# Feel like a big fat meanie...jeeeez



## ascott (Oct 27, 2011)

So, I care for 4 CDTs (3 adults and 1 near adult)....three of them brumate each winter (outside brumate, until this year, due to the crazy weather the last couple of years..flooding and freezing, ugh).

So a few weeks ago we had that 3 or 4 days when the weather got cold in the daytime and colder at night....so I brought them all in and plunked them into their sleeping boxes....with the passing of a very short amount of time...they settled in that night...so then we heated back up for the last couple of weeks... I broke down and let them be outside during the day and back in at night due to the cold temps at night, after covering up a couple of their natural dug burrows but leaving hides available.

So the guys, after about 3 days of out in the day in for the night, started to wait for me near their gates....(seeming like they were waiting for the pick up LOL) well, Ghamara was a bit miffed at the thought of his burrow being completely covered, but after day 2 got along with it....

Well, a few days ago Haus decided to, within 4 hours, start another burrow and it took me and my son to pull the creosote bush and tumble weed back out of the way so that I could lay flat bellied on the ground and slip my fingers under his shell above his back legs and wiggle left right left right with him locking in his front, WAY STRONG, legs....little bugger. So the next morning before I put him out I covered the new dig site with all type of metal signs and heavy wood beams ....so last night he wedged himself so far into his hide that there was no way to get him out...so out he remained (in the 32 degree night temps) so today I blocked his deep hide (i know, meanie) with a 8 x 8 x 2 post chunk.....wow was he pissed....he stomped and pushed and paced around his entire hide hill....then stomped off to go under the shade of the bushes.....so tonight when I went to search him out in the yard...realized, hum where the heck is he...checked all his regular dives , nothing....so as I walk past his most recent archeological site I notice hum, is that a toe nail? so yup...his little butt somehow wedged the junk out of the way just enough to slip his body down into that hole and dug deep enough to hide in it with barely his butt showing...so on my belly I went but had to go it alone tonight....had to stop and go get my gloves, back onto the belly and the wiggling began, 10 minutes later....he was out and he was pissed....now, he is sleeping in his box---likely planning his next mission for tomorrow...little butt


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## jackrat (Oct 27, 2011)

Determined huh?


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## Turtulas-Len (Oct 27, 2011)

Most people don't believe the intelligence of a tortoise,Yours is smart enough to get you to crawl around on your belly for his enjoyment, don't you just love them.


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## ascott (Oct 27, 2011)

seriously, huh!!!!! then the nerve to toss you one of the looks of total disgust..... jeez, but yup....love them.....


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## Torty Mom (Oct 27, 2011)

Ut Oh, sounds like you got a Bob Jr there!!!! Love the story, I can totally see the visual! Lou sun tanned for about an hour today and then was scratching at the back door to be let in. He has not eaten in a few days. Fall is finally here!


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## ascott (Oct 27, 2011)

You need to get Lou one of those wireless door bells....and put it down "nose" level....LOL 

Yeah, two of my guys turned their nose at the pansy flowers today ....and they LOVE those


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## Torty Mom (Oct 27, 2011)

He needs his own auto door opener! 

How are you going to hibernate them, are you doing the box in a box?


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## Maggie Cummings (Oct 27, 2011)

I laughed out loud with that one, thinking that he was just as stubborn and strong as a Sulcata...Too bad your son didn't get pictures of you on your belly wedged in there...


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## ascott (Oct 27, 2011)

OMG Maggie....thank goodness he did not.....I don't want proof of how whipped by these guys I am....at least not a pic....LOL

Mary Anne, I stopped feeding the guys at about 3 weeks ago...I have been putting them in their water soakers each day that I have been putting them out for the days sun....I have been decreasing the time they are going out by taking them out later in the am and letting them feel the chill of the evening coming on...then bringing them in for the night...I have one guy, Ghamara, that I may at last minute keep up ( I noticed a bubbly nose a bit back and my gut is telling me he will be awake this winter) the rest of them will be in their own rubbermaid tub (big enough for them to move about a tad to allow the total stretch out that they also do while they are sleeping beauties) 

each spot is set up like this: concrete floor---folded cotton towel folded three times thick--then rubbermaid set atop the folded padding--a cotton towel folded three times thick placed in the bottom of the tub which they toss about and get under---tortoise then added here----all are housed in a closet located in a converted room of the house (years ago use to be garage), the closet is dark, cool (the floor is concrete), no drafts, no rain, no other outdoor critters sleeping with them this year...the closet in the dead of winter varies in temp by about 6 degrees total (i checked it last year when I had to rescue the two from the wet freezing earth and locate an appropriate place for them to finish out their sleep).

The good thing about this "for me" is that this winter I will not be sporting the yellow slicker, black knee high rubber boots manning the shovel every 30 minutes through 2 or three days without sleep....this is what I had to do last year to assure my guys burrow did not fill to the brim...as the rain was so unusually heavy and constant that my property flooded in riverway type paths as a result of construction and earth changes on higher ground from us....and at the start of this year...I was out checking on and then eventually rescuing Ghamara from a near frozen state....so, this is why I will allow brumation, but modified for indoors....


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## DixieParadise (Oct 27, 2011)

Interesting bit of info there. Thanks for sharing.


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## lynnedit (Oct 27, 2011)

Wow, funny story and helpful information all in one thread! Maybe it's a good thing there is not a picture of you on your belly, I think imagining it is better


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## ripper7777777 (Oct 28, 2011)

Great story, Peanut is staring at me right now, I'm sure he's wondering why he not out in the sun, Winter is slowly creeping in on us here. Luckily will be back in the 80's during the week


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## ascott (Oct 28, 2011)

So true Lynne..... I love imagining scenarios as people describe them...my brain turns into a narrator voice most times before the pics start flowing....LOL


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## Tom (Oct 28, 2011)

I can't believe you got him out! Its easier to remove a metal pole with a concrete footer from the ground than it is a tortoise in his burrow... 

I would love to have seen that. Seriously, for your next story like this I think we will require photographic story telling aids. If you need any help with this, talk to Maggie, as she is the resident pro.


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## DesertGrandma (Oct 28, 2011)

OMG, they are determined aren't they. Great story and visuals...


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## ascott (Oct 28, 2011)

LOL Tom....I agree, a concreted post is easier....LOL...I think urgency was my motive as well as "oh no you don't".....hahaha....and I will try to remember pics...but you know how the adventures start...they start with a walk out into a tortoise yard and spiral from there....never planned...just was...LOL . And I agree, Maggie is the pic pro of adventure and destruction... I Bob has trained her well....lol


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## Madortoise (Dec 3, 2011)

I could relate to the story since I had to dig my Penelope out of her 2 burrows a few times and block each one of them she dug (long and deep going almost under the house). As soon as she feels me or my husband's hand pulling her out, she'd spread all four to resist the pull and get herself stuck; it was hilarious. She didn't give us an attitude but after a while she made a grass hat to cover under....it was amazing and interesting. The weather here (So-CAL) has been hot and cold with occasional rain and I wasn't sure as to when to bring her in but I think she and I are finally in sync and ready.


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## lynnedit (Dec 3, 2011)

How funny they are. I'd like to see a pic of that grass hat!


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## Yvonne G (Dec 3, 2011)

I think the tortoise is telling you he wants to go into the hibernatorium and be left alone.


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## ascott (Dec 3, 2011)

Hahaha....glad to hear my little ruffian is not the only one....my guys have been tucked in as of Nov 1.....seems like your Penelope is waaaay ready for her seasonal sleeping beauty time...lol


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