As noted & known, I have had a life long interest in turtles. It seems I have always had one or two crawling around the house -- in a container, of course -- since I was in kindergarten. Rather than one or two, my collection now numbers several dozen turtles, all of them rare, exotic or both. Add to that, valuable & expensive as well.
In the past few years I have started adding tortoises to my collection. I now have six tortoises, after bringing back two more from the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona Beach, Florida in August. Two of the larger tortoises are in an outdoor enclosure & the four pictured below are in my indoor "compound". [Sounds so professional to write "compound", rather than "garage".]
Enjoying their green beans & commercial tortoise food "pellets" for breakfast -- now doesn't that make your mouth water -- are my two Black Mountain Tortoises. For size, the larger (top) tortoise is just about six inches in straight line length.
This tortoise species originally comes from South East Asia & Malaysia. Like so many of the turtles & tortoises in the world, they are declining rapidly in their natural area due to human population growth, loss of habitat, & worst of all, the demand for the oriental food markets.
My two tortoises -- which I have had for several years -- where hatched by a breeder in Florida.
You KNOW those green beans look yummy, but wait until you finish reading this before you run to the kitchen to fix yourself some. You are probably out-of-luck when it comes to finding tortoise pellets in your pantry. My pantry ?? Not a problem.
These little dudes above are the "Cherry Head" Red Foot Tortoises I acquired in August. They --like the Black Mountain Tortoises -- are tropical forest dwellers in the wild, except in this case, on the other side of the Earth. These tortoises originate in Central & South America.Okay. Take a few minutes & go fix some green beans. I know you are really craving them right now.
I am real pleased with how these tortoises have settled into the environment I provide. Shell grow, indicated by the faint white lines between the shell scutes, is a positive sign of shell growth & development in these little guys.
There you have some of the other animals in my care.
See, it's not just cats all the time ... other than 24/7.
Wonderful post! Is the "compound" climatically controlled? What is the depth of their habitat? Do they have enough room to do normal tortise activities, like hibernation??
ReplyDeleteBy the way, a garage is just a room waiting for a greater creative purpose ... like an upscale compound fascinating creatures.
Very cool.
I'll do a future post with photos of the entire area, rather than just "head shots".
ReplyDeleteThe "compound" is heated in Winter & has an A/C unit for Summer. Extreams in temps can KILL.
All my turtles/tortoises are from warm climates & do not hibernate. It's total "365 care".
In the reptile world, normal "activies" are simple for tortoises & needs easy to meet in captivity: food & don't turn into food.
They all look happy. And yes, I want green beans. How did you know?
ReplyDeleteWell, like my Mother, at 10 A.M., she would already be planning dinner for that night.
ReplyDelete