This is Tortellini. She actually belongs to "Mary", who used to be a reptile keeper at the Chaffee zoo. Mary retired and moved away to a city north of here about an hour's drive up the highway. She moved into an apartment and asked if I would care for Tortellini.
On September 18th Tortellini dug a nest and deposited eggs, 6 of which I left in the ground. Then 30 days later, on October 17th, she dug another nest, right next to the first nest. Thank goodness Will (my tortoise partner) had protected the original nest with a bucket and cinderblocks.
Will doesn't live near here, and wasn't expected to come again until towards the end of December, and I'm not handy enough with the Skil saw to cut the bottom off a bucket, so in order to protect this nest I just set the poop scoop on top of it (I had left 6 eggs in the nest). Good thing I did, because tonight when I went out to make sure everyone had gone into their houses I found her digging another nest, right next to the first two. It's cold, around 50F, and she was moving pretty slowly, so I set up a brooder light over her:
This corner of their yard is VERY dry. The sprinklers don't reach here. So you can see how much pee she produced in order to make the digging easier. That big smoosh next to her is wet mud.
So, 9/18, 10/17 and now 11/16. I hope I'm not going to be seeing 12/15 - three a year is quite enough, thank you very much!!
On September 18th Tortellini dug a nest and deposited eggs, 6 of which I left in the ground. Then 30 days later, on October 17th, she dug another nest, right next to the first nest. Thank goodness Will (my tortoise partner) had protected the original nest with a bucket and cinderblocks.
Will doesn't live near here, and wasn't expected to come again until towards the end of December, and I'm not handy enough with the Skil saw to cut the bottom off a bucket, so in order to protect this nest I just set the poop scoop on top of it (I had left 6 eggs in the nest). Good thing I did, because tonight when I went out to make sure everyone had gone into their houses I found her digging another nest, right next to the first two. It's cold, around 50F, and she was moving pretty slowly, so I set up a brooder light over her:
This corner of their yard is VERY dry. The sprinklers don't reach here. So you can see how much pee she produced in order to make the digging easier. That big smoosh next to her is wet mud.
So, 9/18, 10/17 and now 11/16. I hope I'm not going to be seeing 12/15 - three a year is quite enough, thank you very much!!
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