Sulcata tortoises Happy, Owl and Wilma.... an Indian Star tortoise named Twinkle.... an Emu named Big Bird.... and don't forget Woody, the Congo African Grey parrot!
Date(s): Updated Oct. 4, 2019. Album by Bruce Strnad. Photos by Bruce & Ralphy. 1 - 13 of 13 Total. 7209 Visits.
1 Ralph watches Happy & Owl as they head for food. Each tortoise will gain weight till they are more than five times Ralph's weight!, and will probably live five times longer than Ralph. No competition for the food....Ralph hates lettuce, but the big guys do eat from the dog food bowl whenever they have the chance.
2 African Spurred Tortoise (Geochelone Sulcata) Meet Owl, a male Sulcata. He will grow to a length of 2 feet long, maybe larger, and will weigh 100-120 lbs. Owl currently weighs 20 lbs. Sulcatas are the third largest species of tortoise, and the largest non-island tortoise.
3 Our tortoise enclosure is fortified around the perimeter with 24 in. rods, 4 inches apart, pounded into the ground. These big boys are powerful diggers! If they're not sunning or digging, then you'll find them in the dog house. Here's Owl in the dog house.
4 Happy is a Sulcata tortoise also. Tortoises have articulated tongues and have no need to eat their food in water as turtles do. Tortoises can't swim, but do enjoy soaking in shallow water....and will drink from a dish of water if it is offered.
5 This big boy was just about the size of the round part of the watch on his back when I brought him home to Sue as a birthday present, a little over four years ago! How is this possible? Ask Sue, and find out what her secret recipie is. "O.K. Sue, what is your sec..." View Comments...
6 Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone Elegans). Meet Twinkle. Star tortoises are beautifully marked, yellow on black. Adults will measure about 11 inches. Twinkle measures 5 inches (bottom shell length) and weighs about 3 lbs. "Absolutely stunning!!Thank..." View Comments...
7 This is a tortoise excavation site, and as you can see what was once level ground is now becoming a sinkhole of sorts.
8 "Believe it or not" there is about 40 plus pounds of tortoise inside the sinking doghouse. I don't know if it is some sort of competition that keeps them going or some paternal/maternal instinct that drives them to be such diggers. Sue would know what's going on here with our two little diggers.
9 Happy and Owl digging for all they're worth. As I was taking the picture, I kept getting splattered with sand and had to wipe off the camera when these pictures were finished.
10 Both boys digging for China, in the shade of their modified doghouse.
11 Here is our hand-fed Congo African Grey parrot that I named "Woody." WOW, can he talk and mimic just about everything he hears......NO CUSS WORDS ALOUD or ALLOWED HERE! Hatch date: March 21, 2005 "How did you gwt him out of..." View Comments...
12 Woody Bird! Bird! Bird! The bird is the word! Oct. 4, 2019 Now 14.5 years old.
13 Wilma soaks very nicely in a turkey roasting pan. She is about 2 years old and was found along a roadside in Palm Beach County following Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Friends told friends, and so on and so on, and she found her way here.
