Shirley's Uncle
Member
Hello. My tortoise is named Shirley. Actually, her full name is Ms Shirley Tortoise.
Shirley came to my family nearly 40 years ago, in either 1981 or 1983.
A man found her walking down the street (so he says). He stopped, picked her up and walked up to my grandmother's house. He asked her if she had lost the tortoise. She said no, but that she would watch him until the man found her owner.
The man never came back.
Since she was not my grandmother's tortoise, she called her "Ms. Tortoise".
Grandma took care of her for years. When grandma passed away, my mom took care of her. When my mother moved to Washington, I took over her care.
I have had Shirley for several years now. She was christened "Shirley" by a visiting friend of mine after I explained her informal lack of name "Ms. Tortoise." Shirley stuck...and she has been Shirley ever since.
We have no idea how old Shirley was when we "found" her. She was already a fairly decent size then---not very small at all. She has grown some, but not enormously so.
We think she is a gopher tortoise, but are not sure. She has burrowed in the past. She can't in my backyard as the ground is far too hard.
Now that the days are warming up, she loves being out in the yard. She still comes in the house at night and will usually come to the sliding door to be let in to the dining room, where she sleeps in her "cardboard condo". She also has a plastic igloo-shaped dog house she sometimes goes into (which I just pick up and move into the house at night). Occasionally, she'll crawl around to the far side of the house and try to sleep in the corner next to the fireplace. I hunt her down and carry her back inside.
I'm worried she might be getting very old. It may be I've forgotten how she was last year, but she seems to get very tired out very quickly these days---and takes mini-naps on her walks from Point A to Point B quite frequently.
I don't think she is sick at all. She did get very sick one time and had all of this drainage coming from her nose. I didn't see it myself, but heard about it. My mother had to take her to a specialist vet. That was years ago and she has been fine since.
Food-wise, she is hard to figure. She sometimes goes days without eating. Other times, she is a little piglet. She loves thawed frozen peas usually---and will only eat Romaine lettuce (when she bothers with lettuce at all. She hasn't eaten much of it lately). I've tried apples, strawberries, etc...she doesn't seem to like them. She loves dandelions---so I've let my backyard go with them. She also seems to eat a lot of grass. I've also tried green beans, corn, carrots, grapes...doesn't want them. Any suggestions (or I should probably poke around on the forum first before asking...)
Anyway, this is Shirley.
Thanks for having us on the forum.
Shirley came to my family nearly 40 years ago, in either 1981 or 1983.
A man found her walking down the street (so he says). He stopped, picked her up and walked up to my grandmother's house. He asked her if she had lost the tortoise. She said no, but that she would watch him until the man found her owner.
The man never came back.
Since she was not my grandmother's tortoise, she called her "Ms. Tortoise".
Grandma took care of her for years. When grandma passed away, my mom took care of her. When my mother moved to Washington, I took over her care.
I have had Shirley for several years now. She was christened "Shirley" by a visiting friend of mine after I explained her informal lack of name "Ms. Tortoise." Shirley stuck...and she has been Shirley ever since.
We have no idea how old Shirley was when we "found" her. She was already a fairly decent size then---not very small at all. She has grown some, but not enormously so.
We think she is a gopher tortoise, but are not sure. She has burrowed in the past. She can't in my backyard as the ground is far too hard.
Now that the days are warming up, she loves being out in the yard. She still comes in the house at night and will usually come to the sliding door to be let in to the dining room, where she sleeps in her "cardboard condo". She also has a plastic igloo-shaped dog house she sometimes goes into (which I just pick up and move into the house at night). Occasionally, she'll crawl around to the far side of the house and try to sleep in the corner next to the fireplace. I hunt her down and carry her back inside.
I'm worried she might be getting very old. It may be I've forgotten how she was last year, but she seems to get very tired out very quickly these days---and takes mini-naps on her walks from Point A to Point B quite frequently.
I don't think she is sick at all. She did get very sick one time and had all of this drainage coming from her nose. I didn't see it myself, but heard about it. My mother had to take her to a specialist vet. That was years ago and she has been fine since.
Food-wise, she is hard to figure. She sometimes goes days without eating. Other times, she is a little piglet. She loves thawed frozen peas usually---and will only eat Romaine lettuce (when she bothers with lettuce at all. She hasn't eaten much of it lately). I've tried apples, strawberries, etc...she doesn't seem to like them. She loves dandelions---so I've let my backyard go with them. She also seems to eat a lot of grass. I've also tried green beans, corn, carrots, grapes...doesn't want them. Any suggestions (or I should probably poke around on the forum first before asking...)
Anyway, this is Shirley.
Thanks for having us on the forum.