When I first got my Aldabran tortoises, Bo and So, they were just about the size of my hand without the fingers. They have always lived outside in the pen where they live now, but over the years I have moved the fences a bit, enlarging the pen a couple times. When I first put them into the pen, it was about 16' square and I had a piece of grape stump in the middle as a sight barrier.
I put my flip-flop beside it so you could see its size. When the babies were hatchlings, they couldn't see over the top of the stump.
The piece of wood stayed there in the middle of the pen all these years (10) through both of the enlargements. The tortoises are now around 120lbs and their sight barrier is a mere bump in the road to them.
I have always had to knock down the grass on the south side of the pen with the Weedeater because the tortoises never went over to that section. Here lately, my across-the-street neighbor has been mowing and weedeating the pens for me and one day he asked me what the grape stump was for and I explained. He asked could he move it to clean out the grass around it and I said sure. So he just set it back about 10 feet south.
The next day I noticed that one of the tortoises was grazing on the north side of the stump, a spot where they had never gone before. So I moved the stump way back to the south fence. Sure enough, the next day both tortoises were grazing in the area south of where the stump used to sit.
So, even though they could both see over and around that stump, because it had been a barrier to them when they were small, they never went around it even when they were bigger.
Pity it took me 10 years to figure that out, huh? Now, even though the pen hasn't changed sizes, far as the tortoises are concerned, its about twice as big as it was before!
I put my flip-flop beside it so you could see its size. When the babies were hatchlings, they couldn't see over the top of the stump.
The piece of wood stayed there in the middle of the pen all these years (10) through both of the enlargements. The tortoises are now around 120lbs and their sight barrier is a mere bump in the road to them.
I have always had to knock down the grass on the south side of the pen with the Weedeater because the tortoises never went over to that section. Here lately, my across-the-street neighbor has been mowing and weedeating the pens for me and one day he asked me what the grape stump was for and I explained. He asked could he move it to clean out the grass around it and I said sure. So he just set it back about 10 feet south.
The next day I noticed that one of the tortoises was grazing on the north side of the stump, a spot where they had never gone before. So I moved the stump way back to the south fence. Sure enough, the next day both tortoises were grazing in the area south of where the stump used to sit.
So, even though they could both see over and around that stump, because it had been a barrier to them when they were small, they never went around it even when they were bigger.
Pity it took me 10 years to figure that out, huh? Now, even though the pen hasn't changed sizes, far as the tortoises are concerned, its about twice as big as it was before!
Funny how they would not cross it.
