In honor and memory of those we lost in the tragedy on 9/11/01
Yes I have my own little M.A.S.H. unit of turtles and tortioses.
2/14/01 update on turtles: Chompers is 2 inches now and loves to chomp down several feeder guppies a day now, along with turtle pellets and brine shrimp, still working on the pics.
The Russian Tortoises have been more active in the last few weeks with the slightly warmer weather. This has been a cold winter for AZ. But they never seemed to slow down on their eating much, except on real cold and rainy days. Then they're smart, snuggle up and take a nap under the heat lamp!
Ben and Franklin are still fairly inactive yet. Ben(Three Toed Box) goes for a stroll almost every day now, but still napping a lot. He did enjoy a crunchy meal of snails and earth worms, I fetched for him. Not into eating many fruits or veggies yet. Franklin(Malayan Box) spends most of his time sitting under his house but does venture into the water several times a week. He also is eating a bit of the fruits and veggies.
3/7/01 Update on my turtles and tortoises. Chompers is already 2½ inches. Loves to chase feeder goldfish around the tank. Haven't seen him/her eat one yet, but they do vanish usually in the night! Check out the newest picture of Radar my smallest female Russian Tortoise.
Bert, Ernie and Tigger have been very active and doing a lot of basking all month long. I started feeding them again about mid-February. About week after I added some barely straw to the pond. This is the first time I have used it and it seems to be working, as I haven't seen any new string algae.
4/17/01: Working on relandscaping around the pond, mostly putting in a new fence and flowers. All three sliders are out and basking about 12 hours a day, with many dips back into the pond of course.
4/30/01: Second pond is complete, Piggy seems to be loving his new outdoor enclosure. I wish the sliders were nicer to pond plants, they just tear them up so bad! LOL I do have pics to get posted in here real soon.
6/1/01 Ernie layed eggs today in a sandy area adjacent to the pond. I just happened to spot her as she was covering them up. I decided to leave them where she put them. I secured the area by placing some bricks around it, then kept it watered, but not soggy. Hard to get SOGGY here in Arizona! {grin} Next I waited impatiently.
8/14/01 By now I was really getting impatient and figured that nothing was going to hatch. We had just had a monsoon storm blow thru and I went out to check everything out. I moved a bit of the sand in the area of the eggs and discovered that one had just hatched. The other 2 eggs did not hatch. It was smaller that a quarter and a beautiful bright green.
8/24/01 Franklin, my Malayan Box Turtle layed 2 eggs. When I discovered them they were cold & dryed up. Watching for possibly another clutch to be layed again.
9/11/01 A tragic day for everyone! My prayers & thoughts for those with friends & family effected by this horrible event.
9/14/01 Bernie as the tiny turtle is being called (for now anyway) is doing great. Bert & Ernie are the parents. Hence Bernie who seems to be very happy little character. I have a 12 x 18 in. Rubbermaid type container sitting on the kitchen counter, every time I am in the kitchen Bernie is at the side all excited, begging for food & attention. She/he is a great little eater, very active, basking on his tiny rocks both indoors and when I take her outside.
6/17/02 Figured it was long overdue for an update on my wonderful turtle family. Bernie has been renamed Thumbelina and is catching up in size to his older buddy Chompers. They share the 20 gal tank during the night-time and spend their day outside in a 25 gal. clear rubbermaid type container. It is so cute to watch them basking in the sun with their necks stretched so far out and those back legs going the other direction as far as they can get them! They love their goldfish and can each devour 2-3 medium feeders a couple times a week. As well as bananas, romaine, the ocasional strawberry, and pellets too.
Ernie (Thumbelinas Mom) has also layed 11 eggs on 5/15/02. I am anxiously awaiting for them to hatch, should be about the end of August.
Ben and Franklin are both doing well. Franklin has become my newest escape artist, I often find her in with the tortoises.
My 2 female Russians are growing very well and at a nice steady rate, the male is not gaining in size at nearly the same rate though. All three are active and eating daily. They love their greens, weeds and shredded carrots for sure. As well as a treat of bananas, strawberries, tomatoes squash etc.
8/2/02 Four of Ernies eggs hatched today, the other 6 hatched on 8/9/02. (1 egg was dried up) All hatchlings are looking great, active, frisky little characters. They are enjoying their romaine, goldfishies, and pellets along with an occasional treat. I will be adding a slide show and some pics real soon of the little hatchlings hatching.
8/10/02 Acquired a box turtle today that was rescued by a friend (Thanks Chuck!) Studly as he has been aptly named has been trying hard to mate with Franklin one of my female box turles. I will post some pics of that event soon too! LOL
I have figured out how Franklin was escaping from her enclosure. She was climbing the hard wire fencing the covers the pool fence which provides one side of her pen. That wire is 4 ft tall, of course when she reached the top there was only straight down...plop! I have made adjustments to keep her from being able to climb that wire fencing.
10/2/02 Click here to view the HATCHLING SLIDE SHOW
10/2/02 Click here to see FEEDING FRENZY SLIDE SHOW
Pierce the first of 3 Russian tortoises I acquired, all are very active and great eaters. Always climbing over under and around everything in their 4x6' outside pen. I often find Pierce in a vertical position on the post adjacent to the pen. My two females Maggie and Radar's pics will be added soon.
Here is the pond I added April 2000 with Bert (6.5in.) and Ernie (7.5in.)waiting for food. Bert's male and Ernie's female, they have both been with me since 1993. Ernie is the most inquisitive of the four sliders I have. They spend much of their day basking on the rocks around the pond, which is fenced in for their protection. Tigger (5.5in.) is the newest arrival to the pond got him in May 2000, and he is very shy yet. Piggy is the largest at 10in. but too agressive towards the other turtles to join them in the pond. He resides in a 55 gal. acquarium and goes outside in a special fenced area to graze on grass and bask in the sun.
Franklin is a Malayan Box turtle that I acquired about a yr. ago. Benjamin is a Three Toed Box turtle that I have had for 6 yrs. They share an outside pen that includes a large water pan that is deep enough for Franklin to submerge in yet shallow enough for both to easily get in and out. Franklin spends a great deal of time in the water.
Here are all three Russian Tortoises up and about for breakfast. Pierce is the only male and Radar and Maggie are females. I feed them twice daily in the summer and onc a day during the cooler weather. They have a water dish deep enough to get into but not too deep that they cannot turn over or get out. I have a couple flat rocks in it as well to prevent accidents when they manage to get turned over.
Latest addition as of 12-24-00. I acquired; quite by surprise, a red-eared slider the size of a half-dollar that my daughter bought in a pet shop where she lives. He/she seems to have adjusted very well so far and for that I am real glad. Should have some pics real soon of Chompers. He/she is out swimming and eating in a plastic container in the Az sunshine! After reading that others did this, I decided that it was a great idea to feed in a seperate container. And so far it is working out great. I also started feeding Piggy in a seperate container since I redid his tank.
Ben has been quite active in the last month. We have had quite a few rainy days, Ben's favorite eating time. She finds lots of snails and worms then. Franklin has been more active at night again, but still sleeping during the day. 
I completely redid the Box turtle and Tortoises pens. Enlarged both areas, adding a half barrel pond in each as well as several flowers and veggies planted aroung the pond. The tortoises love munching on the Kale plant, lettuce impatients are yummy, and occasionally the petunias too. The box turtles are kinder to the plants in their area. But even they can make a bunch of lettuce plant dissappear overnight.
Thought I would have the new pond for Piggy in progress by now, but several other things came up first. Should be starting it this month. I hope. It has been in the mid 90's again this week. Want to get it done real soon! Should have some new pics soon.
I have a couple other plastic containers for weach of them outside, so they can get some "real" sun a couple times a week. I do have both heat and UV light provided for them indoors as well.
Chompers at 2 ¾ inches seems so big already. Chompers who graduated to a 20 gal. tank before Bernie hatched can make several small-medium feeder goldfish dissapear in short order.
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