Magnus
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2014
- Messages
- 2
Hello, Tortoise Forum folks:
I live in Brooklyn NY and have a Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise (female) and two male horsfieldis. I've always been extremely fond of turtles and tortoises. When I was a kid in central PA I found box turtles roaming around our farm, and as a college student in the Bay Area I got my first tortoise, a hermann's.
The spur-thighed tortoise is named Luda; she's about 10 I think and I found her on Craigslist while searching for a sitter for my parrots. She is absolutely my favorite thing on earth. I handle her all the time and she has become quite tolerant of it (meaning she no longer pees on me). She is a gentle and patient creature and has more than doubled in size (about 5 lbs now) since I got her. I stroke her head and legs, feed her from my hand, and kiss her too. Sometimes she sleeps on my chest. She is fragrant. To me she smells like a cold glass of milk, or like leather. A neighbor said she smells "like sleep." When hungry, Luda scrabbles over to me and puts one or both of her front legs on my shoe, then looks up. The two horsfieldi tortoises, which I will introduce next, have a very subtle smell, neither good nor bad.
Magnus is one of the horsfieldi tortoises; I got him for my 50th birthday. He is exceedingly sweet and very handsome. He is reticent and has to be cajoled into eating, and he is earnest. When I hold him he splays out his legs, a little like a cat being held over water, and extends his neck. His breath comes in short little puffs. When I got the third tortoise, Nimbus (a rescue), and placed him in the enclosure with Magnus, Magnus was apparently affronted and took to his half-log, so I separated them-- their personalities are so different. Nimbus was not cared for correctly by his previous owner and came to me stunted in size and looking like an ugly little crab with long nails and a jutting beak. He was very apprehensive about being handled and paddled in the air and hissed, pulled his head and legs in. He is also brash and inquisitive (Magnus is neither of these things). He marches around the apartment and seems to be taking inventory, making sure nothing new has escaped his eye. He also will creep under the dining room table and nip your toe if he gets the opportunity. It has been wonderful to see him add a growth ring to his carapace, to see his dark grimy rough skin renew itself and become soft and a clean yellow color, and to see him basically grow more in proportion.
In addition to the tortoises I have an African grey, Lila (refuses to learn human language) and a green-cheek conure, Flip.
I live in Brooklyn NY and have a Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise (female) and two male horsfieldis. I've always been extremely fond of turtles and tortoises. When I was a kid in central PA I found box turtles roaming around our farm, and as a college student in the Bay Area I got my first tortoise, a hermann's.
The spur-thighed tortoise is named Luda; she's about 10 I think and I found her on Craigslist while searching for a sitter for my parrots. She is absolutely my favorite thing on earth. I handle her all the time and she has become quite tolerant of it (meaning she no longer pees on me). She is a gentle and patient creature and has more than doubled in size (about 5 lbs now) since I got her. I stroke her head and legs, feed her from my hand, and kiss her too. Sometimes she sleeps on my chest. She is fragrant. To me she smells like a cold glass of milk, or like leather. A neighbor said she smells "like sleep." When hungry, Luda scrabbles over to me and puts one or both of her front legs on my shoe, then looks up. The two horsfieldi tortoises, which I will introduce next, have a very subtle smell, neither good nor bad.
Magnus is one of the horsfieldi tortoises; I got him for my 50th birthday. He is exceedingly sweet and very handsome. He is reticent and has to be cajoled into eating, and he is earnest. When I hold him he splays out his legs, a little like a cat being held over water, and extends his neck. His breath comes in short little puffs. When I got the third tortoise, Nimbus (a rescue), and placed him in the enclosure with Magnus, Magnus was apparently affronted and took to his half-log, so I separated them-- their personalities are so different. Nimbus was not cared for correctly by his previous owner and came to me stunted in size and looking like an ugly little crab with long nails and a jutting beak. He was very apprehensive about being handled and paddled in the air and hissed, pulled his head and legs in. He is also brash and inquisitive (Magnus is neither of these things). He marches around the apartment and seems to be taking inventory, making sure nothing new has escaped his eye. He also will creep under the dining room table and nip your toe if he gets the opportunity. It has been wonderful to see him add a growth ring to his carapace, to see his dark grimy rough skin renew itself and become soft and a clean yellow color, and to see him basically grow more in proportion.
In addition to the tortoises I have an African grey, Lila (refuses to learn human language) and a green-cheek conure, Flip.
