# Rorschach will overanalyze you if you have food. :P



## jkingler (Jan 31, 2012)

A.k.a. Rorschach: seemingly simple, but certainly sidling into your subconscious!!!

Meet our second chelonian, Rory!

My, what a tiny home you have there!






Have no fear, this guy will take gooood care of you!





But before you are ready to move out of your starter home, your Real home needs to finish baking, so...




*Tic toc tic toc tic toc...*

*Ding!* Ta-da! Here's your house, lil lady!





I have no idea where she burrowed in there, but she was super alert, very eager to root around, and I am hopeful that she is happily burrowed and that I will see her with vittles sometime tomorrow morning. =D

/in love

P.S. Her birthday is 12-11-11. Mark the date in your calendars if you wanna give her prezzies.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Jan 31, 2012)

Congrats, Beautiful little guy!


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## ascott (Jan 31, 2012)

Gorgeous


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## jkingler (Jan 31, 2012)

Thanks so much for saying so.  You have Bill Curtis to thank for her current state of stateliness. 

Note: I take my duty to keep her a smoking bombshell rather seriously, so she should hopefully get even lovelier with every passing day! 

More pics to come, once she's emerged and I've had a chance to snap some.


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## dmmj (Jan 31, 2012)

I don't like animals who judge me.


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## Lulu (Jan 31, 2012)

Oh, Bill is great! I have an awesome little Russian hatchling from him. That's a beautiful tortoise there.


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## l0velesly (Jan 31, 2012)

A new little cutie


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## jkingler (Feb 5, 2012)

My Rory is a rebel and an adventurer. She will climb up and over anything, try to go under or around things she can't climb, and she wants no part of food from human hands. She can go find her own, thank you very much! She rampages around nonstop, all day, every day I have had her, so it is often difficult to get a good picture of her! I thought it was that her enclosure was too small, so I took her outside, but no, she just likes to find things that say "you can't pass" and try to prove them wrong, both indoors and out! Also, when it is time to sleep, her burrowing instinct kicks in hard. She is dirty, dirty, dirty! every morning. I think this picture sums up several aspects of her personality pretty nicely.


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## BrinnANDTorts (Feb 5, 2012)

I LOVE LITTLE RORY! !!!! SO CUTE and dirty lol


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## Jacob (Feb 5, 2012)

Nice, She's Good Looking.


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## FinnTort (Feb 8, 2012)

Rory reminds me much of my little Russian girl! She's the messiest pig I've ever known (and I have 2 other Russians to compare)!! Sitting on her salad pile and messing it around, or sitting in her hay dish and eating a poop beside the dish!!! Yuck!! (She thinks hay tastes yuck )

Her name is Viktoria, and she too, rampages around nonstop. She warms up, runs around the whole day and goes to sleep, simple! Letting her roam around the house doesn't help, or letting her outside (in the pen) in summertime. She just likes running very, very much.

(And Viktor, the little boy Russian, is the most pampered and spoiled tortoise ever. He eats from my hand and LOVES to be rubbed under his chin. He eats a lot and exercises almost never (unlike Viktoria...). He also sleeps a lot and just enjoys his slow lifestyle.)


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## jkingler (Feb 8, 2012)

> Her name is Viktoria, and she too, rampages around nonstop. She warms up, runs around the whole day and goes to sleep, simple! Letting her roam around the house doesn't help, or letting her outside (in the pen) in summertime. She just likes running very, very much.
> 
> (And Viktor, the little boy Russian, is the most pampered and spoiled tortoise ever. He eats from my hand and LOVES to be rubbed under his chin. He eats a lot and exercises almost never (unlike Viktoria...). He also sleeps a lot and just enjoys his slow lifestyle.)


Haha! 

That is exactly the sort of contrast we have between Rory and Deedle. Deedle is the mama's boy - affectionate, pays attention to us, likes to handfeed. 

Rory is the independent woman! She runs from proferred food as if to say, 'How DARE you try to hand feed ME?' And she just...runs in general. I am going to put a lot of interesting stuff in her enclosure, and she may even need a double-wide (i.e. I'll need to connect her enclosure to another) enclosure. Have you thought about giving Viktoria more room, or do you feel like it would be pointless? I sorta feel like giving her more room won't change the behavior, but it couldn't hurt. 

It's really funny how tortoises can be so different!


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## pryncesssc (Feb 8, 2012)

I love that she has a lot of personality ! the dirtier the better lol


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## FinnTort (Feb 10, 2012)

jkingler said:


> Have you thought about giving Viktoria more room, or do you feel like it would be pointless? I sorta feel like giving her more room won't change the behavior, but it couldn't hurt.
> 
> It's really funny how tortoises can be so different!



I just changed her enclosure so she doesn't bother Viktor ALL the time (they lived together for a while), but she seems to get bored in 5mins after sniffing the new stuff out! XD

Talk about difference: My third Russian, Igor, is the grumpiest tortoise I know. She huffs and puffs and tries to eat your hand/feet/toes/face... She will eat ANYTHING from paper to cigarettes if I'd let her. One crazy tortoise...


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## jkingler (Feb 10, 2012)

RORY LETS ME HANDFEED HER NOW!!! TWO DAYS IN A ROW!!! I must seem like a complete twit, but that made me so happy, and, well, it still really does! Haha. She is warming up to meeeeee...

/contented sigh

Here are our tort treat bowls. Rory's is on the left, and Deedle's is on the right.





Rory, burrowed a bit less carefully than usual...





Rory playing hide and seek


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## l0velesly (Feb 10, 2012)

Such cute tortoise bowls! Rory sure likes to hide


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## jkingler (Feb 10, 2012)

I was so pleased when Laura brought back those bowls...

And she doesn't aaaaaalways hide - sometimes she wants to come out and play...

(umm...that looks kinda scary, Rory!)


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## jkingler (Feb 14, 2012)

The RoarShack, 4.0.





Rory's morning calisthenics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkTeILnw_4&context=C321b6c1ADOEgsToPDskLwA1MJljHY6doA3IpAElof

Rory, bobbing for apples?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Shoj1znJoA&context=C36b483dADOEgsToPDskIsqb-2Cr3Cp1Ajh7C6kkWs

Rory says Happy Veeday!


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## l0velesly (Feb 14, 2012)

Silly Rory!


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## BrinnANDTorts (Feb 14, 2012)

Rory has a beautiful black head...what kind of tortoise is she /he? 
I want one with a dark dark black head and markings like that. I think its gorgeous I can't believe I didn't notice it before.
Also what substrate are you using? 
I've been searching for a good substrate.
Peat moss doesn't have enough drainage. All tthe water just sits in one spot unless you create mud out of it with your hands.
I don't like wood mulches that much. That aren't good for burrowing or growing and don't conduct heat as well as dirt.
I have tried just straight Sphagnum moss and that doesn't work very well either.
Also tried humus but it was WAY to heavy and think clump ugly gray stuff. Plus insanely heavy...

Also tried topsoil but it is just like the humus pretty much just like thick, thick heavy clay like dirt


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## jkingler (Feb 14, 2012)

I'd been eyeballing Black Russians and Texas tortoises because I love dark coloring, and when Laura and I saw Bill's Macedonian Hermanni (a.k.a. Rory's bros and sissies), we were interested. When we went to visit, we saw Rory, with her bright yellow shell with bold spots, bright yellow underfeet, cheek specks, and even a yellow tipped tail (!)...we were sold. Well, Laura was before I noticed, since we first met her indoors in dim lighting, and my vision is poor, haha.

As for substrate, I use 80/20 coir/spagnum thus far. It keeps the humidity good and high, lets me plant plants directly into it really well, and is pretty good at being antimicrobial, too.


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