Our first pet(s)!

The day after Miles was born Matt came to the hospital to bring us home and said something like, "Let's get a tortoise that hatched the same day Miles was born!  Wouldn't that be so cool to have a pet the exact same age as you!"  

I think I said something like, "Well sure, but I'm struggling to keep our 4 small people alive at the moment."  If you know Matt you know when he gets an idea he makes it happen.  

We had talked about getting tortoises before.  Three of Matt's uncles on his mom's side raise tortoises.  His uncle recommended Russian tortoises because they do well in Arizona's climate and they are more friendly for kids to play with (pester). They are a grassland tortoise, which basically means they live in grassy areas I think, not desert tortoises or a water turtle. I knew he talked to his uncle a few times but then one day in October he surprised us and came home from work late with a small container with not just one but two tortoises!  The small tortoise was the one that hatched on Miles' birthday but he's a runt so he gave us a spare just in case.  Honestly I'm glad we have two because it means the kids don't pester one tortoise to death and two kids can have a turn holding them at once.  

Here's a quote from wikipedia,"They live such a long time (about 50+ years), people who keep them as pets often leave them in their wills. They are usually rather social with humans."  I hope Miles really likes them, so they can live with him when he moves out!  I could be in my eighties, and Miles could be 50, by the time they die if they're healthy!

"Root" is the name of the runt born on Miles' birthday and "Ragnar" is the name of the bigger/older one.   Root is more active than Ragnar, who still tried to hibernate for about a month. They are so cute- my favorite is to watch them eat.  Once a day we but in some fresh vegetables (a few pieces of bell pepper or lettuce are their favorite so far) for them to eat around lunchtime when they're warmer/more active.  Abby is the most diligent at remembering to feed them.  They make turtle food but so far our turtles have no interest. When we've been gone a couple of days we just leave some extra food- they can go longer without eating, they hibernate all winter usually so a few days is no big deal.

About once a week we give them a "bath".  The soak up a lot of moisture this way and through their food.

For now they live in a big cat litter container in our family room with a special lamp we turn on during the day.  When they get bigger we'll put them outside in the yard with a cinder block enclosure.   They will hibernate all winter usually.  They get to be about 9" in diameter- so not big enough to ride- for those of you who want to see 2 year old Charlotte ride an African spur tortoise. I almost forget that we have a pet until I hear them scratching the side once in awhile.  We tidy up their container a little but they aren't smelly and they don't poop much in the winter and when they're so small.  Mostly they go during their bath so their cage just gets vegetable left-overs that need cleaned out.  

They've been the PERFECT first pet!  All first pets should come with a protective shell!    More interactive than a bird or a fish but not as much work as a cat or a dog.  And quieter and cleaner than all of those pets too!    Charlotte's music teacher's dog just had 8 adorable Golden Lab puppies... I keep telling the kids that we need to be all done with diapers before we take on a dog.  Until then we'll keep our low-maintenance tortoises!

Here's the link on Russian tortoises on wikipedia if you want more information- and we have lots of uncles who raise different kinds of tortoises if you're in the market!