This is an emergency!!!

Thanks i am just about to leave now

I guess the vets appointment was good. He has got a bad respitory infection, so they have to keep him at the hospital for atleast 7 days . Well now that i got the bad news over with the good news is the vet said he more than doubled in weight, has strong muscle mass, great shell, and is happy and responsive. She said that wen she saw him about a year ago he was weak and malnuturist. So besides this dumb respitory infection it is a clean bill of health Thanks for everyones help through this stressing situation.

Yah for Lucy! I am glad she is going to be alright!

Thank you so much Mate will be better soon i hope, Everyones support has helped me so much

i had that problem with my tortoise i forgot the name but my tortoise died of it i found out that it was because of dehidration keep your tortoise well hydrated and bring it to the vet

Originally Posted by deborahbroadus

Yah for Lucy!

Deb, you are thinking of my tort Lucy. His is named Mate.

How is yours doing?

Mine is doing great! (sorry for the late reply)

Samwise has put on SO much weight and is so healthy. I have had to move him outside.
I moved him from here (there was barely enough room to turn around any more)


To here:





The set up is not finished (I work full time and get home around 8pm). I plan to have a Kane Pig heater on the floor covered with dirt substrate and Aspen substrate. On the roof inside there will be a hanging heat lamp (thanks Harald for the suggestion) and over the door a tarp will keep out the drafts. Over all of this, I plan to put some netting so that they will be safe from birds and UFOs. The yard is fenced in, so if he succeeds in getting out of his pen..he'll still be in the yard..just difficult to find.

Originally Posted by deborahbroadus

Mine is doing great! (sorry for the late reply)

Samwise has put on SO much weight and is so healthy. I have had to move him outside.
I moved him from here (there was barely enough room to turn around any more)


To here:





The set up is not finished (I work full time and get home around 8pm). I plan to have a Kane Pig heater on the floor covered with dirt substrate and Aspen substrate. On the roof inside there will be a hanging heat lamp (thanks Harald for the suggestion) and over the door a tarp will keep out the drafts. Over all of this, I plan to put some netting so that they will be safe from birds and UFOs. The yard is fenced in, so if he succeeds in getting out of his pen..he'll still be in the yard..just difficult to find.

First, sorry to hijack the thread, and I'm very glad you got your tort to the vet and things are looking up baybay.

Second - that's a lovely (and I do mean loveeeely) tort pen Deborah, if only the walls were higher. Your lil fellow will climb right out of there. And believe it or not, he/she will climb a chain link fence like a monkey if given enough time, so don't count on your fenced yard keeping him/her in. But big kudo's for getting the lil guy outside. A steamy Maryland summer will be redfoot heaven!

Running the walls one board's width higher and put a lip on the inside edge will fix it up easily. Whether or not torts are intelligent animals (I happen to think they are) he/she has all day and all night to push dirt against the walls to build a ramp to reach the top with their front claws. Up and over will eventually follow.

I know you said you weren't finished, so I'm throwing this at you while you're still working on it.

One more thing (god I feel horrible nit-picking like this, I really do love your pen, especially the house!) if the walls are resting on the ground it would take less than one evening for him/her to dig right under them. Redfoots and Yellowfoots are amazing escape artists!

Thanks so much for the feedback. Samwise is INTELLIGENT. Not only does he eat from my hands and let me rub his head, he comes BACK when he gets out. The first few times..I stressed, but after the second time of him coming back..I stopped "overly" stressing.

However, you are correct and I will see right away (asap) about making adjustments in the pen.

However:

One more thing (god I feel horrible nit-picking like this, I really do love your pen, especially the house!) if the walls are resting on the ground it would take less than one evening for him/her to dig right under them. Redfoots and Yellowfoots are amazing escape artists!

Don't worry about "nitpicking" I am still learning about torts and of course I want mine to have what they need, so that they can stay healthy. But what do you mean about "walls resting on the ground?"

The feet of the doghouse are buried into the ground (and it has a wooden floor, it's not open bottom), so that he would be able to walk right into the house without the need for a ramp. If the feet were on the ground then I would worry about the digging because there would be space for the digging. So tell me what's wrong with the set up?

Thanks

p.s Samwise is more of a climber. He loves trying to climb..I don't think he's discovered digging yet.

Hello Deb!

That is so awesome that Samwise is doing SO well now. All of the lighting & everything has really helped out alot. The pen looks great, but I agree, the sides should be higher or he will climb right out!
He looks very healthy now. You are doing a great job!


Tracie