# my boys are maaaaaddddd



## ascott (Oct 9, 2011)

okay so last Monday evening I was forced to bring in all of my CDTs due to the night temps and threat of rain along with the low temps prompted me to do so....

so today the daytime weather is AWESOME and will be likely through the middle of next week....soooooo, here I decide to bring the boys out for the daytime while all is warm....each of them have a great hide (and two of them have their own dug burrows). 

The two guys that have the burrows are really pissed off....I have blocked their burrows so that of course they can not get in there and decide to pull hibernation on me and be out of reach.... boy are they maaaaddd. Instead of enjoying the sun and the freedom what are they doing? pouting and ramming the blocks over their burrows, what little butts....AND AND AND they are staring at me everytime I check on them like "and where is the food lady? hmmm?" 

Little butts.


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## african cake queen (Oct 9, 2011)

hi, dont you just love when they stare at you like, you stink, fix it back! 'lol' lindy


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## blafiriravt (Oct 9, 2011)

Hahaha! A tortoise temper tantrum!!


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## ascott (Oct 9, 2011)

jeeeez, they don't understand how much I hate this time of year for them as well......no burrown, no supplemental food....only water 

I sure do miss em during the winter months when they are all sleeping beauties....


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## Torty Mom (Oct 9, 2011)

I can't do it yet!!! I just can't!! Mine are pissed too!!! It's still suppose to be in the 80 all this week and 87 on Thursday. I am going to wait another week before I cut off the snacks. I have been feeding everyone half of what they normally get except Low Rider. He won't be hibernating anyways. It's just so sad, they look at you with those cute little beady eyes. I can hardly take the pressure!!!


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## ascott (Oct 9, 2011)

I know it is soooooooooooo hard !! each of my guys has their own yard and in there are still a few patches of grass/clovers/spurge..so they can nibble but no additional heavy wet goodies from me, well, I did give the old man ONE pansy flower, but that was it....

the good thing about their tantrum is that they are pacing/walking alot so that is good exercise and also good to get the goods flowing out the back door....I have to be strong, I have to be strong... is what I chant in my head as I walk past each of them...... I actually just went out and collected three of them and back into their sleeping box for the night....the old man gets a bit more time out  will grab him about 5....


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## Torty Mom (Oct 9, 2011)

Lou is coming in right now, I can hear his pitter patter on the kitchen floor. The dude is trained, he walks in the back door and MOST of the time straight to his sleeping spot in my sewing room. Sometimes he tries to nap by the stove where it's warm or sneak into the cat food! He is uber spoiled and comes in every night, babies too!


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## ascott (Oct 9, 2011)

Awesome....fun stuff


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## cemmons12 (Oct 9, 2011)

I love reading all these posts, but I sure am glad Cooper won't be sleeping all winter! I don't think I could stand not having him sleep next to me for a little bit each night! Speaking of which, its about time to go snatch him up for an hour, until I start to drift off and the wife yells, "Put Cooper up before you lay on him!", as if! Lol!!! Thanks for the good read, and have a great night!


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## Maggie Cummings (Oct 9, 2011)

I can't stand hibernation. I have never let one of my animals do that. When I was first getting involved in tort keeping I used to go to a CTTC meeting where my sister was president. And all the talk was about, "did lil joey come up yet? No he died in his burrow...and so and so didn't ever come up, and so and so drowned in a rain that flooded his burrow" etc. So it scared me so bad I can't ever let something I love take that chance on dying, and I couldn't stand it if, like Bob for instance, was gone all winter. Hell, who would be around to annoy me??? Nope, no hibernation for this kids animals


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## DesertGrandma (Oct 9, 2011)

Kids...what ya gonna do??? LOL I love reading the stories.


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## lynnedit (Oct 9, 2011)

Torty Mom said:


> Lou is coming in right now, I can hear his pitter patter on the kitchen floor. The dude is trained, he walks in the back door and MOST of the time straight to his sleeping spot in my sewing room. Sometimes he tries to nap by the stove where it's warm or sneak into the cat food! He is uber spoiled and comes in every night, babies too!



Oh, my, that is way, way too cute an image. Does he have a 'tort' door?
Is your whole back yard tort safe? 
Haven't quite gotten there with my husband yet.....




ascott said:


> I know it is soooooooooooo hard !! each of my guys has their own yard and in there are still a few patches of grass/clovers/spurge..so they can nibble but no additional heavy wet goodies from me, well, I did give the old man ONE pansy flower, but that was it....
> 
> the good thing about their tantrum is that they are pacing/walking alot so that is good exercise and also good to get the goods flowing out the back door....I have to be strong, I have to be strong... is what I chant in my head as I walk past each of them...... I actually just went out and collected three of them and back into their sleeping box for the night....the old man gets a bit more time out  will grab him about 5....



That's really hard. For the Spring and Summer you can be 'the nice food lady who sometimes bothers us too', and now you are just 'the mean lady'. Kind of like raising kids!


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## Candy (Oct 9, 2011)

I too do not hibernate Fernando. I just can't see why. He is not in the Mojave Desert and I feel that they only hibernate to survive such bad conditions. Nope, Fernando has his little heat emitter at night and in the day he either walks around the house and bothers the dogs or I put him out sometimes as he already knows where the back door is.  I feed him spring mix if he doesn't get enough outside and he does great. I can't stand to think of him being cold and hungry.


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## Torty Mom (Oct 9, 2011)

lynnedit said:


> Oh, my, that is way, way too cute an image. Does he have a 'tort' door?
> Is your whole back yard tort safe?
> Haven't quite gotten there with my husband yet.....
> 
> I am his tort door, sometimes it's in and out, in and out. Yes, he has full rein of the yard, I have a little fence around my garden otherwise he would just help himself to the all day buffet!!! My hubby loves Lou and the other torts, he was like most in the beginning, whatever......... what can a tortoise do.....well Lou loves my hubby and follows him around like a puppy, so my hubby is smitten too! We often sit at the patio eating dinner or what ever and watch Lou tromping around and we let the babies cruise as well, they are harder to keep track of, the yard isn't safe enough for them they are too small still. It is so nice to sit back and relax and enjoy him.


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## lynnedit (Oct 9, 2011)

Sounds very, very fun!


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## byerssusan (Oct 9, 2011)

ascott said:


> okay so last Monday evening I was forced to bring in all of my CDTs due to the night temps and threat of rain along with the low temps prompted me to do so....
> 
> so today the daytime weather is AWESOME and will be likely through the middle of next week....soooooo, here I decide to bring the boys out for the daytime while all is warm....each of them have a great hide (and two of them have their own dug burrows).
> 
> ...



Awe sounds like it is as hard on you as it is them. I am glad I don't have to wrry about phoenix hibernating..Even though I would love to get desert tort. It would be hard when they did go into hibernation. Good luck


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## dbeilfuss (Oct 9, 2011)

Soooooo glad to know that my tort is not the only one with a HUGE tortitude. He can throw a fit better than my two year old son. We just adopted a kitten and he is MAD!!!! Funny to watch though.


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## Candy (Oct 9, 2011)

Torty Mom said:


> lynnedit said:
> 
> 
> > Oh, my, that is way, way too cute an image. Does he have a 'tort' door?
> ...


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## lynnedit (Oct 9, 2011)

*Warning * Cuteness quota exceeded!
His little closed eyes. I love the way they all position their legs like that when they are basking!
He is living the life of Riley.


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## ascott (Oct 9, 2011)

I am loving all the stories and pics...Fernando is quite handsome 

I do live here in the high desert, relatively near the Mojave...and all of my guys were at one time or another wild (I know that my Ghamara was 100% ripped from the wild) not captive bred whatsoever. 

I did try to let them do their thing during fall/winter for past years...and they did fine---went under one day and stayed under till the weather turned nice for a few consecutive days---however, the last couple of years has had tremendous rain coupled with really cold weather, so this year I am going to let them go to sleep as they do on their own-- slow down/slowly lose interest in food/prep themselves and their yards to do what comes to them naturally...and then I will swoop them up and bring them in for the winter sleep, they each have their own dirt brown color rubbermaid all lined up in a dark quiet closet in my converted garage each having a warm soft towel in and under their box...so while not warm and toasty, certainly no rain/wind/critters sleeping with them/no freezing weather, yet to sleep as their body tells these guys to do....also, I am able to satisfy what appears to be natural to their internal clock and also keep my sanity knowing that they are safe and will not lose anyone...if I notice one of them acting "funny" I can simply warm em up and bring them out for the remainder of the season and nurse/comfort their needs...I would not allow a burrowing tortoise in my care to do it outdoor again and the only reason is that while I might think a part of the yard is choice for a tortoise yard...the choice they would have "naturally" in the desert would likely not match that of even my best spot on the property....IMHO


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## lynnedit (Oct 10, 2011)

And I know w/o a doubt that our winter yard in the PNW will definitely not match the Steppes blanketed with snow...
Nice summary, Angela, and it sounds as if it works very well for you (other than having to be mean, lol).


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## Candy (Oct 10, 2011)

ascott said:


> I am loving all the stories and pics...Fernando is quite handsome
> 
> I do live here in the high desert, relatively near the Mojave...and all of my guys were at one time or another wild (I know that my Ghamara was 100% ripped from the wild) not captive bred whatsoever.
> 
> I did try to let them do their thing during fall/winter for past years...and they did fine---went under one day and stayed under till the weather turned nice for a few consecutive days---however, the last couple of years has had tremendous rain coupled with really cold weather, so this year I am going to let them go to sleep as they do on their own-- slow down/slowly lose interest in food/prep themselves and their yards to do what comes to them naturally...and then I will swoop them up and bring them in for the winter sleep, they each have their own dirt brown color rubbermaid all lined up in a dark quiet closet in my converted garage each having a warm soft towel in and under their box...so while not warm and toasty, certainly no rain/wind/critters sleeping with them/no freezing weather, yet to sleep as their body tells these guys to do....also, I am able to satisfy what appears to be natural to their internal clock and also keep my sanity knowing that they are safe and will not lose anyone...if I notice one of them acting "funny" I can simply warm em up and bring them out for the remainder of the season and nurse/comfort their needs...I would not allow a burrowing tortoise in my care to do it outdoor again and the only reason is that while I might think a part of the yard is choice for a tortoise yard...the choice they would have "naturally" in the desert would likely not match that of even my best spot on the property....IMHO



Well I see you do live near the Mojave Desert (right on the edge of it actually.)  Can't blame you there.  It is a little warmer here in Alhambra during the winter months. If yours would ever like to take a winter vacation they can come and stay at our house with Fernando.


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## Torty Mom (Oct 10, 2011)

Candy, Lou and Fernando are spoiled twins!!! LOL!!! I love the pictures so cute. I really love the sleeping pictures, look so warm and toasty and comfortable!!!


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## ascott (Oct 10, 2011)

LOL Candy.....thanks forfor the offer....however my boys are a rowdy bunch (except for the old man) and they would be ramming and flipping one another and likely would influence Fernando to do the same....LOL..They are each 100% all male CDT....love em  this is why they each have their own outdoor yards ....bunch of hulligens ...... old man Humphry use to be housed with my other guy Herman when they were with prior host....and Herman would get crazy once in awhile...this one time old man Humph was chilling minding his own business (he is so mellow) and Herman was too...then out of nowhere Herman raises up on all 4s and straight rushed Humph and tucked his head in right when he got to Humph and flipped that big ole boy straight onto his back...hell, it took Humph a minute to realize he was even flipped cause he was still asleep when I ran to turn him back over and he only woke up after I had flipped him back over....not nice, but funny just the same...Herman is like my land shark...LOL


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## Candy (Oct 10, 2011)

Yeah they do sound like a rowdy bunch.  How old are they? Do you have any that are around 14 years of age? I can tell that Fernando would learn lots of new things from them and probably get himself grounded by mom.


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## byerssusan (Oct 10, 2011)

Candy said:


> Torty Mom said:
> 
> 
> > lynnedit said:
> ...


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## ascott (Oct 10, 2011)

Candy, old man Humph is well over that and Herman as well (40+) and the other two are likely around 15 and 20....but since I have not had them since hatchling stage, there is no absolute way to know 

Yeah, I hear stories here about peoples meek, calm CDTs and I laugh really hard, because other than the old man Humph....the lot of mine are rowdy  But I would not want them any other way....

Ghamara is the most interesting to observe (he was ripped from the wild out in barstow'ish area by a stupid idiot person ugh!!!) as he has so many wild characteristics....my favorite is this spin thing that breaks your heart when you startle him but is also so fascinating to observe...if you walk up on him without letting him see or feel you coming, if he becomes startled he will pull all of his legs and head into his shell and will blow all the air out fast and then kick part of his back foot out ever so little, like a toenail or two just enough to get leverage and he will then spin himself really fast, kicking up dirt, making grinding noises with his shell and blowing air out-- all so fast then as he is spinning he will slam his foot out and thrust himself literally into his burrow.....and while I feel so bad I can't stop myself from smiling and see how they can surprise something by this action....and after, if I drag my feet as I continue to approach his burrow, I will knock on the ground at the entrance he creeps back up and has this look on his face like "whew, I sure am glad to see you...I was almost eaten" bless his little heart.


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