoise table, making sure whatever I forage for him is likely pesticide free. I'll occasionally walk into the hills and harvest wild grasses, other snacks and odd items like radicchio I purchase. I recently started growing many small pots of rye/fescue that I now have in various stages, just places the first one in his cage this morning so I'm keen to see what he thinks. There is a park near by that I carry him to to for the patches of clover and some precious minutes under the sunlight. I understand the risk of public places but I've done some snooping and am fairly sure that this Berkeley park does not use pesticides, at least in the middle of the grass fields.
I haven't weighed him yet, but judging from what I've seen around here and his growth rings, I'm assuming he's close to a year old at the moment. Right after I took this photo, Gramps closed his eyes and pee'd all over my bed. :') Another precious and priceless moment, I love him so much.
I had my few days of freaking out about those white-ish things on his shell, even bought a tube of clotrimazole, but I'm pretty sure those are hard water deposits. I didn't even bother applying the cream, unless a few of you can convince me to. I've seen a few recommendations to apply cold-pressed organic coconut oil to remedy the deposits, ill try that eventually.
The back of his shell is pretty interesting, am I correct in seeing a split + 2 extra..?
Some of the valleys between scutes in the back are pretty deep, and you can see the slight pyramiding thats taking place. I'm not too worried though, because otherwise he seems healthy and there's just lots of stuff going on back there.
No pyramiding in the front scutes.
No widespread pyramiding evident from the side view, agree? Also, think that might be a juvenile wart on my thumb...
Hate doing this to him, but it's for the sake of you and this thread! His underside looks fairly normal, yes?
Thanks for looking! Guess my lurking days are over, excited to say hello to this community and would like to continue sharing moments with Gramps!
atleast you'll always recognize him
