I think the article said he weighed 1600 pounds now but was expected to get 2200 at maturity. I watched a show once where someone raised an orphan elephant in the house for over a year, and yes, it lived in the house, 24/7. They had several layers of heavy plastic down, but said he needed them since they were the surrogate mom and needed to be fed so often. I believe they were exotic animal trainers.