Well now it's official!

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:33 pm

Milo crawled out of his burrow today signaling the official start of spring, at my house anyway.
Spent all day basking in the sun,

and basicly just slept all day.

It must be really hard getting out of bed if you have been sleeping for 4 months.

Post by **daiv** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:11 pm

Cool Tony! How old is he?

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:30 pm

Going on 5 years now, got it when it was about the size of a silver dollar.
Im guessing it's around 8 or 9 inches now.

Post by **daiv** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:32 pm

Pretty fast grower, then. We never got one as I figured my cacti in the ground would not fair well.

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:38 pm

yaaaaawn

Cool looking little guy ya got there Tony.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:52 pm

I keep it in this little patch of desert with a brick lined bunker so it wont keep on diggin clear to china. I keep expanding the teritory as he grows, Someday will probably have the run of the yard.

peter · Post by **peter** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:52 pm

Nice!

lordarutha · Post by **lordarutha** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:03 pm

He is lovely Tony, always fancied a tortoise but got put off by a kids tv show called Blue Peter. They had a couple of pet tortoises and they would put them away every year for hibernation and they would never make it.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:47 pm

lordarutha wrote:He is lovely Tony, always fancied a tortoise but got put off by a kids tv show called Blue Peter. They had a couple of pet tortoises and they would put them away every year for hibernation and they would never make it.

Yah, I can understand why, that would be sad.

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:55 am

So is going into hibernation the same as being winter hardy

Humm, might have to add one to my collection, nah- just joking.

Cool looking pet and a nicely set up home too

Lewis_cacti · Post by **Lewis_cacti** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:38 am

cool pet Tony.

how long do they live and what do they eat?

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:57 am

Cool to see a good friend again.

Mark

cactusveda · Post by **cactusveda** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:58 pm

Tony thats a nice fella. growing much faster also......

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:23 pm

Lewis_cacti wrote:cool pet Tony.
how long do they live and what do they eat?

It is a Gopherus agassizii or Desert Tortoise.
They can live as long as 150 years. and become sexually mature at 15/20 years.
They are Herbivorous and will eat plant material such as grass, cactus, herbs, flowers, and legumes. In the wild they grow much slower as the feeding period may only last from 6 weeks in a bad year to 12 weeks in a good year.
Mine eats all summer, and especially likes the fresh soft pads from my Opuntia cochimilifera trees, but eats other fruits and vegies.

joossa · Post by **joossa** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:14 pm

So cool! My aunt had one, but she unfortuantely lost it somehow.

How do you keep track of it when it burrows for dormancy? Do you just take note of the burrow and let it be?