# Pumpkin Day at the turtle farm



## Yvonne G (Sep 10, 2009)

These are my three leopards...well actually, the one on the right belongs to a friend of mine who moved into an apartment when she retired from being a reptile-keeper at the zoo:












The one in the middle came to me from Cincinnati, OH about 5 maybe 6 years ago, and the smallest one I hatched from an egg about 4 years ago. It's mama is Cincinnati. I kept it on a substrate of oat hay pellets for the first couple years of its life, so its pretty pyramided. Can I claim ignorance??

And here is part of the group of the two sub species of Manouria:






I know...I know...I'm still working on their habitat and there is no separating fence yet. But honest! I'm working as fast as I can!! And it IS past their breeding season.

This is Dudley:






And this is what Dudley thinks of his clean water:






Here are the two Dipsochelys dussumiere (Aldabrans for those of us not literate in Latin-speak):






And last, but certainly not least, a couple shots of the Yellowfoots:











Hope you enjoyed Pumpkin Day!

Yvonne


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## chadk (Sep 10, 2009)

Simply awesome!! Thanks!


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## shelber10 (Sep 10, 2009)

Great picks it looks like they all enjoyed the pumpkin


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## Isa (Sep 10, 2009)

Very nice pics Yvonne!
Your tortoises are beautiful it seems that they love Pumpkin day!


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## katesgoey (Sep 10, 2009)

Thanks for sharing Yvonne! We have one lonely little pumpkin on the vine so I guess I'll have to go get a couple soon - thanks for the inspiration


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## Yvonne G (Sep 10, 2009)

My volunteer pumpkin vine produced about 30 basket-ball sized pumpkins. I have them stored outside on my back porch, but they're starting to show some liquid on the cement under the pile. I'm afraid they're not long for this world. I know the "guys" are gonna' be pretty sick of pumpkin before they're all rotten.

Yvonne


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## Maggie Cummings (Sep 10, 2009)

How great that you got the shot of your Aldab with his tongue out. Is that little One? I forget the way your named them...anyhow they move after all, I spent all this time thinking they were just giant rocks!
Those are really good pictures. It's nice for me to get to see how they are growing.


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## bettinge (Sep 10, 2009)

Yvonne, Looks obvious, but I'll ask anyway. Pumpkin is not cooked? Pumpkin guts and all, even seeds?

Is pumpkin day one day, or lots of days this time of year?


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## Yvonne G (Sep 10, 2009)

Maggie:

That's So on the left and Bo on the right. Bo is now smaller than So. (The *B*igger *O*ne and The *S*maller *O*ne)

Betts:

All I do is wash the outside of the pumpkin then cut it a bit so they have a sharp edge to get ahold of. I feed it seeds and all. I never de-seed anything that I feed them, unless the tortoise's throat is smaller than the seeds. If feeding to a small tortoise, I'm afraid of having them choke on a seed, so I'll clean the seeds for them. Because the pumpkins are starting to rot, I'll feed them more often, but usually only about once a week.

Yvonne


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## DoctorCosmonaut (Sep 10, 2009)

Wonderful torts. Looks like you've got your very own menagerie


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## Sudhira (Sep 10, 2009)

So derned cute!


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## Stephanie Logan (Sep 10, 2009)

Unfair!

I bought some canned pumpkin and spread it on Taco's endive leaves and she wouldn't touch it (nor butternut squash, reconstituted cactus pieces, most of the spring mix, red or green pepper,carrot, parsnip, zucchini, yellow squash...) She nommed on some broken off pieces of her cuttlebone, and I suspect she may be eating some of her hide hay, which is a combination of timothy and orchard grass, because I see a greenish mustache on her face when I lift her out for her morning hugs.

How am I ever going to get this poor girl to eat?!

BTW, your menagerie of torts are beautiful, and such good eaters!


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## Jacqui (Sep 10, 2009)

Dudley still makes me have a Wow moment. He impressed me grazing in his pen, of course the two Aldabras did a pretty good impressing job too. The way it looks like everybody is chowing down, it's a good thing the vine produced so well.


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## Laura (Sep 10, 2009)

My volunteer vine gave me 4 so far with about 5 green ones still to ripen.. and they are elongated.. weird.. the ones I planted.. not doing so well.. next year I hope they are all volunteers.
Its amazing the shell difference in So and BO. DO you know if ones diet is different? Prefers more grass or veggies over the other?


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## Yvonne G (Sep 10, 2009)

Laura said:


> Its amazing the shell difference in So and BO. DO you know if ones diet is different? Prefers more grass or veggies over the other?



They both seem to eat the same. I don't feed them at all, only a little bit of Mazuri every so often, the rest of the time they graze. The story at the time I received them was that they came from different parents.

Yvonne


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## Marshman (Sep 11, 2009)

Wow love all you big guys and gals Yvonne looks like they love the pumpkin might have to get one and give some to my new Agent Mulder would it be OK for Walter the Greek to have some. You sure do have a full time job taking care of your kids.

Marshal


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## Yvonne G (Sep 11, 2009)

Yes, Walter can have the occasional pumpkin. And, if you slightly toast the seeds on a cookie sheet in the oven, then grind them up, you can sprinkle them over the tortoise's food about once a month and it will de-worm your tortoises.

Yvonne


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## chadk (Sep 11, 2009)

Can they eat the raw seeds?


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## Yvonne G (Sep 11, 2009)

Yes, but seeds from any fruit or veggie usually pass right through the tortoise and they gain nothing from eating them. I see whole cantaloupe seeds in the tortoise poop a week or so after feeding cantaloupe. Likewise the pumpkin seed. It passes right on through.

Yvonne


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## terryo (Sep 11, 2009)

Pio hated the pumpkin, but I boiled it. I will try it raw now and see what happens. your guys look like they love it.


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## Crazy1 (Sep 11, 2009)

Second pic looks like the larger Leos are not happy the little one is looking at their pumpkin.
And Dudley just likes his water well seasoned.
Boy Yvonne your torts all really love their pumpkin. They all look so healthy and happy. I love to see happy animals.


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## tortoisenerd (Sep 12, 2009)

The plain canned pumpkin also works well for those of us with smaller torts.  Freezes well too. We like pumpkin pie so we'll give Trevor a spoonful and bake the rest in a pie.


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## Stazz (Sep 12, 2009)

Yay for pumpkin day !!!!! What wonderful pics Yvonne, I just love your menagerie of torties  I just love Dudley, he's really so funny


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## Gulf Coast (Sep 12, 2009)

Looks like Pumpkin Day was a big hit...


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