Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I went on vacation & apparently got lost! LOL
New puppies and computer wiring don't mix... that's about all I can say about that....
YIKES!

It took a lot of hassle, long story, too annoying to tell but finally FINALLY got my box turtle pen built. I've added a vine since I took these pics and am trying to do some landscaping to it but frankly it's too darn late in the year to acclimate my girls to the outdoors 24/7 so this year they are spending their days in the pen, nights in the house. Next year we'll start in spring so they can get used to being out all the time.
Although I don't think Shell E will ever go for staying outside 24/7. The Princess she has become.. she comes looking for me when it's time to come inside to go to bed so she gets what she wants. Since part of her shell is missing and she can't close all the way up.. what's the harm in letting her be an indoor turtle as long as she gets plenty of sunshine by day?
Any way, here's the 3 pics that turned out best. BTW the sulcata is of course on the outside of the pen:

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PHRatz

Good to have you back...we missed you.

Thanks for the photos: I have a SERIOUS case of pen envy now!!!!

Stephanie

>>Good to have you back...we missed you.
>>
>>Thanks for the photos: I have a SERIOUS case of pen envy now!!!!

Thanks Steph!
I've missed you all so much and it's so good to be back!
I have had major Internet withdrawals, it's been horrible to not sit & peck at my keyboard all this time!
I'm sorry to give pen envy. I really am but this pen is the dream pen of a lifetime for me.
Ever since I was a kid in school when we had box turtles in the backyard, I have always wanted a turtle place of my own and finally I have it.
I didn't have one in the past because I had no intentions of ever keeping box turtles again until Shell E the injured turned up.
Then Hope, then Charity.. then the rest came along.
Once I took in Shell E then realized she can't go back into the wild, ack I just had to have a place for her so we did the fence pen that got torn down when the new fence was built last year.
It's been horrible with no pen at all! Then to be able to have this one.. it's just fabulous! I can't wait until the day I have it all landscaped the way I want it.
We've also added a 1 cinder block tall pen in a pen to the thing. We just layed a dozen bricks out to make a wall that isn't actually attached to anything that way Mr. Chip can go outside on nice sunny days and bask but he can't see the girls & they can't see him.

I get a lot of exercise now too! We didn't want to put a gate in the new pen because a gate is just another place to worry about coming apart or someone digging through so without a gate we can't get the lawnmower into the pen.

I got myself a people powered mower.. an old fashioned reel mower that I actually have to push. I love that thing! LOL
WOW it's fun to be back here
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PHRatz

Yippee! Ratz is back! You aren't going to believe this, but I intended for this to be the last time I checked this post site. I clicked on it really only to remove it from my favorites list. Then I saw your posts...divine intervention I think. Your ears must have been burning, Steph and I recently agreed that the atmosphere on the forum is different without you.

Wow!, what a pen! No wonder it took so long. There's one big problem that I see, though. It's going to be much harder for you to turn away more rescues I guess that really doesn't count as a problem.

>>Yippee! Ratz is back! You aren't going to believe this, but I intended for this to be the last time I checked this post site. I clicked on it really only to remove it from my favorites list. Then I saw your posts...divine intervention I think. Your ears must have been burning, Steph and I recently agreed that the atmosphere on the forum is different without you.

OH MY GOSH!! Ken I am so glad you are still here!
My ears have been buring, really they have. I am so happy to be back.. elated is more the word for it.
I could beat the crap out of this puppy for what he did to the computers in this house but of course, we'd never lay a hand on our beloved little miniature rottie Cujo weenie dog monster. LOL
Fortunately he has just about grown in ALL his adult teeth now & his chewing days are numbered. He's also learned what bad dog means, humans talk mean then ignore him when he is bad dog. But he has figured out that the words good dog means he gets a treat so he's been going for the good dog more than the bad dog because he's understanding the diff today.
This room also stays closed off now when nobody is in here. Holy cow how stupid could we be to forget to close the door?

>>
>>Wow!, what a pen! No wonder it took so long. There's one big problem that I see, though. It's going to be much harder for you to turn away more rescues I guess that really doesn't count as a problem.

And that right there is the root of my "evil" plan LOL.
The plan that I think DH actually KNEW would happen but never spoke of. Neither of us ever spoke of it hee hee but...
Last week when the student called and I told her I'd take that turtle & do what I could for her.. who drove me over there to meet her & get that turtle? DH did that's who LOL.

His big gripe has always been about too many turtles being in the house too much.. well yeah that's because I didn't have a pen.
As long those who can be outside are outside I think he doesn't really care how many I take in.. as long as there literally is enough room. I'm not going to go insane & have hundreds of them like some crazy cat collector. I really don't plan to have more than 10 at the most at the same time. Right now the law allows 25 but I seriously don't intend to even keep that many. My vet still will take in any I find or get my hands on but can't keep myself so she's still there for backup.
It's great because whether I try to rehab them myself after the vet's done some treatment or just hand them over to her, it's a great feeling to know that in some way I can help save the lives of some of them.
They're such adorable animals.. but you know that.
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PHRatz

Yup, that about describes a sausage puppy...sounds like you're making some headway: they can be exceptionally obstinate, but are very good at training humans.

;o)

>>Yup, that about describes a sausage puppy...sounds like you're making some headway: they can be exceptionally obstinate, but are very good at training humans.
>>
>>;o)

Bingo! You've nailed it exactly.
They're obstinate and luckily for him he's got 2 people who have several years of pre-training, done by other sausages before him...so he doesn't have to spend much time training the humans.
LOL
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PHRatz

Welcome back!

After showing my husband your new pen I asked why i couldn't have one like it .... "Our yard isn't THAT big!"

I think I'll have to settle for the old fashioned wooded kind, but I can dream.....

>>Welcome back!
>>
>>After showing my husband your new pen I asked why i couldn't have one like it .... "Our yard isn't THAT big!"
>>
>>I think I'll have to settle for the old fashioned wooded kind, but I can dream.....

I would've settled for the wooden kind but DH refuses to pay the high prices for wood because he's old enough to remember when it wasn't like buying gold LOL!
We spent a lot of time looking around & planning to move before we adopted the sulcata b/c it's such a hassle to keep so much land mowed but after we took her in & after we talked to a lot of people who live in town in regular neighborhoods. Listening to them changed our minds, they have more nosey and noisey neighbors, they have way higher property taxes than we do so we finally decided we like this place after all then decided we'll stay put. Now with this dream pen and the dream fence we built last year, I'm pretty happy with this place right now.
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PHRatz

Welcome back Ratz!!! Your pen looks awesome!

Glad your back and all's well!

That is a fantastic pen!

Did you pour a concrete footer?

How deep is the base?

Thanks,

Ric

>>Glad your back and all's well!
>>
>>
>>
>>That is a fantastic pen!
>>
>> Did you pour a concrete footer?
>>
>>How deep is the base?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>> Ric

Thanks Ric,
Yes there is a concrete footer and I'm not 100% sure how deep it is but I believe it's about a foot deep. They built forms to mold the footer into the ground, it was neat looking when they finished that part of it.
I feel like they're pretty safe in there, they really seem to love it too.
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PHRatz

is that all for your turtles? what kinds do you have. i see you divided them to

>>is that all for your turtles? what kinds do you have. i see you divided them to

It's for my female desert box turtles. The sulcata has the run of the rest of the fenced in yard but she can't get into the pen with the boxes.
I have a male box who roams around as well. The sulcata's home is in the backyard she stays back there most of the time. The male box took up residence in the front yard, I'm not breeding them so he can't stay in the pen. I have another male box but he has to live indoors because his plastron was crushed by a dog last year. I took him in, got him treated he's not healed yet, he only goes outside some of the time & basically when I can go with him.
The only other 2 turtles I have are aquatic, a western painted & a yellow mud, they live each in their own tanks inside the house.
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PHRatz