Tiny Button, Eating

Baby Button is a stealth eater, and it's not very often that we catch him eating. But today his favorite foods were on offer so he couldn't resist. The weeds are three inch high mallow from the garden, and dandelions, both of which he loves, and I tried some of my apple core on him. That is the round thing in the corner of the photo. He's really tucked into the dandelion flower!

Also, I offered him rose petals, which his siblings love, but he ignores, though sometimes he will eat the center of a rose. But now the roses are pruned back in a hard pruning that they really needed, so there won't be any more roses until perhaps early spring. So, that last rose came in from the garden a few days ago, DH handed it to me with a smile, and now the baby torts have had the petals it gave up today as their lunch treat.

A couple of times over the last few months, we've tried to get Button to be accepted by his "tribe", he is a full brother after all! But the others will have nothing of it. They have taken turns bobbing their heads at him, he bobs back, and pushing him around, and trying to bite him on the face or his little legs. I guess it will take some time. Churchy still shows aggro towards his 13 year old son, Lucky, and of course, this is the Tortoise Way. We have to protect Lucky from his Dad and his Mother. They both go after him, though the Mom, Poko Ono, is a lot less aggressive. She will calmly share food with her son as long as she gets most of it. I guess it's Nature's way of insuring that the ones with the best "stuff" (the eggs and little wigglies) get to stick around longer.