Just to re-cap, last year I had too much grass and it grew too long, so my Russians were hidden all summer and into the fall and I couldn't find them to gather them up to hibernate indoors:



So during the winter, I got down on my hands and knees (well actually I sat on a low stool!) and pulled up all the grass. Then I replanted, only this time I used a broad leaf mixture of seeds.



This time my mistake was to allow the Russians to have the full use of the pen. Even though I fed them plenty of food, they ate the little sprouts faster than they could grow. So I fenced off the majority of the pen:



And you can see that the seeds are sprouting once again. Naturally, last year's grass had gone to seed and there's a lot of grass coming up too, but I'm going to try to keep it under control so that I don't lose my tortoises again in the fall. I had 15 last year, and only have 12 this year. But!!!!! FAT BETTY'S MAKIN' BABIES!!!!! That's Fat Betty up near the plastic house. Note that I had to remove a couple of the wooden houses because their doors were not big enough. Fat Betty got wedged in the doorway and several smaller tortoises were stuck inside behind her.

Trials and tribulations of tort husbandry. People think you're crazy when you talk of rotation pastures for torts and planting weeds. I got a 14" electric mower at a farm auction that I use for manageing grass height in enclosures.

Here's Fat Betty's contribution towards the overpopulation of the earth and world hunger!



If they hatch, those're gonna' be some gigungus babies!!

Yvonne

Congrats on the eggs!! They sure do bulldoze the sprouts and the plants, after two months of mine being awake there pen looks bare. What will you do with the babies if they hatch??

Since Fat Betty was a rescue, her babies will go up for adoption. I only have two of my own females and 1 male. All the rest are rescues and are up for adoption (no fee). If any of my own tortoises lay eggs, I will sell the babies.

Yvonne

Yvonne, congrats on the eggs and your enclosure is looking great. Have those eggs chalked already? They do look like some big eggs. Good luck with them.

To bad I live in AZ, I could always use females! I can't wait to see the babies..

Thanks. I'm going to put in a few more sight barriers once the plants get bigger. Last year I had several small agaves and yuccas in there, but pulled them up when the grass got so tall. and on the chalking...no, I only started incubating them yesterday.

Yvonne

what? no fee? can i have or buy a baby?

The turtles and tortoises that I adopt out (no fee) go to places where I can make a yard inspection, so I only adopt them here locally. I want to be sure the that yard they go to is safe for the tortoise and will be a "forever" home.

I feel that if a person has to pay money for a tortoise, chances are pretty good that that person will do his homework and learn how to take care of his investment, but sometimes when a tortoise goes for free, that's not always the case, and then its my responsibility to be sure that person knows how to care for the tortoise.

So, to answer your question, yes, if the eggs hatch, you can adopt one or more, but I have to be able to do a yard inspection

Yvonne