The Desert Tortoise is here!
After a long drive in traffic which I do not think she appreciated at all. She is a she!! Billy named her Shelly...Ryan named her Sammie The slow poke. Ryan told Billy he also liked the name Shelly and that's pretty cool because she has a Shell. She met my Grandmother and Shelly made Grandma feel young at 93. I built her a den this evening. She explored the one side of the yard today with Peanut, Rags, Pepsi and Ryan closely by her side. She then decided she had had a long day and crawled into her Den. (I guess that means she approves of my hardwork  )
So far so good with Rags. Peanut just got right up in there in Shelly's face and she hissed at him. He jumped back  then followed her closely but did not get near her face again. |
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| Yeah!! I'll bet Ryan is really excited. Can't wait for pictures. I think Sam/Shelly will love her new home. |
| I want to see pics too! LOL Glad she put Peanut in his place |
| She was on the patio under Billy's kegerator all morning.
She got up late last night to explore the yard, so was probably napping under there. I was just able to get some pictures. I am uploading them now. |
Tap tap tap  |
Here she is making her way under the pool fence heading towards the Roses.
She had a little leaf stuff to her nose. She's been hard at work exploring. 
I uploaded another picture of her on the patio....It was an action shot. She was walking. Hasn't been approved yet. |
It is now 
She is just amazing.... they fascinate me, they practically live forever! |
| So cute, I want one! The combination of seeing your turtles and the adorable sea turtles over here really has me thinking!
I'd love to see pictures of her with the dogs! |
| Isn't there a slight concern re: salmonella and turtles?
I have been biting my tongue about it... I really didn't wanna be anykind of a party pooper, but the visit with your Grandmother got me thinking about it again. I'm pretty sure that I read that handwashing after handling the turtle is effective. Buuuuut, I could be all wrong and just mixing it up with something else. |
Ron wrote: Isn't there a slight concern re: salmonella and turtles?
I have been biting my tongue about it... I really didn't wanna be anykind of a party pooper, but the visit with your Grandmother got me thinking about it again. I'm pretty sure that I read that handwashing after handling the turtle is effective. Buuuuut, I could be all wrong and just mixing it up with something else. I think there is much more of a risk with a water turtle, but of course I am washing my hands and Ryan's after playing with her. Stacey, She is very cool to watch. Ryan said she looks like a Dinosaur. I just saw an article about the oldest living Turtle died at 176 yrs old. The article said that a tortoise who died in India earlier this year, was said to be about 250 years old! 
Heather, It is 106 degrees outside right now. When I do go out later I will get pictures with the dogs. Rags keeps pawing at her I am sure I can get a picture of that. But she is not going near her head...which I see as promising.
Here is the other picture of her  |
| Will she hibernate over winter? Our neighbors had a baby turtle just on their side of the fence. Glacier was going nuts trying to get to it. Finally we had to call the neighbor and ask them to move the little think---big palm size........so Glacier would settle. I believe it was a young desert tortise.
susan |
| Well, I guess its official now....Slim has a long distance girlfriend....lol..
Ron, the people that we adopted Slim from advised us to wash our hands after every handling for that reason....so, E, tell RyRy to wash his hands!! and be careful of Rags sniffing...thats how Panda started and ended up thinking that he was her own personal raw hide....... |
| Oh so cute. Where did you adopt him from? |
SheepieBoss wrote: Will she hibernate over winter?
susan Yes she will. Darcy, Shelly is excited about having a boyfriend 
We got the Tortoise from a friend who had taken her in for someone else that was moving to an apartment and couldn't take her. |
| Well Shelly liked the den I built her last night.
Hubby decided to make the opening higher by adding another row of cinderblocks. Guess what??? She doesn't like it. I'll have to fix it tomorrow |
| She's really cool - we used to have a box turtle when I grew up and we loved him - his name was Ancient! |
| That's one big [butt] turtle! She's actually very cute! You'll have to write her into your will! |
| Just exactly how does one "play" with a turtle????? |
| Very cool! I would love to see pics with the dogs as it's hard to gauge size from your photos.
On a side note, one day on the local TV news, I see one of my favorite vets riding this huge tortoise here in NJ. I was like what?????... It turns out that he had one as a pet that got loose and was fortunate enough to get it back. It was gigantic! |
| Strangest thing-an amazing coincidence with this thread:
I talk to my Dad almost every day or every other day. Today he tells me that yesterday a neighbor told him a story. Seems that the neighbor was out around the condo building and he saw a large turtle near the front. Later he saw the same turtle on the driveway into the building, so he called the animal control officer. The animal control officer came down and said that he recognized this turtle as one that lives in a pond that's about two buildings away, but behind the condo building, and that every year this turtle comes up to this building to lay it's eggs. My dad has lived here 20 years, and has never seen a turtle before. The ACO further says that this is a "snapping turtle" and proceeds to put a shovel near the front end and the turtle bites the blade of the shovel. He tells the neighbor that he will return the turtle to the pond. So my dad went out to go for a walk and decided to look to see if he could see the turtle, sure enough it's back in the landscaping next to the driveway. He says that this turtle is about 12 inches across. That's pretty big for up here! Joan told me on Wednesday or Thursday of last week that she saw a dead turtle next to the road (all crushed)  . We've lived here 14 years and have never seen a turtle before.
What's going on with the turtles? Why are they so mobile? Gobal warming? |
| I dont know about turtles and global warming, but whoever said turtles are slow, never really watched one move....quick little buggers...and smart too....we have chicken wire around the perimeter of our yard to keep slim away from digging where we dont want him....well yesterday morning and again this morning, I found him behind the chicken wire digging a new den under a new plant....he head bangs the chicken wire until it dents in and can squeeze under.... |
| I still want to know how you play with a turtle
Darcy, maybe slim is trying to make a break for it!!! |
Ron wrote: What's going on with the turtles? Why are they so mobile? Gobal warming?
I have 2 regular turtle stories. We actually have plenty of turtles in our area. My neighbor has a Coy Pond with painter turtles. I guess the turtles got frisky because they had babies and she ended up finding about 6 of them all over her yard. and they are about 2" big and so adorable. She brought the babies inside since they are so vulnerable to predators. Just last week she caught a turtle laying eggs all over her back yard. So now she's going to have more turtles and her yard isn't even that big. Plus another vet story. Our vet has/had a huge man made pond in front of their office. They have lamas, donkeys, sheep, geese & swan running all over their property. Last time I was in they were filling in the pond with dirt. I asked why, and they said not only was the pond expanding too much, but there is a huge snapping turtle in it which has been decapitating the swan & geese. |
VerveUp wrote: Plus another vet story. Our vet has/had a huge man made pond in front of their office. They have lamas, donkeys, sheep, geese & swan running all over their property. Last time I was in they were filling in the pond with dirt. I asked why, and they said not only was the pond expanding too much, but there is a huge snapping turtle in it which has been decapitating the swan & geese.
OUCH!! |
| Ummm whattaya say to THAT? |
| When I lived in NJ I lived on a man made lake. When they dredged the lake to clean it they found an 85 lb Turtle.
This one also eats Geese and ducks. A duck or a Goose will be swimming along...then gone.
We used to call it the Rainbow Lake Monster. I got a picture of it when I lived there. Just it's head. It was the size of a football. Ginny, Playing with the Turtle...as least as far as Ryan is concerned is to feed her and watch her walk around. He also talks to her. lol |
| brian and i do the same thing.....lol...feed it, talk to it, and watch him walk around....this morning I was telling him that he was a bad boy and shouldnt dig in daddy's new planter beds |
| Yep! You gotta watch those snappers. They can be dangerous if they're big adults. DO NOT pick up (or allow your child to pick up) a snapping turtle. They're not super aggressive, but they have enough jaw power to take off fingers (and arms if they're very old!).
My sister was doing an environmental survey during high school and came upon a big daddy one while in a canoe. He took a piece out of her oar! They are very distinctive looking with a very stong jaw/beak. I do not want one of those in my pond... But I'll take a cute box or painted turtle any day!!!! E- Shelly is ADORABLE! What a cool gal!!! Can't wait to hear more about her adventures!!! |
Iriskmj wrote: E- Shelly is ADORABLE! What a cool gal!!! Can't wait to hear more about her adventures!!!
Thanks Karen
Ryan said he couldn't find her this morning. I couldn't see all the way into her den so I just assumed she was there. When I got home from dropping Ryan off at his program Billy asked if I had seen her. I said no. So it was time to look for her. I looked into the den and still couldn't see all the way in. I had to go to Ryan's playground to look for his missing socks since he is living for NJ tomorrow and I have to do laundry. On my way back from the playground I found her. Billy has a temporary fence to keep the dogs out of certain spots that he is trying to regrown brown spots in the grass. Well there she was in the corner of the fenced around sitting in the cool dirt and enjoying the shade...with no dogs to bother her. What a smart girl!!! She was sleeping and I thought she might be dead. Yes I am neurotic. So I touched her head...no response. So I then tilted the shell up a little and she made an angry little noise. I said "Sorry I thought you were dead!". I then went and brought her her food over there. She happily started eating it. |
| There is something going on with turtles!!
Bob called me at work and asked if we had a turtle. What? How do you not know if we own a turtle or not? Turns out a turtle appeared behind our garage and he was so shocked to see it he didn't know what to do. He did say that it had to be ours because it was leopard print. I told him it was probably a box turtle that either wandered in or someone in the neighborhood turned it loose. (I guess turtles don't 'run' away?)
He decided to name it Boxy. He was very sad when he went back out to get it and it was gone. |
| I like the name Shelly, very cute. You wouldn't think of a turtle having such personality. Who knew? |
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