Turtle Pictures
Lenny, our California Desert Tortoise
This is Lenny. He is a California Desert Tortoise (Gopherus Agassizii), a protected tortoise species. The Desert Tortoise Gopherus agassizii by the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee has important information about this special species.
Lenny is my husband's favorite tortoise, perhaps because he is so alert and personable, and is not at all shy. He has eaten from our hands from the day we first got him, about 2.5 years ago. A friend gave him to us after he was brought into the vetrinary clinic where she worked by someone who found him strolling along the side of the road. We don't know his age, but he is atleast 10 years old because he mated with Sarah last summer, and Sarah became gravid. But sadly, Sarah died last fall from an infection before she could lay the eggs. Personally, I think he may be closer to 50. He actes like he has seen everything there is to see, so nothing phases him.
Russian Tortoises
Sonya is a Russian Tortoise (Testudo horsfieldii). She is about 7" long, and has 4 toes on each foot, which distinguishes Russian tortoises from other species of Mediterranian tortoises. Her native locale is south-eastern Europe, including areas of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the climate is arid and life can be hard. But perhaps not as hard as Sonya experienced here in America. I acquired her from a friend who had nursed her back to health after she had been attacked by a dog. If you look closely, you can see that she is missing her left rear leg, which was too mangled to save, and that she has several holes in her shell where the dog's teeth actually pierced the shell. One of the holes actually pierced a lung. We could not close the wounds because of the threat of infection, so we had to leave them open and keep them clean until she healed them herself, which took several months. Now she acts like this is all a normal part of being a tortoise. To learn more about these rugged little tortoises, check out Russian Tortoise, Testudo horsfieldii by Mary Anderson Cohen.
You have already met Sonya. Now I would like to introduce you to George and Sally. They are seen here having a feast of bananas, which is a rare treat for them. Most of their diet is made up of grasses, and leaves and flowers from non-poisonous shrubs around the yard, with an occasional leaf of romain lettuce or chunk of cucumber or squash.
Oh, look at that! I think George has lost interest in the bananas. He seems to be leaving. Gee, I wonder what might be drawing him away from the bananas?
Ahh ... that's what it is ... It's the sweet alysium. Yes, these Russian tortoises do seem to like the alysium. When I first planted it last spring, they went through the whole patch, eating all of the white flowers first, then all of the green leaves disappeared. Within 3 days, they had reduced a dozen alysium plants to barely visible stems! After that I planted a patch of about a hundred plants, and so far, some have survived the tortoises.
The Habitat
The Habitat is the area in our back yard where the box turtles and some of the water turtles stay. It is a 12' x 16' area which has been dug into the ground. A small pond takes up about a third of the area, and has a small water fall.
Last spring I planted lilies, geraniums, alysium, nasturshiums, strawberries, parsley, mimi-iceplant and grass. I also planted a fern, which the heat killed, an hybiscus, which I think the winter got, and a guava tree where the fern had been. Now The Habitat was starting to look really inviting. All it needed was some turtles.
So I added some goldfish and the turtles. They really seemed to enjoy being outdoors. They moved freely between the water and the land areas, hiding under the plants, sunning themselves on the rocks, swimming in the pond, even digging holes in the ground (but they didn't get far because our ground is so hard). But the turtles aren't the only ones to enjoy The Habitat. I enjoy spending time listening to the water fall, and watching the turtles. They seem to be able to remind me that life doesn't have to move so fast. That slow may actually be better than fast.
Some Water Turtles
Here you can see some of our water turtles which live in The Habitat. From left to right in the top photo are Grazelda (short for "Great Big Zelda"), Dafnie, Lucy, Baby and Stella. In the bottom picture are Peter, Paul, Precilla and Thomas. Grazelda, Lucy, Baby, Peter and Paul are all Red Ear Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans). They get their name from the prominant red patch in front of their ears. These are the turtles which used to be sold in many dime stores in the 50's and 60's, until the sale of turtles less that 4" became illegal for health reasons. They can be found naturally in the southern and eastern states, and sometimes in southern California (grand children of the dime store turtles?). Dafnie is an Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta), Stella and Thomas are Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta belli), and Prescilla is a Central American Wood Turtle (Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima). Prescilla has spent the winter indoors, and Baby has gone to live in a kindergarten classroom, but the others have wintered in the pond. In spite of some of the cold weather, they have done fine out there. (I must admit, though, that for a time I did have a terarium heater in the pond and covered the pond with a tarp when the temperature dipped below 35°.)
American Box Turtles
Meet Eddy, Romeo, Juliette and Patches. They are our American, three-toed box turtles, Terrapene carolina triunguis. Last fall we added a new female named Missy to the group. They live in The Habitat in our back yard. Right now they are still hibernating, though I did see Patches sunning himself today. We had an unusually warm afternoon for February, about 72°. He will probably decide to go back to sleep for a little while longer if it turns cold again, which I am sure that it probably will. Eddie was our first box turtle. I nick-named him "Ugly" because his face is so colorful that it looks like it is painted in reds and yellows, with a white area that make him look like he has very large teeth. His neck and fore-legs also have patches of bright reds and yellows. Then, along came BoxTurtle2, BoxTurtle3 and BoxTurtle4. At first, before we had named them, BoxTurtle3 was nick-named "Ugly2", because he looked like a larger version of Eddie. But soon the behavior of Romeo and Juliette earned them their names, and Patches? I don't know where we got that name. During the summer they can be seen mostly in the cool morning and evening hours, when they come out to eat. It seemed that almost daily I would catch Patches taking an early morning swim in the pond (if you can call it a "swim" - he looked more like a cork bobbing across the pond), or Romeo cooling off in the water in the afternoon. They eat the plants and bugs in The Habitat, and I occasionally give them some fruits and vegetables from our salad-makings. To learn more about these friendly turtles, take a look at The Box Turtle Care and Conservation Web Page.
An Asian Flower-back Box Turtle
Meet Darth, an Asian Flower-back box turtle, sometimes called the Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons). I believe that this turtle is probably the most beautiful turtle I have ever seen. These turtles come from Viet Nam, where they are part of the turtle food trade. The use of these turtles for food and for medicinal purposes is causing a severe reduction in their populations. Pestisides, habitat destruction, and recently, the pet trade, are also contributing to this reduction. This is really sad for these very beautiful turtles, especially since we have not been very successful with captive husbandry and breading practices. I sincerely hope we can find some practices that work, or my grandchildren may never have a chance to see one of these beautiful creatures. For more information on this turtle, check out Flower-back Box Turtle, a Tortoise Trust article. Or look at Asian box turtles by Mary Hopson, which has information on this turtle and other Asian Box Turtle species, references, and links to articles about the serious crisis these turtles are facing.
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TurtleMom
Last Update: 04/19/2002
You have already met Sonya. Now I would like to introduce you to George and Sally. They are seen here having a feast of bananas, which is a rare treat for them. Most of their diet is made up of grasses, and leaves and flowers from non-poisonous shrubs around the yard, with an occasional leaf of romain lettuce or chunk of cucumber or squash. 
Oh, look at that! I think George has lost interest in the bananas. He seems to be leaving. Gee, I wonder what might be drawing him away from the bananas? 
Ahh ... that's what it is ... It's the sweet alysium. Yes, these Russian tortoises do seem to like the alysium. When I first planted it last spring, they went through the whole patch, eating all of the white flowers first, then all of the green leaves disappeared. Within 3 days, they had reduced a dozen alysium plants to barely visible stems! After that I planted a patch of about a hundred plants, and so far, some have survived the tortoises.
