Tortoise

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Trev62
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Tortoise

Post by Trev62 »

We have a wild tortoise that constantly passes through our garden, it spends the odd night sleeping in the lemon balm or in our potato patch. During the day she can often be seen eating the wild cherries that have fallen to the ground, other favourites seem to be dandelion leaves and clover.

She is not bothered when being harrassed by the dogs, rabbit or chickens just continuing on her travels. Sometimes she stays for a few days before disappearing only to then be seen wandering across the grass without a care in the world, we even have to wait for her to pass by when cutting the grass as nothing seems to put her out of her stride!

Everyone seemed to own a tortoise when I was a kid but it was not till leaving the UK that I saw them living free, fascinating animal.
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wendy
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Re: Tortoise

Post by wendy »

Oh dear if she is 'wild' I fear she may not survive the coming winter.
Or attacks from dogs that are, perhaps, not as kind as yours.
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Mo
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Re: Tortoise

Post by Mo »

Wendy, I assume 'wild' in Bulgaria is not the same as 'wild' (feral?) in UK.
In the back of my mind I wonder if they hibernate where they live naturally or if that is just necessary here.
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wendy
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Re: Tortoise

Post by wendy »

Ooops.
I didn't realise the post was from abroad.
{rofwl}
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Trev62
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Re: Tortoise

Post by Trev62 »

Mo wrote:Wendy, I assume 'wild' in Bulgaria is not the same as 'wild' (feral?) in UK.
In the back of my mind I wonder if they hibernate where they live naturally or if that is just necessary here.


You often see them wandering around the forests here, this one just wandered in and keeps returning. She (we know this as she laid a couple of eggs this year) buried herself in the soil to hibernate last year but as she comes and goes as she pleases we will watch with interest if she does the same this winter.

Bearing in mind the winter temperature here often drop to -25 degrees I wonder how any of them survive!
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wendy
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Re: Tortoise

Post by wendy »

You are so fortunate to have them wild.
I think they are fascinating
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Willow
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Re: Tortoise

Post by Willow »

wendy wrote:Ooops.
I didn't realise the post was from abroad.
{rofwl}



I have been kind enough to offer to swap properties with Trev62... Loads of land in the sun... for 2.5 blades of grass in the rain... not a bad swap I thought?? {rofwl} {rofwl} {rofwl}
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wendy
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Re: Tortoise

Post by wendy »

)like(
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Trev62
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Re: Tortoise

Post by Trev62 »

The tortoise, who although female has been named Boris has started her pre hibernation feeding, we often weigh her when she passes through the garden to ensure she is getting enough food when out foraging and she is putting on weight nicely.

At present we have a surplus of home grown melons (the first year we have managed to grow them, yippee!!!) and she gulps down all the pieces we put out for her before having a drink from a water bowl then heading off again on her merry way.
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Trev62
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Re: Tortoise

Post by Trev62 »

Well Boris has parked herself in a small flower bed in the garden at present making an appearance every now and then to help herself to the tomatoes etc we put out for the chickens. The warm weather seems to have delayed her hibernation and she has not gone on her wanders out of the garden for many days. We are watching with interest to see if she buries herself in the garden this year or goes on her travels never to be seen again..............
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sandy
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Re: Tortoise

Post by sandy »

Boris sounds wonderful, please keep us upto date on her . I had Terry the tortoise who passed away during hibernation and then Tommy who walked into the garden one day. We knew that was his name because it was painted on his back. He ran off, he was FAST, for 3 months until returned by a neighbour 3 doors down who learnt he was ours from another neighbour. Unfortunately the last time he ran off he never came back. I often wonder if he is still alive.
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