Morla goes to a foster home - outdoor pen photos!

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Dec 14, 2014
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I know I am never on here, but I wanted to post an update on Morla for anyone who is interested. As many of you predicted, he quickly outgrew any indoor enclosures I created. I knew he'd have to be moved outside but I never thought the day would come so quickly! We're currently unable to keep animals outdoors and don't yet have the means to buy our own house, so I found a foster mom for Morla. She is the mother of my boyfriend's best friend since childhood - so we've known her a very long time - and she has three VERY well cared for Red Foot Torts of her own, so I know Morla will be in good hands until we can buy a house of our own. They have no pyramiding and you can see their enclosure in the background of my first photo.

He's about 2.5 hours away from home now, in western Florida. The pen we built for him is 12' x 12' x 8' x 8' x 6' - there's one side that cuts off on an angle (you'll see in the photos). He currently has one large palm tree for shade, but we'll be going back in a few weeks to make additions to the pen and his tort house, which will include planting more shade trees.

I'm not sure if you can see from the photos but he has a pan made for water heaters as a water bowl. Its big enough for him to lay in and is about two inches deep. He mostly ignores it. The foster mom has an insanely overgrown Florida yard with all kinds of weeds and goodies for him that she cuts and brings to him fresh every day. Her kids have been bringing him healthy treats and spending time talking to him every day. Foster mom says he'd be a great contender for the Energizer Bunny as he spends most of his day digging and circling the pen, with short siesta breaks during the hottest part of the day. On the day that I left he seemed very content.

It's hard to be without him. I still wake up and go to turn his lights on and change his water bowl, but he's not there. Last night the boyfriend and I were out at a restaurant and they had a HUGE prickly pear cactus outside, which I insisted we steal from to bring Morla a few cactus pad treats. Then I remembered he wasn't at home ... But I know this is what's best for him right now and it's only temporary. Any helpful comments or criticism is welcome.

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Happy tort the day I left - grass in his mouth and actively trampling over anything that grows in his pen! -lol-
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I ordered some Sulcata Grass Seed online, which foster mom has agreed to sprinkle throughout his pen regularly. We'll probably be adding some sort of screen cover for the pen, but she's had her Red Foots without a cover for about a decade now and nothing has ever bothered them or tried to get after them.

* EDIT - the pen is buried into the ground about a foot and has metal rods of some sort ( the boyfriend picked them out) going into the ground another two feet lower than that. We chose to put his house in the center so any digging he does will be away from the edges. If he starts to dig to China and an escape seems eminent, we can always go back over and modify the pen. :)
 

Lyn W

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It must be very hard for you but its great you put his needs before your feelings. Hopefully it won't be too long before you're back together.
 

Careym13

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It's great that you have someone to care for him until you can have him back...he's a lucky tort!
 

Yvonne G

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Aw, too bad you had to do that, however, it looks like he's going to be very well taken care of in the interim.
 

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