Meet Morla from Texas!

Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Messages
21
Location (City and/or State)
Tx
Hi y’all!

meet our sweet Morla from Texas!

We got her/him in April from a pet store, and has been a fabulous tortoise so far!

She’s/He’s 5 1/2 inches across the shell long wise (was 4 when we brought Morla home), I have no idea on age or gender at this point. The store told us maybe a girl, but after reading here, it seems it will be a while before we know. ? I do tend to refer to Morla as a girl, only because we did believe what we were told. (We are aware that may not be the case, just habitual at this point)

we had to immediately transition from pellets to greens (the store swore by bags on unlabeled pellets they sold! Having no idea what they were, we immediately made the switch!) Now we are attempting to move from the greens to grasses and weeds, but Morla has gotten picky on diet. Morla avoids prickly pear & most grasses. On occasion I will find him/her tugging at grass when the food bowl is empty though!

I do have a question with my intro.
Morla has a huge water bowl, but prefers to use the food bowl as a toilet!! Any idea why my tortoise would choose this over the water bowl? The water bowl is an 8 inch terracotta saucer, which I thought would give ample room, but would rather use the tiny food bowl WITH food in it! ?
 

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Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome!

Even though Morla lives alone, peeing and pooping on the food is her way of keeping other tortoises from eating it.

Just a note of explanation: We use a person's general location to help us give that person geographically correct tortoise care information. For example, if you were in San Francisco where it's cool and foggy, the care we tell you will be different from the care for a tortoise in hot, muggy Louisiana. So "Somewhere USA" doesn't help us to help you.
 
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ArmadilloPup

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Joined
Jul 15, 2019
Messages
307
Location (City and/or State)
NE Oklahoma
Welcome! What a nice tort.

My guess is the food was probably a bulk timothy pellet used for horses and rabbits. USDA can get them for selling unlabeled feed, so it probably did have a label before opened, but the tag is sewn at the top and torn/falls off as the bag is opened. I think even some Mazuri comes like that.
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Messages
21
Location (City and/or State)
Tx
Welcome! What a nice tort.

My guess is the food was probably a bulk timothy pellet used for horses and rabbits. USDA can get them for selling unlabeled feed, so it probably did have a label before opened, but the tag is sewn at the top and torn/falls off as the bag is opened. I think even some Mazuri comes like that.
It was in an unlabeled plastic baggie

we didn’t feed it not knowing what it was. ?
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Messages
21
Location (City and/or State)
Tx
Hi, and welcome!

Even though Morla lives alone, peeing and pooping on the food is her way of keeping other tortoises from eating it.

Just a note of explanation: We use a person's general location to help us give that person geographically correct tortoise care information. For example, if you were in San Francisco where it's cool and foggy, the care we tell you will be different from the care for a tortoise in hot, muggy Louisiana. So "Somewhere USA" doesn't help us to help you.
Oh, I’m unsure how to change that.
 

KarenSoCal

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Jul 8, 2017
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Low desert 50 mi SE of Palm Springs CA
I do have a question with my intro.
Morla has a huge water bowl, but prefers to use the food bowl as a toilet!! Any idea why my tortoise would choose this over the water bowl? The water bowl is an 8 inch terracotta saucer, which I thought would give ample room, but would rather use the tiny food bowl WITH food in it! ?
"Human! I am Morla the sulcata! Have you not yet learned that what you want or like is of no concern here? You are here to serve me!
Your life, as of now, is forever different.
You will learn your place!
You will be happy!"
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Messages
21
Location (City and/or State)
Tx
"Human! I am Morla the sulcata! Have you not yet learned that what you want or like is of no concern here? You are here to serve me!
Your life, as of now, is forever different.
You will learn your place!
You will be happy!"
????

Her wants & desires regarding food changes daily. It’s quite humorous. I’ve learned to mix it all up, because she throws out what she doesn’t want anyways!
We even planted grass in the corners, and sometimes she will ignore the food bowl and go for that!
I did however swap her food and water bowls, and now she’s using the right one to potty in! ??
 
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