I don't understand the point of the "drying pan", but you are certainly not alone in your obsession.
T.G.Yeah, tortoises are an all consuming past time. I've been keeping tortoises since I was 10 years old, and I would get absolutely furious at my parents whenever they wanted to do something stupid like put grass in the backyard. I would explode at my mother whenever she pulled the dandelion, sow thistle, and clover seeds that I had meticulously picked and planted around the backyard for Graecus to eat. When we moved to our newest house, I remember getting into shouting matches with my folks, because the tortoise area (at that time, one third of the backyard, over 1200 square feet) wasn't enough space.
Now that I bought the house from my folks, I've changed everything. I chopped down all the stupid fruit trees and live oaks (I hate live oaks; tortoises can't eat them, and they shade the yard in the winter; they don't do what trees are supposed to do, which is lose their leaves in the winter to let the sun shine; mulberry trees do this, and they have the common decency to lose their leaves in the fall). The entire backyard is a grass free Mediterranean meadow with mulberry trees. Where the old tool shed was is now a greenhouse with hibiscus plants. The backyard is now as it should be, entirely devoted to the tortoises.
But yes, when you curse your parents and go against their every notion toward the landscape, even when you have no right to do so, that is certainly obsession. I'm always thinking of what new plant I can introduce into the grazing field. I'm always debating if I should change the setup. When I was younger, I was always obsessed with having new experiences with new species of tortoise. I wanted to keep every kind of tortoise, and in my life, I got pretty close. It took me a while to finally realize that settling with a group and growing old with them was the way to go, at least for me. But Graecus, my Greek, and I, we've been through houses, apartments, several states and countries together. I have a camera on him and the yard at large that I can see from my office, and on slow days when I don't have many customers, I just watch those eight screens, see who's doing what.
I hate having to work during the day. I wish I was retired or independently wealthy so that I might spend every sunlit moment hanging around them. I know many people say this, not realizing that they would be bored eventually, but I truly mean it. I miss the days when I was in high school. I would sit out on summer days in the shade of a pear tree that's no longer standing, sitting alongside Jerry, my big sulcata. That tortoise was truly charismatic, and I miss him every day. Graecus has always been a character as well, and I can't wait for the summer heat to abate. When the nights start hitting the sixties and the days rise into the eighties, that old man is going to be so busy.
T.G.
I love the idea of your garden paradise!
I too was the animal obsessed child driving my poor parents, and many years later, my poor husband, crazy. I kept as many pets as I could afford to.
Later I went to college to study veterinary nursing, collecting a few more pets along the way. Then a few years working in several large vet clinics, again more foster animals and inevitably more adoptions.
I have always had horses in my life and once I stopped competing on my own, I began training other people's horses. I was born in England but as a horse trainer I have traveled the world!
Ten years ago whilst in the US I met my Kentucky born horse trainer husband and since then we have traveled and worked together. It seems people will always pay someone else to muck out and ride their horses, and that suits me fine. We have even trained horses in Hawaii!
In the past few years we been based in south Florida, conveniently this is perfect for my sulcata tortoise. It also suits my Chinese water dragon, Bearded Dragon and veiled chameleon who all live in natural outdoor enclosures.
We also have 4 rescue dogs all from different countries. My eldest dog Milo is a active, sprightly 18 year old Jack Russel who came all the way from England with me. He has his own passport, we have lived in 4 different countries, and traveled thousands of miles together, he is the love of my life. Please excuse my telling you all my life story! all this was a long winded way of saying that I actually do spend all day every day watching animals. I am as enchanted by them all now, as I was as a child, I never stop learning from them. I hope I can do this always.
View attachment 96855 You think you're addicted now??? Wait until she's 16 years old and looks at you like this...
What a precious face!You think you're addicted now??? Wait until she's 16 years old and looks at you like this...
You call it waste of time, I call it free therapy.She is my favorite waste if time