- Joined
- Jan 22, 2022
- Messages
- 1,368
Some of you may remember my late hatchling from last fall:
It was too late and too cold for me to trust that it would get burrowed deep enough to survive the winter, so Pip (short for Pip-squeak) has been living in a plastic shoebox in my garage since October. Pip's been fine, very sedentary, occasionally shuffling from one side to the other, digging shallow burrows - more or less a proper brumation period. I keep the substrate moist to avoid dehydration, but otherwise don't mess with the enclosure.
The last 2 weeks or so have been warm, like low-to-mid 60's during the day, but still dipping into the 30's at night. Too cold for the outdoor group to start emerging - they don't usually come out until overnight lows are consistently over 60°F. It has stayed warmer in the garage overnight, though, so Pip has increased his activity level as of late. Today I filled his water dish and he literally ran across the enclosure and started trying to eat the bubbles forming in the dish. It was officially time for Pip's first ever meal...
Sizing it up:
Wrestling it down:
Biting off a bit too much?
Now we're in business:
Determined to finish:
Feeling proud and looking for more:
Pip ate one more small one after that - took it right out of the tongs. That's a really good sign for his/her future! In a few weeks I'll introduce Pip to the forever home in Turtle Town in the backyard.
Hope you enjoyed this, thanks for reading!
It was too late and too cold for me to trust that it would get burrowed deep enough to survive the winter, so Pip (short for Pip-squeak) has been living in a plastic shoebox in my garage since October. Pip's been fine, very sedentary, occasionally shuffling from one side to the other, digging shallow burrows - more or less a proper brumation period. I keep the substrate moist to avoid dehydration, but otherwise don't mess with the enclosure.
The last 2 weeks or so have been warm, like low-to-mid 60's during the day, but still dipping into the 30's at night. Too cold for the outdoor group to start emerging - they don't usually come out until overnight lows are consistently over 60°F. It has stayed warmer in the garage overnight, though, so Pip has increased his activity level as of late. Today I filled his water dish and he literally ran across the enclosure and started trying to eat the bubbles forming in the dish. It was officially time for Pip's first ever meal...
Sizing it up:
Wrestling it down:
Biting off a bit too much?
Now we're in business:
Determined to finish:
Feeling proud and looking for more:
Pip ate one more small one after that - took it right out of the tongs. That's a really good sign for his/her future! In a few weeks I'll introduce Pip to the forever home in Turtle Town in the backyard.
Hope you enjoyed this, thanks for reading!
how many years does it take to get full-sized?
