Posted by:
kasie
at Tue Jul 11 23:28:43 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by kasie ]
Sorry, must have been confusing with my mentioning of everyone, but it's a male Three Toed Box Turtle I was describing, not a Reeves.
He's settled down, BTW. He is now going about his usual business, as usual - and only going over from time to time to look at her through the Plexiglas (usually when she's over looking at him), but not clawing at the barrier or acting crazed to get to her anymore.
Good points to consider!
As far as I can tell, there isn't any way that anything (soil/substrate, water/fluids, worms, etc.) can get from the one side to the other. The barrier is 3 feet high x 2 feet wide, 1/4 inch thick, and sealed with aquarium cement around all sides (well, the three that touch the enclosure anyway). We live in a one room place (an old storefront/blacksmith shop), so they are going to be sharing air no matter what (even with a 12 foot ceiling). I think I'd be more concerned about air-space/proximity if she had a respiratory infection, but perhaps this is being not so smart/foolhardy though???
They aren't housed in an area that I walk into; but I do a lot of hand washing as a rule anyway (I am "immune-compromised" myself from chemotherapy/lupus, so I am very cautious, but not neurotic/germ-phobic). So far, I am doing all my regular husbandry safety precautions that I learned as a wildlife rescuer a very long time ago (haven't done wildlife rescue in years, but that stuff just stuck with me, also working as a vet tech, and going to vet school for a while) - so no shared anything at all, and handling/feeding/cleaning the newbie last after everyone else is cared for first.
The new female wasn't wild caught - or at least not in the recent past anyway - and from her friendly and fearless behavior, she seems CB - but you never know unless you know for sure, right? She wasn't a rescue, either. She came from at least decent husbandry as far as I can tell. This was a local hobbyist who wanted to get rid of two males from his collection, but when I talked to him and explained the situation/what I was looking for, he was kind enough to sell me one of his females instead.
Thank you so much for your help!
BTW - I just finished clipping Mishima's nails. He was pretty good for it, and I didn't need any oops/styptic powder, so all went well. They look less Godzilla-ish - he sure had grown some pretty crazy claws! MUCH easier than clipping my teeny, tiny, smaller than a toothpick, ancient Blue Capped Cordon Bleu finch's nails! I'm literally sweat when I do his - they are SO small, it's nerve-wracking - plus, he's just so very old, I hate to stress him out at all.
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