What is the story of your username?

[Yellow Turtle01]

Hmm, my username... Well it all started when I was sitting in History class, listening to a lecture about Russian history, doodling to pass the time when my teacher started talking about Russian rulers. I learned that a Tzar or Czar was like a Russian king. Thus the "Tczar", I just added the "o" for effect.

Hmm, O does make a pretty good affect!

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

My cup runneth over in cats as well Cats rule and they know it.

Oh yes, they definitely know it! Hahaha, addictive, just like torts!

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

I'm new to the group. I've posted a few times but haven't introduced myself as a newbie. My user name has nothing to do with tortoises. I have a horse whose call name is Magic. His mother died from a ruptured uterus when he was born, so I have always been his mom since he never knew her. My car license plate is MAJXMOM: Magic's Mom. I use it on several forums.

My CDT tortoise is Barstow. He got that very clever name 51 years ago when my dad brought him home for me from.... you guessed it, Barstow, CA. We estimate he was 10-20 years old when we got him, because a co-worker of Dad's owned him for several years before that. He is actually a she, but I only just recently learned how to sex them, and after 50 years of calling Barstow a him, I can't adjust. My dad kept him at his house when I went to college and he just stayed there because the yard and landscaping worked out so well for him. He loves to eat flowers. My dad just passed away earlier this year so I have brought him to my place. He's been in Hayward, CA, for 50 years where the temperature is between 50 and 70 degrees F most of the time. I live in the CA Delta where it is significantly colder and hotter. He has a habitat about 30x40 feet bounded by double-high masonry bricks. We built him a great burrow -- he'd been hibernating in a dog house for the last 30 years. He loves his new burrow. We built it with the masonry blocks in a U shape as I saw on a link on this forum, dug into the ground and then the dirt piled over plywood on the bricks. He comes when he hears me, eats, climbs on top to bask, goes back in and out all day. He seems so content to finally have a burrow after so many years. When we were digging the dirt out, he got in the hole with us and helped dig a little along with our shovels. It was so cute, I wish I had taken a video. I'm a little nervous about his first winter here where we often have several nights in the upper 20s but I will insulate him well at the entrance and I think it will be ok in his burrow with over a foot of dirt covering him.

I was glad to find this forum as well as the websites for CA, AZ and UT about desert tortoises. I've expanded his menu with all the good lists of food.

A question: I read a lot on this forum about soaking. Is that recommended for the CDT as well? His shell seems a little drier than how I remember it when I was a kid, when he would soak himself on the lawn while we were watering it. Other than that he seems healthy and supple, so I wouldn't want to introduce any problems with good intentions.

Here are some pictures.
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Wow, that's a long time! It makes me so happy to think about all the years I'll have He sounds so adorable!
Does he have a spot in his yard where he can soak whenever he wants? Maybe just a little kiddie pool dug into ground... it's good to have a spot where they can soak them selves

 

[Peytons torts]

My name is Peyton and I have tortoises lol

 

[smarch]

First initial last name, pretty simple lol easy to remember.... until I get married and my name does whatever it does (but since things aren't "traditional" if you catch my drift, I essentially have no idea how the name thing will happen! it may very well stay)

 

[smarch]

I also have my account name on my wordpess as smarchnank since I didn't know what else to do lol... no one in the class I made it for understood it

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

I also have my account name on my wordpess as smarchnank since I didn't know what else to do lol... no one in the class I made it for understood it

hehehe! Nank is your tort's name, and they probably were wondering, hhmmmm...

 

[majxmom]

Wow, that's a long time! It makes me so happy to think about all the years I'll have He sounds so adorable!
Does he have a spot in his yard where he can soak whenever he wants? Maybe just a little kiddie pool dug into ground... it's good to have a spot where they can soak them selves

Truly the only pet for which you must have an heir.

I put a ceramic pie plate into the ground for some water, which I flush every day. I've seen him traverse across it but I've never seen him stay in it, although I have seen poop in it so I imagine he's sat down there a few times. About every other day this summer, I've let the hose run in there to see if he wanted some running water. Maybe once a week he takes me up on it, comes over into the puddle and drinks for 10 minutes. But he doesn't look comfortable doing that like he used to on a grass lawn. The dirt makes mud with the hose, and he looks like he does not appreciate all the dirt all over his mouth. Right now his habitat is on the only side of the house where we have no lawn, but I think before he comes out of hibernation in the spring, I'm going to expand the habitat to include the lawn behind the house. That way he can enjoy the grass and shade he was used to in Hayward while still having the burrow. When I moved him to my farm, there was plenty of wild pasture grass in the habitat but he mowed it all down over the summer except for this weedy rhizome grass that evidently doesn't taste good.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

It's my name and that I am a serious Dale Earnhardt fan...3 was his car number. I may change it to 3fan4ever. He's dead now, but the loyalty remains. I like Kyle Busch now, I guess. I have a room in my house dedicated to Dale Earnhardt collectibles and my sister calls it the "Dale Earnhardt Memorial Worship Room"..hehehe...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Well, my tortoise was originally called Tilly ( his name is Billy now) so I spelt Tilly backwards which was Yillt. Well, so I thought. It was actually yllit but Yillt is easier to say so Yillt it was.

I have wondered about that before...interesting...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Mines pretty self explanatory

The other user name I use a lot is Lil Charlie and that's because my dad always goes by Big Charlie and we are members of the same motorcycle forums.


0.0.1 Redfoot (Spike)
0.0.1 Cherryhead Redfoot (Bruce Wayne)
1.0 Sulcata (Hal Jordan)

What do you ride?

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Truly the only pet for which you must have an heir.

I put a ceramic pie plate into the ground for some water, which I flush every day. I've seen him traverse across it but I've never seen him stay in it, although I have seen poop in it so I imagine he's sat down there a few times. About every other day this summer, I've let the hose run in there to see if he wanted some running water. Maybe once a week he takes me up on it, comes over into the puddle and drinks for 10 minutes. But he doesn't look comfortable doing that like he used to on a grass lawn. The dirt makes mud with the hose, and he looks like he does not appreciate all the dirt all over his mouth. Right now his habitat is on the only side of the house where we have no lawn, but I think before he comes out of hibernation in the spring, I'm going to expand the habitat to include the lawn behind the house. That way he can enjoy the grass and shade he was used to in Hayward while still having the burrow. When I moved him to my farm, there was plenty of wild pasture grass in the habitat but he mowed it all down over the summer except for this weedy rhizome grass that evidently doesn't taste good.

There are ENORMOUS bags you can buy online, to replant all his food. I'm not sure how big CDT's get, but can he soak himself? I'm thinking, submersible. You could have big grass plants to shade it so the baby weeds/grass don't shrivel up

 

[Magilla504]

My username is my nickname in the fire department. Years ago I had a lieutenant say that I looked like magilla gorilla. I was fumbling with some small screws in a tight space and getting frustrated. It has stuck with me ever since!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

decades ago I was loosely associated with a biker club and I owned then as I do now, only Japanese sport bikes. I made it a point of always showing up with the loudest, fastest and most obnoxious of them. The name stuck. Actually, It was just "ZERO".

 

[smarch]

hehehe! Nank is your tort's name, and they probably were wondering, hhmmmm...

Well his full name is franklin (and of course I introduced him in a post lol) but when i'm not "formally introducing him he's Nank, so I guess they had no idea about the Nank thing

 

[Maggie Cummings]

decades ago I was loosely associated with a biker club and I owned then as I do now, only Japanese sport bikes. I made it a point of always showing up with the loudest, fastest and most obnoxious of them. The name stuck. Actually, It was just "ZERO".

zipperheads....

 

[ZEROPILOT]

...For the Japanese "ZERO" planes that flew into battleships at the end of WW-2...Every one else owned some slow American machine. (Lemming mentality.)

 

[motero]

A Montero is my favorite off road truck, when I registered for a Geocaching account ages ago I misspelled it Motero. I did not bother to change it and use it on other forums.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Mine seems self explanatory. It originated in a grocery store when a cashier/friend saw me and rather than just yell out Ken, she yelled out Cowboy Ken! It stuck.

 

[bouaboua]

Mine is what my wife calls me in Chinese.

The actual pronunciation should be "baobaoA！" (宝宝啊！）。 The "a (ah)" means, somethings she is asking or command me to do or follow. Then I will say: bouaboua (不啊不啊）which mean "No ah No ah".

I think I totally confused myself...