Recent content by Shirley the tortoise

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    New house

    Having joked about this a couple of years ago, it is now happening and we are moving house. There will be a lot more room for me to build new indoor and outdoor enclosures (which I quite enjoy doing, it's good fun). However, I do have a couple of questions for anyone who has moved with a...
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    Why did the tortoise cross the road?

    Clearly concerning that it was on the loose and hope it finds a proper home, but some great tortoise gags in this news story. Thought I'd share with you all. (The A24 is a fairly major dual carriageway)...
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    Snails

    The neighbours are right next door on all sides (it's a terraced house), I'm not sure how far snails travel but it's plausible that up to a dozen houses might share snails with my garden. I've spoken to the immediate neighbours about use of pellets, but it doesn't remove the risk entirely. I'm...
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    Expensive tortoise

    You are absolutely right, it is a hobby. Much cheaper than skydiving. Clearly the cost is worth it to us all, or we would just get rid of our torts.
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    Snails

    So it seems Shirley won't eat the vegetation that I grow her, but she is happy to tuck into a snail that she has found in her enclosure. (Note that immediately after taking the photo I took the snail off her, but she had already eaten quite a bit, including the shell). Who knows how many she...
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    Expensive tortoise

    Perhaps an annual cost would be more appropriate for comparison than a total over their lifetime. Some people would probably get through five or six dogs in one tortoise's lifetime! After all, I imagine some of the cost will fall to somebody else anyway, as I probably don't have 75 years left...
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    Expensive tortoise

    I was discussing tortoises at work with a colleague the other day, and she mentioned how expensive she thought it was to own a tortoise. She told me about a recent article she had read...
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    Fussy tortoise

    Thanks for the support. I'm a stubborn man, but worried Shirley might have the edge. She's had a few days outside so far this summer, and seems really spritely. Just won't eat the food I've lovingly grown for her!
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    Fussy tortoise

    I've had Shirley about 18 months (she is three and a hermann), and last summer I wasn't really geared up to growing her food so she was predominantly fed from bought bags of salad from the super market (florette crispy, as I've seen recommended on this website) and the odd dandelion that I...
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    Tortoise weight

    Shirley topped 200g today for the first time. Has also enjoyed a few days in her run outside recently. All is going well for Shirley.
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    Poor little creature

    http://m.courier.co.uk/Tiny-turtle-dumped-bin-rescued-Sussex-vets/story-28198200-detail/story.html Hopefully it will have a good chance now it's been found. I'm hoping this was somehow an accident, but can't come up with a plausible reason. At least she was found.
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    Upside down

    Just to note, I haven't found Shirley upside down in ages (since before I made this thread). Stopping her falling upside down was never my question (I know they do this occasionally and I didn't think Shirley was out of the ordinary in this regard), it was whether to intervene and put her back...
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    Upside down

    It's hard to tell. Possibly, but she was doing it before I put the liner in as well. In terms of seeing over, the wood is more than 50% higher than her length so I don't think she can. I'm actually having a similar problem with my 12 month old human baby pulling himself up the sofa and then...
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    Upside down

    Wood, lined with a smooth plastic style shower curtain to keep the moisture in. I'd say she falls over about once a week (that I find her anyway).
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    Upside down

    The main culprit is the sides (there have been a couple of falls from her den but I've adjusted that now). She climbs up the sides until she is perpendicular to the ground and then topples over backwards. Any suggestions on how to stop that would be most welcome, but surely everyone has that...
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