Uncle Bri Update

ben awes

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Hey all, I we received Uncle Bri in early September. At the time he was 5.5" long, 4.25" wide and 18 oz (I think he was a bit dehydrated when we got him - he felt extra light for his size). 6 weeks later he is 6" long, 4.5" wide and 29 oz. Jeeze these guys grow fast!

He is fed a diet of soaked and chopped orchard grass with some mazuri, has water available at all time and gets an extra soak twice a week. He has an enclosure with an all plywood floor with a small humid hide that has a layer of cyprus mulch and a 2" thick sponge ceiling that I keep soaked, etc, etc.

The best thing about him (of course I don't know if he is a he or a she, but ya got to make a choice and go with it until proven otherwise!) is how affectionate they are. His instinct is to scramble away when startled or frieghtened, unlike my leopards which clam up tight. Uncle Bri never clams up - he tries to get away. At the same time he love touch and is way more responsive to it than other torts I have had. Thought i would share some photos taken over the past month and a video that I took yesterday. The video shows his instinctual response to touch - I've seen the adult Galops and Aldabras do this at the zoo, but did not realize they are born with it!

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7paFukcVyMQ[/video]

image.jpegimage_5.jpegimage_6.jpegimage_2.jpegimage_1.jpeg
 
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Merlin M

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Wow! Great video, no doubt he loves the attention!

Makes me want one all the more, but I will have to wait till I have much more space!
 

Sulcata_Sandy

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He's incredibly beautiful.

I'm saving money, and doing my homework. I am planning to buy one in a year or two, next spring I will have the space and the time for a baby. It's been a dream of time. Thank you for posting, so wonderful to see behavior.

Where did you acquire him?
 

Levi the Leopard

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That was neat. I loved watching him lift up for the rubba dub dub!

Any reason you prefer a plain plywood bottom for the enclosure?
 

ben awes

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Thank you! I got him from Chris Estep (I think that's how you spell it).




Sulcata_Sandy said:
He's incredibly beautiful.

I'm saving money, and doing my homework. I am planning to buy one in a year or two, next spring I will have the space and the time for a baby. It's been a dream of time. Thank you for posting, so wonderful to see behavior.

Where did you acquire him?
 

wellington

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Man, I didn't get the vid:(. Your baby is adorable. Totally love the pic of him sleeping, OMG, just precious,
 

ben awes

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Thanks for the comment! I love the sleeping pic as well. What do you mean that you don't get the vid? Does that mean it won't play or it won't load? It's a youtube vid, so you can probably go to youtube and search "aldabra tortoise loves affection" Hope that helps!

wellington said:
Man, I didn't get the vid:(. Your baby is adorable. Totally love the pic of him sleeping, OMG, just precious,


Hi Heather, thanks for the comment. There is lots of debate about flooring and substrate as you know. For me, the plywood has always just been the easiest to clean. The biggest problem is that it does not hold humidity. Some say they slip on plywood - but I don't really see it. Interestingly for my baby aldabra I have half the floor just plywood and half the floor cyprus mulch and he much prefers the plywood. He will venture on to the cyprus now and then, but never hangs out there, never naps there. Always goes back to the plywood. I think it has something to do with the fact that it is much easier to walk on the plywood, at least when he is this size. I am building a bigger humid hide for him at this point with a cyprus floor, so we'll see if that is appealing to him.

Team Gomberg said:
That was neat. I loved watching him lift up for the rubba dub dub!

Any reason you prefer a plain plywood bottom for the enclosure?
 

Yellow Turtle

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Uncle Bri is awesome. How big is he now and what is the humidity in his enclosure?
 

ben awes

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Uncle Bri update - But first, Uncle Bri decided to go as the Headless Horseman for Halloween!

I record his weight on a weekly basis and his length and width on a monthly basis (as I have done for my leopards for the first 10 years of their life so far!)

Uncle Bri is 6.25" long and 4.5" wide. His weight naturally fluctuates a bit but he is about 31 ounces. I was told from Chris Etsep when I got him at the beginning of Sept that he was about a year old - but he could have been 10 months, 11 months, 13 months, 14 months. Hard to say I think, but when I got him he was 5.5" x 4" x 19 ounces.

photo 2.JPGphoto 1.JPGphoto 3.JPG

Beware the Headless Horseman!

BTW, how do you post photos so they show up big right in the body of the post like Aldabraman and others. Mine always are thumbnails at the bottom?

And, his humid hide (not a very good one at this point, but I am building a new one) is between 55% and 85% humidity depending on how wet I keep his sponge ceiling!

Ben
 
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Yellow Turtle

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Lol, is it photoshopped?

You can upload your pictures on tinypic.com and get the image url to be copy-pasted so it can show up on the forum.
 

ben awes

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this is just a test to see if uploading to tinypic.com works for me!

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=119vst4" target="_blank"><img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/119vst4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2uf9cv9" target="_blank"><img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/2uf9cv9.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

http://tinypic.com/r/2uf9cv9/5

http://tinypic.com/r/119vst4/5


the tinypic.com did not work for me? I uploaded and then copy and pasted a number of ways and none of them make the photo show up big.

ben awes said:
this is just a test to see if uploading to tinypic.com works for me!

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=119vst4" target="_blank"><img src="http://i41.tinypic.com/119vst4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2uf9cv9" target="_blank"><img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/2uf9cv9.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

http://tinypic.com/r/2uf9cv9/5

http://tinypic.com/r/119vst4/5
 

Yellow Turtle

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Just copy the image code for forums & message boards like I do with your tinypic below

2uf9cv9.jpg


119vst4.jpg
 

ben awes

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Uncle Bri Update - Dec 1, 2013

Merry Christmas everyone, a quick Uncle Bri update:

Age: (assuming he was 1 year on the day we got him) almost 15 months
Size: 6.5" x 4.875"
Weight: 34.5oz

Super gentle, really sweat personality. Still pretty shy, very slow deliberate eater. I think getting more and more used to me around. I added some fake plants to his enclosure yesterday. He checked them out, tried to take a few bites, but seemed to like being near/beneath them, and hopefully he will feel like he has some more "protection" and hiding places! I like him (or her) a lot!

For the top and side shots I tried to size markings on the shell to be the same size, so these are pretty close to accurate for growth comparison.

(and note, i have a short video clip at the bottom, not sure how you get those to show up with a preview still?)

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View My Video
 

ben awes

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Uncle Bri Update - Hi all, I've received Uncle Bri last September, so it's been nearly 8 months. He is doing great. He is active, interested, friendly and HUNGRY! He is also tidy! He never poops in his water dish, as my leopards do the moment I freshen it. He tends to walk around things not over things, as my leopards do. He is awesome. I have several levels to his enclosure so that he has to climb up an down during the day to get where he wants to go. When i got him he was 5.5" x 4" x 19 ounces. Today, 7 1/2 months later he is 8.5" long x 6.4" wide x 4lbs 8oz. I have sold my adult Pardalis Pardalis breeders to make more room for him. He's got a total of about 70sf of area comprised of several sections to explore. I've got two humidifiers running in his humid hide which is 2'x4' and the best I can do is around 60% humidity. I am shopping for a more professional misting system and will get that in the next couple months. He spends a lot of time in his humid hide and does all his napping and sleeping there. I feed him chopped and soaked Orchard Grass with a handful of the new Mazuri mixed in. He'll eat the grass but if he could he would eat only the Mazuri - all my torts LOVE the stuff, but it's like teenage boys with video games - up to the parents to allow in moderation!

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ben awes

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5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Messages
436
Uncle Bri Update - Hi all, I've received Uncle Bri last September, so it's been nearly 8 months. He is doing great. He is active, interested, friendly and HUNGRY! He is also tidy! He never poops in his water dish, as my leopards do the moment I freshen it. He tends to walk around things not over things, as my leopards do. He is awesome. I have several levels to his enclosure so that he has to climb up an down during the day to get where he wants to go. When i got him he was 5.5" x 4" x 19 ounces. Today, 7 1/2 months later he is 8.5" long x 6.4" wide x 4lbs 8oz. I have sold my adult Pardalis Pardalis breeders to make more room for him. He's got a total of about 70sf of area comprised of several sections to explore. I've got two humidifiers running in his humid hide which is 2'x4' and the best I can do is around 60% humidity. I am shopping for a more professional misting system and will get that in the next couple months. He spends a lot of time in his humid hide and does all his napping and sleeping there. I feed him chopped and soaked Orchard Grass with a handful of the new Mazuri mixed in. He'll eat the grass but if he could he would eat only the Mazuri - all my torts LOVE the stuff, but it's like teenage boys with video games - up to the parents to allow in moderation!



116i5vl.jpg


ng9f14.jpg


16ay8pc.jpg


wtzl00.jpg


dwyuf9.jpg


5d1m3k.jpg
 

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