Comments on: Guest post: Mig’s tortoise on how to do it

By: no one you know

no one you know — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:39:01 +0000

ha ha ha ha ha!!

By: gordon

gordon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:34:25 +0000

Jann: I didn’t mean to suggest that you thought Mig was a irresponsible tortoise feeder; I just wanted to make a poop joke.

By: Jann

Jann — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:21:11 +0000

gordon: I did not mean to suggest that Mig should change the tortoise’s diet; I meant merely that the wanderlust might be motivated by something other than a desire to escape.

By: anne

anne — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:17:13 +0000

The best part was “escape all the way down”
and the other best part was “hi there!”
and the other best part was thinking about a turtle shinnying.

By: gordon

gordon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:02:53 +0000

I’ve read enough about the tortoise’s smear paintings to understand why Mig might be reluctant to alter its diet.

By: Jann

Jann — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:31:33 +0000

Your tortoise may indeed be systematically trying to escape, maybe even tests each potential escape area daily to see if anything has changed. I prefer the idea that it wants to explore new places, but then I have to wonder if there’s actually a difference. I think all animals are much smarter than the “experts” realize, but I wonder if your tortoise is consciously or subconsciously trying to increase the variety in its diet. Perhaps it’s tired of the pellets, and who knows what succulents may be in the next yard over? I found this while researching tortoise diets:

“In the wild, tortoises tend to be browsers. They wander over quite a wide area and in the process take small quantities of a very wide variety of seasonally available food. Some species are known to consume up to 200 different kinds of plants during the year.”

The article is here:

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/webdiet.htm