Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My new pet, and it has legs! His name is Duke. I'll let you guys try to identify the species.

First some pics of his pen when it was 90% done.

His cave/burrow/"hibernaculum"....

And here he is...

That's an awesome setup. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

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Paul D

www.MoonlightBoas.com

>>That's an awesome setup. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
>>
>>

Thanks Paul! It was quite a project, but hopefully I have all the bases covered.

Thanks,
Ed

Hey Ed,

Nice Greek Tortoise I think?????

Either way awesome pick-up my man! My mom has a "hopeful" 1.1 pair of 2011 leopard tortoises that my siblings and I got her this year for mothers day. She loves them and they are a lot of fun!!! Whenever I go over to my parents house that's always one of the first things I do is go check on the tortoises (Homer & Marge)!!!

Very nice outdoor pen you've setup there too!! I am gonna remember that for the coming summers when I build my mom an outdoor pen for her torts. Though in Missouri, we will only have 3 or 4 months probably of suitable weather for the torts outside, how long will you be able to keep yours outside for?? Year-round would be so awesome!!!

Ike
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB Breeders (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)
1.0 BRB striped holdback (Nando) from Roxxy's litter of 25 on 8/23/10
1.2 100% het hypo BRB (Diego, Rasheena & Liddia)
0.1 Hypo BRB (Ireena)
Total collection of breeders and future breeders
4.6 Brazilian Rainbow Boas - Epicrates Cenchria Cenchria

>>Hey Ed,
>>
>>Nice Greek Tortoise I think?????
>>
>>Either way awesome pick-up my man! My mom has a "hopeful" 1.1 pair of 2011 leopard tortoises that my siblings and I got her this year for mothers day. She loves them and they are a lot of fun!!! Whenever I go over to my parents house that's always one of the first things I do is go check on the tortoises (Homer & Marge)!!!
>>
>>Very nice outdoor pen you've setup there too!! I am gonna remember that for the coming summers when I build my mom an outdoor pen for her torts. Though in Missouri, we will only have 3 or 4 months probably of suitable weather for the torts outside, how long will you be able to keep yours outside for?? Year-round would be so awesome!!!

Thanks Ike! You are very close, Duke is a Hermann's tortoise.

That's great you got your mom a pair of tortoises, what a great gift. If you have any pics, please post them! (Off-topic posts don't bother me... )

I'm sure I probably missed something, but I tried to put a lot of thought into the enclosure. I have some pics of it during construction, I'll be happy to share them. One of the reasons I got a Hermann's tortoise is that it is a species that can stay outside year round, as long as it has a good "hibernaculum." I dug the hibernaculum in the corner of the house foundation so it gets the warmth of the crawlspace in addition to being underground. Not sure you'll be able to keep Leopard tortoises outside all year in Missouri, but it would be good for the tortoises to be outside for 3 or 4 months. If you do decide to build an enclosure for your mom's torts, just don't let my wife pick out what material to make the walls out of. Those retaining wall bricks I used basically doubled what I had planned on spending. But that's okay, everyone seems happy with it.

>>Hey, legs -- that's cheating!
>>
>>Great looking new arrival, but setting up that pen woulda killed me....
>>-----

Thanks Cliff! Still learning a lot, tortoises are a whole different ball of wax. One good thing is that they eat weeds, and there is no shortage of weeds in my yard.

Building the pen almost killed me. Of course there was heat wave the week I decided to construct it. I carried over a ton of bricks from the front to the back, almost got heat stroke several times. But so far Duke seems to like his new home.

Thanks,
Ed