Tortoise Sitting

We had little visitors this month. These two little guys are the cutest things. And boy can they pack away their food. One was more active than the other and could really fling the sand sky high....for a little three inch rock with legs.

 

Open Wide!

4H Pet Poster Project

 

 Victoria and I are having lots of fun with 4H this year. We start our meeting with games to promote public speaking and then spend the rest of the time working on a project. This past month's topic was Pets. Of course Victoria chose to learn more about her Syrian Longhaired hamster named Georgie. All the kids chose a pet, or a pet they would like to have. They researched proper diet, habitat, anatomy, the breeds origin and interesting facts. The kids also sewed 14 felt mice and 22 strings on a stick kitty toys for the humane society which were greatly appreciated. Victoria is very excited about the Fair this summer knowing that she might be able to win a ribbon for any of her projects. This will be her first year that she can do that since Cloverbuds don't win place ribbons. They usually get participation ribbons.

Unzipped

 

I guess Sidgrid is healthy....he's unzipped his birthday suit and has a new one already.

Meet Sidgrid

This is Kaleb's little guy Sidgrid.

He has always wanted a lizard as a pet. So after a long wait and debate, he has one. He paid for three quarters of the set up since we already had the tank and screen.

This guys is pretty perky and very observant.

 He has beautiful marking for a brown anole. He turns all shades of brown, tan to grey.

 We have already witnessed him hanging upside down on the screen.

His favorite place is on the thermometer.

I think this little guy will bring us all great enjoyment. I love animals and am so happy to have them around. I also love that I don't have to catch crickets to feed this guy.

Yuck!

 



Alex has friends

It is so good to have Alex home with us.  He almost died of a broken heart when we left him in Arizona at Nana's. Once he woke up from hibernation and found he was alone....his buddy Ben, the rabbit, met his demise with a coyote! It still brings a gut wrenching feeling in my heart and tears to my eyes when I think about that. We have loved all our pets and Ben was special. Anyway,  Alex traveled all the way here in a box, in the cab of the truck, alongside my parents and was released into our lush, grassy yard. He instantly perked up. His life was new. He is a new man. I think he missed us as much as we missed him. I know...you're thinking....he's a tortoise! We have had him since he hatched from an egg 27 years ago. So he isn't just an ordinary tortoise. This is Alex who we are talking about. The one who manages to get in the house and roams around the living room if you aren't watching. He comes out to visit every time someone is in the yard. He chases the dogs from their patch of sunshine. And now, Alex has friends.

 These little guys came for a visit. Our wonderful neighbor has a friend who adopted these cute little guys. They didn't know another person who had a tortoise as a pet. Until now. I was so excited for the kids to see how small these guys were. Though Alex was much smaller than these little friends, and flatter when he was a baby. He was as flat as a pancake. It was fun to share their size so our kids could see just how small Alex started out as.

I'm kind of glad that he didn't really notice them on his back. Alex, being a male, can be very territorial when in close contact with another tortoise. Then he is back to his sweet demeanor and docile self. We love Alexander.

Crab Treat

This crab that we babysat for my nephew about 6 years ago and never went home, had an Easter treat last Sunday.  I claim to not know his name, but really it is Louie or Lou or something like that. Either way, the thing just hangs out in this tank with nothing to do. We just feed it, water it, mist it and it ....  LIVES! Anyway, on Easter morning Victoria discovered a plastic egg tucked away in his tank. The egg cracked open and revealed a Hershy's Kiss. Well, she thought there was only one that had popped out. Really, there were two. One must have fallen in the crevace of the log. Two mornings later we had one deeply satisfied hermit crab. And alive too. Louie had found a delicious treat in his habitat. I guess it is true with hermit crabs....Finders Keepers. He probably thought he died and went to heaven to find a piece of chocolate all to himself. He managed to carefully unwrap the foil wrapper and eat every single crumb of chocolate. The little tag was tucked up in his shell. I didn't check to see if he had chocolate on his face.  I wouldn't really be sure where to look for that. I DID check to see that he was still alive.  He seems to be doing just fine and doesn't have the same effect it would have had on a room full of kids. He slept all day.