Hercules' Thanksgiving Feast

Kenno

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Hercules is a Desert Tort who doesn't really hibernate. He comes out and eats grass every day, and usually crawls into his water dish fir a drink and a soak.
We indulged him with a little lettuce, a few carrot shreds, and a couple of dandelions on Thanksgiving and he seemed to enjoy it!
 

Kenno

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Yvonne, this is the guy who had a serious underbite - his lower beak jutted out about a quarter of an inch. The vet ground it down two years ago, improving his bite strength, and it has been normal since then.
 

Yvonne G

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Wow...that's good to hear. I had a couple of Manouria with that type of problem and the beak kept growing back out after trimming.

What a lucky tortoise (having a human that picks all the lovely dandelions for him so he doesn't have to go searching :p )
 

Kenno

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Ha! Those were all the dandelions for many blocks around my house. There's a drought here.
Picking them for the torts is win-win-win: they get a treat to break up their routine diet of grass and weeds, I get the exercise of walking and picking them, and the neighbors get weed control!
 

Kenno

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Update: Hercules is in his third winter with us. This year he has hibernated for several weeks at a time, in the burrow with another who hibernates soundly. He sometimes comes to the opening and lays looking out for a couple days before going back in, and he does move around in there. Maybe he will hibernate more deeply next year.
 
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