# Vegas clearing dirt from his burrow



## dmarcus (May 29, 2011)

This is a small clip of Vegas clearing dirt from his burrow, he has been working on it none stop the past 2 days..

http://youtu.be/qTj8bSd-Z9c


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## l0velesly (May 29, 2011)

Amazing. The dirt just flies out.


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## dmarcus (May 29, 2011)

lushcious said:


> Amazing. The dirt just flies out.



I have been shocked on how far it gets kicked back, they have powerful legs..


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## Yvonne G (May 29, 2011)

I love it!


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## Missy (May 29, 2011)

I like how one side gets tired and he switches.


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## DeanS (May 29, 2011)

Throw a boulder down there...and fill it in! Other than that...fun stuff!


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## dmarcus (May 29, 2011)

I actually want to see how big he makes it, he is about 4 feet deep right now. I am hoping he starts to dig right soon instead of straight down


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## Tom (May 29, 2011)

Thanks for the video. RV's burrow in AZ went down nearly 10 feet before it turned right. Then it spiraled under itself. So you might be waiting a while for that turn.

My guys made their semi-annual burrow attempt two days ago. I let them go for a day and a half, then I filled it in and blocked the area with some logs. Three of them were tag-teaming the effort. They were three feet down in a day and a half.


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## dmarcus (May 29, 2011)

Tom said:


> Thanks for the video. RV's burrow in AZ went down nearly 10 feet before it turned right. Then it spiraled under itself. So you might be waiting a while for that turn.
> 
> My guys made their semi-annual burrow attempt two days ago. I let them go for a day and a half, then I filled it in and blocked the area with some logs. Three of them were tag-teaming the effort. They were three feet down in a day and a half.



With three going after it, they would have gotten pretty deep pretty fast. nice photo Tom. 

I will let him go for another month then decided if it will get filled in..


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## Tropical Torts (May 29, 2011)

nice video. Tom yours is pretty neat. I have never heard of a tag team for a burrow before, very cool!


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## dmarcus (May 29, 2011)

jrcrist4 said:


> nice video. Tom yours is pretty neat. I have never heard of a tag team for a burrow before, very cool!



I think its crazy that a captive bred animal still know that it needs to burrow, I also agree that I have never heard of a tag team building crew,


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## ALDABRAMAN (May 29, 2011)

Neat.


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## DeanS (May 29, 2011)

C'mon Tom! Tell the truth! They never would've started burrowing had Ava not shown them how


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## CtTortoiseMom (May 29, 2011)

Wow, that is fast!


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## Tom (May 29, 2011)

DeanS said:


> C'mon Tom! Tell the truth! They never would've started burrowing had Ava not shown them how



Ava is very interested in all the goings on with "her" tortoises. She insisted that I not fill it in until she had a chance to see and experience it first hand.

Scooter started it, but when I saw him walking around the pen, all covered in dirt, I went to go fill it in. When I got there, shovel in hand, Chewy was deep in there digging. I let her go for a while hoping she'd turn around and drop me some eggs. When I saw her walking around the pen, all covered in dirt, I again went down there shovel in hand, only to find Bertha in there three feet down, head first and flinging dirt. When I went down this morning to fill it in, Chewy was in there digging away while Bertha stood by, waiting for her turn. You can just see her leg on the far left of the pic above...

The truth is... they give this a go about twice a year. One or another of them will start in a spot and I just fill it in and put something large and heavy over the spot and they don't try again for 6 more months or so. Some day, I hope to be in a place where I can just let them go at it and see what happens.


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## dmarcus (May 30, 2011)

Tom, maybe they new you would fill it and and figured if they all work on it they can dig it faster before you saw it... Plotting Sullies


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## yagyujubei (May 30, 2011)

Great video, thanks for sharing.


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## dmarcus (May 30, 2011)

yagyujubei said:


> Great video, thanks for sharing.



I think it's cool how a tortoise who never dug a hole in the first 4+ years of its life will just start digging a burrow..its also interesting to it start as a small hole to now about 4 feet deep.


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## Jacob (May 30, 2011)

Awesome!


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## DesertGrandma (May 30, 2011)

very cool


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## Tom (May 30, 2011)

dalano73 said:


> Tom, maybe they new you would fill it and and figured if they all work on it they can dig it faster before you saw it... Plotting Sullies



Cue the music from Steve McQueens "The Great Escape"...


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## dmarcus (May 30, 2011)

ha ha I like that movie...he dug another foot down today...


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