Here are three of first found babies chowing down. Pic is from 2008 at Christmas when the twins came for a visit.
Sadly, Milagro and Dusty have lost their two, tiny sibs along the way. Poor tiny Button and Mosquito were always a quarter of the size of the other two because our parent tortoises are somehow different breeds. The vet at Turtle and Tortoise Society meetings said that made the offspring somewhat less vigorous. So, the Lotto winners in vitality have been Lucky - their green eyed big brother - and Milagro and Dusty.
The stalwart little tortoise buddies remain alive and thriving, and have spent their first summer and winter outside - under our watchful eyes. They were introduced to all manner of weather, but if it was forecast to go above 90°F or below 50° F overnight, in they came to weather the hot/cold days in their cardboard box haven.
While outside in their enclosure over the Spring and summer months of last year, the baby torts also learned about new foods! They learned, from their mother, that snails great for protein and were on the menu! Yum! Birds eat then; rodents eat them; heck, even humans eat them. So they must be tasty.
 |
| "Not if I EAT you First, Free Loader!" |
They learned the joys of digging out of the wire cage and making a break for total freedom- however short lived. This was something that Magic, who was three years younger, tried and succeeded at, after we put her in with her sibs; sadly, it also cost her her life. So, with an even sturdier cage being employed, M and D have to dig very far down to get out.
 |
| Milagro, always willing to eat, gets a bite of broccoli from Sarah This was also during Christmas Break in January,2009 |
 |
| All lined up for bedtime under the heat lamp 2009 |
 |
| Milagro, dominates from the get go |
Very cute turtles! They are very interesting creatures. Regrettably, we have none in Germany though. Again, on the other hand, when fishing (in the US) I always found the snapping turtles annoying because I didn't want them to go after my bait and then injure themselves on the hook.
ReplyDeleteHi, Karen. Maybe it's too cold in German rivers? Ah, Snapping turtles -- they are notorious for their self protection as well as their size. Some get pretty large!
DeleteMy tortoises come after me to try to get fed, and they try to bite my painted toenails. One sidled up to me one day and got me good! hahaha They are fun.