Hey everyone,
It's been a minute since I was active on this forum. I have continued to refer folks to this page though
Levi my leopard tortoise is now 10 years old. He's a big brute who must destroy everything in his path! Seriously...he's the most territorial, outgoing leopard tortoise I've ever encountered and has shattered many of my friend's misconceptions that turtles are slow.
Just a quick recap: I raised him in SoCal, following @Tom 's advice for heat/humidity indoors. When Levi was 2 we moved to Southern Oregon and have been here ever since. He has full reign of the backyard and sleeps locked up in his heated, insulated tortoise house built from Tom's outdoor housing plans. Over the last 5 years he's been an animal ambassador in my educational program and brought joy to many kids during school assemblies and birthday parties.
Unfortunately, I fell very I'll in October and came very close to passing away. As I got worse, we had to make the decision to close the business and rehome the majority of our show animals. It was rough. I had lifesaving surgery in February and have been on a road to recovery ever since. One of the critters I could not give up, was Levi. He's a bully...but I love him.
So, here I am, alive (woo hoo!) and with a lot more time on my hands now that I'm not caring for a large collection of exotics and traveling all over with them. Still raising my 2 boys (13 & 12yrs old) and getting my ankles bruised anytime I enter "Levi's yard". I also still have our dog and 3 birds.
Hopefully, I'll be on here a bit more now.
Here's an updated photo of what Levi looks like:
Here he is eating some greens from a homemade greens holder: (he loves it!!)
Here he is, proud of himself for knocking over the fire pit intruder:
Here he is trying to get me while I'm in the bird aviary: (I use 2x6's or 2x8's to create tortoise borders at all gates/doorways)
I take much more video of him than I do photos. Mostly because if he sees me, he's charging me to attack. Really. So I can't get good pics. But I have lots of video of him chasing me, ramming me, pacing to get me, etc. I just can't seem to upload them here. I'll figure it out someday....
Anyways, glad to see some of my fav folks are still around and active! Hopefully I will be again, too.
It's been a minute since I was active on this forum. I have continued to refer folks to this page though
Levi my leopard tortoise is now 10 years old. He's a big brute who must destroy everything in his path! Seriously...he's the most territorial, outgoing leopard tortoise I've ever encountered and has shattered many of my friend's misconceptions that turtles are slow.
Just a quick recap: I raised him in SoCal, following @Tom 's advice for heat/humidity indoors. When Levi was 2 we moved to Southern Oregon and have been here ever since. He has full reign of the backyard and sleeps locked up in his heated, insulated tortoise house built from Tom's outdoor housing plans. Over the last 5 years he's been an animal ambassador in my educational program and brought joy to many kids during school assemblies and birthday parties.
Unfortunately, I fell very I'll in October and came very close to passing away. As I got worse, we had to make the decision to close the business and rehome the majority of our show animals. It was rough. I had lifesaving surgery in February and have been on a road to recovery ever since. One of the critters I could not give up, was Levi. He's a bully...but I love him.
So, here I am, alive (woo hoo!) and with a lot more time on my hands now that I'm not caring for a large collection of exotics and traveling all over with them. Still raising my 2 boys (13 & 12yrs old) and getting my ankles bruised anytime I enter "Levi's yard". I also still have our dog and 3 birds.
Hopefully, I'll be on here a bit more now.
Here's an updated photo of what Levi looks like:
Here he is eating some greens from a homemade greens holder: (he loves it!!)
Here he is, proud of himself for knocking over the fire pit intruder:
Here he is trying to get me while I'm in the bird aviary: (I use 2x6's or 2x8's to create tortoise borders at all gates/doorways)
I take much more video of him than I do photos. Mostly because if he sees me, he's charging me to attack. Really. So I can't get good pics. But I have lots of video of him chasing me, ramming me, pacing to get me, etc. I just can't seem to upload them here. I'll figure it out someday....
Anyways, glad to see some of my fav folks are still around and active! Hopefully I will be again, too.
