Protecting her treasure
She then refused to eat it….as she doesn’t like eating stuff that she has sat on.
Sigh.
That is a pumpkin, the non sweet carving kind, there next to the watermelon rind.
Anteater vibes
Some pellets I bought before mazuri-ls came out with the large sized pellets.
She’s recovering from a dose of dewormer so she gets some nutrient dense food as she’s been avoiding her usual hay dinner.
Her favorite toy
From about 6 years ago. We didn’t put the stool on her, she just sort of rammed it against something until she’s able to get under it.
She’s currently at my mom’s house, still doing the same thing in between following her around and trying to lick mom’s feet..I can’t tell if that is tortoise being tortoise or tortoise being a pervert.
Side-eyed contact
On one hand, she didn’t move out of the way or turn around when she had ample room to do so…so she must have liked it.
On the other hand the intense side eye suggests that accidents can happen to anyone at any time and that I should watch my back….
Not sure what to think.
Edit: when I put her in the tub I had her facing away from the water. She will sometimes turn around towards it, get slightly damp then retreat as she usually hates water. This time she went all in.
Sterilite boxes are marginally acceptable
Slummin it for now…
I’ve already had to patch the box…she’s had it for less than a few hours.
The demolished box
I left her old box outside with the intention of cutting it up before tossing it. She decided to destroy it further
Sulking
Like any good tortoise that is spiritually a cat, she loves boxes. To that end, I always ensure that she’s got a box in her indoor pen.
The last one, a Home Depot heavy duty moving box, must have been her all time favorite. Of course as she is a sulcata, she absolutely demolished it.
She is now sulking over the loss of the box that she destroyed.
It’s been 4 nights and she absolutely is avoiding the new one (not a Home Depot moving box). She will sleep next to it, push it around, wedge herself behind it…anything but sleep or chill in it.
Sigh. I guess it’s time to make a trip to Home Depot.
Completely passed out to bright eyed in 10 seconds
Yet she huffs if I dare wake her up on the weekdays.
She must really have wanted to be let outside.
The hate my tort has for my mother grows!
I'm sure most of you know how much my boy hates my mother, but today has reached a new high. Watermelon is a seasonal rare treat LuLu gets maybe twice a year, but he *loves* watermelon. Fastest he'll run is if he sees a watermelon.
My amazing mother had some leftover rinds and decided LuLu deserved a treat in this high heat. And boy did LuLu come running. . . right past the watermelon to attack my poor mother. A low speed chase occurred with my mother barely able to sidestep out of the way. I shudder to think what could have happened if my mother wasn't such a fast walker.
(In all seriousness, he has attempted multiple times to ram her and bite her ankles. He never does this with anyone else, and is actually very polite and friendly. His vet was surprised how lovely he was as a male sulcata. No idea why LuLu hates my poor mother 🤷)
Feeding fun
So Chris from garden state tortoise recommended one of these holee roller toys for stimulation during feeding time. It’s made of natural rubber. Nothing hard nor sharp and it compresses.
And it mostly worked!
Not captured..when the easy to reach greens were finished she sat and stared at me until I emptied the harder to reach ones still stuck in the center.
Posing
Was time to walk her in today. Instead of waiting by a gate like she always does, I found her posing in the middle of a ring of fallen petals.
Didn’t eat them like she normally would have, just decided to plop down instead, holding as still as a stone until she saw me, looked around a bit and followed me inside.
Trying to seduce the camera
In her indoor “night” (she sleeps till nearly 2pm everyday) pen, ready to get let outside. She will sashay to the door and stare into the camera.
This isn’t just a quick clip from a video. She was making that face for a good few minutes.
Indifferent scritches
She looked down part way through it to check if I dropped food/fingers fell off so she could eat it.
Nonsensical things you say to your tortoise
“How are you this sassy???? You don’t even have ears!”
Usually when she is giving me this look.
What nonsensical thing do you say to yours?
Still just tolerating soaks and my presence
She is not amused. Probably wants to speak to the manager too.
Food > oxygen
Been doing this for 20 years. Sulcata going to sulcata.
Her sniff into the bowl at the single pellet is how she begs. She looks at old or unreachable food then looks at me straight in the eyes.
It’s my brother that is clearing his throat in the background. Just a coincidence that it looked like ms sassafras was grunting.