Pip pip pip! First Fall Russian tortoise baby hatched!

I am so excited to share with you that Mila's first egg hatched last week! This was the first time she ever laid, and the egg was quite large, at 30g. 63 days incubating at 89 degrees F later, the egg pipped (which means the shell started to crack where baby was pushing through).

Do you see the tiny pip there on the left side of the egg?

Tortoises, just like many other animals, hatch at their own pace, some faster, some more slowly. It is super important to let them come out on their own. If rushed (helped), a weakened, unmotivated baby may be the result, or the yolk sac may not be fully absorbed.
For this reason, as hard as it is, I just moved the pipping egg into a separate container in the incubator, with a moist paper towel, and then left it alone.

1.5 days later, the head and front leg are out

This baby took its time to hatch: one and a half days later, a tiny head and an arm were hanging out of the egg. It was responsive to light shining into the incubator, and was clearly breathing, so I continued to just leave the wee tyke alone.

48 hours after first pip, Mila's baby is out!

Finally, 48 hours after pipping, Mila's baby finished hatching and burst out of her shell! Looking at her through the window of the incubator, she looked very fat and more domed than Timmy's Spring hatchlings.

Mila, the baby's Mama

As a reminder, I posted a picture of Mila above - she has a pretty greenish shell that is unusually domed. When I got Mila's baby out of the incubator to give her a quick look-over, I could see that she resembled her mother a lot!

Hatched Oct. 15th, perfect, fat, and weighing 20g!

 This wee girl surprised me with her size - at 20g she is quite large for a Russian tortoise hatchling. She has fat rolls on her legs, she has a double chin, her shell is very domed, and my favorite part: she has a handlebar mustache!

A pretty greenish-brownish shell like her Mama

I am so proud that Mila is a Momma now. I am also happy (and a little surprised!) that Mila's huge, very elongated egg hatched out a perfect baby.

Cute little belly, with the yolk sac mostly absorbed

Baby's belly markings look like a clover leaf. Her yolk sac was mostly absorbed when she hatched - confirming that she knew what she was doing when she waited to come out of her egg.

Having her first soak

After 4-5 days in the incubator with daily soaks and mistings, I moved the baby into the baby enclosure. She is a little go-getter, very quick, and very curious. I see her scrambling all over the enclosure, burrowing down into the moist moss at night and several times throughout the day. She also takes teenie tiny bites out of tender greens.

Photo shoot with a dandelion

We got lucky last weekend with some amazing sunny weather, so I brought all the tortoises outside for some time in the natural sunlight. I took some pictures of Mila's baby next to a dandelion. Cute little green fatty!

So tiny, but already on the go!

...it was hard to get a good picture of her, because she was moving around so much. "Here I come, world!" she seemed to be thinking. 

Skull Yard Finder

One of my customers asked me if I could make a skull yard finder for her tortoise. Why yes, I can! :)

Mila, being one tough tortoise

Also, is it odd that I am almost more excited about the cozies making it onto "I Can Has Cheezburger" than all the other media coverage?!

Working hard, building the new outdoor enclosure

In past Summers, the Russian tortoises have spent a lot of time outside in the sun, either roaming (under supervision) the lawn, or in large rubbermaid bins, the kid pool (without water) etc. - this year I decided it was time to put a more permanent outdoor enclosure in place. The west-facing flowerbeds seemed to be a good option, so I am working on converting them.

The wooden structure is about 1/2 done. It will be 5ft x 30ft.

I got some 4-ft sections of pressure treated lumber from one of our neighbors. They aren't the ideal size to work with, but it is hard to argue with 'free' and so I am making it work.
You may notice that I have irises growing in the area where the tortoises will be. Those will all be dug up before any tortoises are allowed in there... I'm just waiting for them to finish blooming. I want to transplant the 'fancy' irises, and will give away the 'normal' ones.
I have already planted or transplanted many tortoise safe plants into this area, and I also seeded it with the Tortoise Lady's seed mix (thank you, Lynne!). I'll still have to supplement with tortoise food I collect, but I am sure the tortoises will have fun chomping down on the good edible greens!

I dug a 'no-escape' trench, and filled it with river rock.

 Russian tortoises are incredible diggers, so when building an outdoor enclosure, it is important to make sure the tortoises will not escape. On the end (not shown here) I dug a deep trench and placed the pavers in there vertically. This took me nearly 6 hours for a 5-ft section... the soil was pure clay below the flower bed soil, with lots of rocks. I decided on a different solution in the front, 30-ft section: I dug the trench down to where the really rocky clay soil begins, about 6-8 inches, and then filled the trench with river rock. I anchored the cedar support posts in the rock, and placed cement pavers over top the trench. The pavers sit below the wood, so if the tortoises try to dig at the wooden edge, they will get nowhere.

The Russian tortoises got to play inside the makeshift pens while I worked

Not wanting to waste a perfectly good sunny day, I used some of the lumber to build some make-shift pens for the Russian tortoises. The one in the back was for Lady, who is still in quarantine. The one in the front has the other Russian tortoises in it. The plastic pans that I usually use for soaking provided good shade and shelter.

Mila, enjoying the sunshine. 

I took close-ups of all the tortoises, but only Mila's picture really turned out today. Do you see where the dark pigmentation is starting to grow into the bright yellow new growth? Yay for UVB!

Such greedy little tortoises!

Russian tortoises are such little vultures when it comes to food! A few days ago, I treated the torts to some endive lettuce, and they just went WILD over it. In the course of being eaten, the lettuce wandered from the feeding rock through the water dish over to the basking area. My little male Roz was being such a little piggy that I ended up making a separate pile of food for him... hence he is not in these pics. 

In captivity, tortoises often get overgrown beaks because the food they are fed is too tender to wear the beak down. For this reason, I try to mostly feed weeds and leaves from my garden, and to include plenty of tougher plants that require more biting and chewing. A lot of the really 'soft' leafy greens are not as high in nutrients as others, so I only feed these as part of the varied dark leafy greens I offer.

The two young females are so funny.  Even when I give them their own pile(s) of food, they always want to eat off of the food the others are eating... preferably while climbing up and over each other.

Mila finally wandered off and hit the jackpot with her own pile of lettuce. She quietly munched away at it until NOTHING was left.

Good little vultures! Eat all your food, grow big and strong... and lay eggs for me this year, please!

Doing everything together

It never ceases to amaze me how my tortoises always seem to do everything together, in spite of all the space I provide for them. My little Russians bask together, eat together, sleep together. I know that tortoises aren't 'social' creatures, and that I shouldn't project human emotions onto them... but it is very hard not to think that on some level, they enjoy each other's company.

A pile of tortoises

Did you know that a group of multiple tortoises is called a 'bale' of tortoises? Random fact of the day...

Basking time!

It is interesting to me how much less territorial Roz has been since I moved the two other females into the big tort fort. He now hardly bothers the girls at all - which to be honest, is not entirely good, since I am hoping to get some tortoise eggs this year...

Soaking up some warmth and UVB together - look how big Timmy is!

I am curious to see over the next few years how big Jill and Mila grow to be in comparison to Timmy. She really dwarfs the others with her size.

Timmy and Jill

Timmy and Jill both have exceptionally pretty coloring - their shells are bright yellow! Jill's shell has more light yellow, which is probably just due to her young age, while Timmy has a rich golden hue. (The basking light makes their shells look a bit more bright in this picture than they actually are, btw)

My three females, basking together while Roz roams his territory.

My three females especially seem to like spending time together. They have a lot of space to roam, and yet they always seem to end up in the same spot!

Our Tort Fort gets a dresser

I finally finished our tort fort, and it is no longer sitting on the ground! Our friend built this for us, and now the top and bottom have finally been put together. I love having all the storage, and it looks so nice, too! (Thanks, Andy!)

Front view

The tortoise table is the first thing people see when they come into our house - I am so glad that it is finally functional AND 'pretty' - don't you love the leg design of the dresser underneath? They look just like the little half-rounded opening into the hide house.

3/4 view

Our friend Andy built this from his own design, after sitting down with me to plan it. The left side has a window that has a shutter, so I can look into the hide box, which is large, and filled with a nice deep layer of substrate for the tortoises to burrow in. I treated the oak with several layers of 2 different colors of stained polyurethane, so it matches our antique oak wardrobes, dressers and such.

The torts exploring their new substrate mound (Mount Coco) and rock pile

UPDATE: I took some more pictures of the tort fort in daylight. I added a pile of large-ish rocks for the torts to scramble over, as well as mounding the substrate up and over a very large flowerpot. The little Russians are having so much fun exploring!

The females basking together. Roz is hiding.

Our friend Andy made all the trim himself, by the way. You really have to see it up close to see how nicely he built it.

Daytime view of the tort fort.

I double-checked my temps with a temperature gun, too, after putting everything back together. The 'cool' end is room temperature, at 69-71 degrees F at substrate level. The warm side is 82 degrees, and immediately under the basking bulb, I measured 97-102 degrees.

Sunny day = Time to bask outside!

Today we had one of those wonderful, beautifully BRIGHT sunny winter days we sometimes have here in the Pacific Northwest (that's right, it is NOT gray all the time here!). It was only about 50 degrees F in the shade, but in the sunny spots of our yard, the ground temp measured at 70-75 degrees, so I brought the tortoises out into the yard to roam and soak up some 'real' sun for about half an hour. 

My oldest son helped me keep track of everyone - Russian tortoises are little Houdinis, and can really pick up some speed when they are determined. Roz, especially, is a little runner. Timmy is a digger, and kept trying to burrow.

Amidst herding tortoises, I got some really nice pics of them. 

Jill (front) and Roz (back) exploring

Mila sunning herself

Little Jill catching some good rays of sun

Roz and Jill soaking up some sun

All four torts eventually found the 'hot spot' by the downspout near the fence.
Do you see Timmy's bottom as she's trying to dig in?!

The three girls basking in the front, and Roz going off to explore.

Mila enjoying the sun

Timmy (my large female) climbing the pipe from the downspout

Little Jill looking just plain gorgeous and cute

Everyone basking in the hot spot by the fence

I like how these guys like to line up like a little train

Roz showing off his cute face, and his funny shell growth ring.

What a lovely afternoon, and we even came back inside with the same number of tortoises we started out with.

The crazy crocheting Tortoise Lady

...that might be me. Ever since seeing that silly picture online of the tortoise cozy, I have used the time when I'm waiting for kid-related activities crocheting tortoise cozies.

Disclaimer - just to make sure that people don't start yelling at me: these cozies are a 'for fun' tortoise fashion item that I am creating to sell in my Etsy shop. My tortoises spend their days happily exploring their tort table in the buff... no clothing necessary!

Here are the ones I've made so far:

Timmy and Jill, modelling the blue cozies

Jill, posing so elegantly

Timmy, my XL female (7.5 inches) modelling the large one I finished.

Jill on the left, Timmy (still modelling) on the right, for size comparison

Mila modelling a cozy for my Etsy shop.
I wish I could have gotten more of this awesome afternoon light...

Top view of this one - I made the holes a little larger on this one
so the tort's shell color shines through more.

Mila giving me a grumpy look - she thought wearing a cozy was very undignified.

I am almost done crocheting a 'sun flower' shell ornament that I think you will love, too...

Video of Jill and Mila having a soak

My two new female Russian tortoises Jill and Mila get to have a nice soak in warm water about 1-2 times per week. This helps keep them hydrated, and it's good for their shells, too. 

I use a kitty litter pan filled with about and inch of lukewarm water. I usually end up having to dump the water out several times in the course of the soak, since tortoises like to do poop while they are in the water... but the total soak time is generally 20-30 minutes.

Mila and Jill update

Mila and Jill have been with me for 2 weeks now, and have adjusted well. They are so healthy, active, and fun to watch! Getting to 'just enjoy' a pair of new tortoises rather than fretting over their health, performing first aid, etc. is a nice change from bringing home the 'rescue variety' tortoises. 

Jill basking on top of Mila

Why bask on a rock when you have a tortoise-friend to bask on?! Their previous owner commented that she does not want to separate them because they are 'shell-mates.' I wouldn't go that far, BUT I can't deny that these two seem to like each other. They do everything together. 

Freshly misted. I love how bright Jill's shell is!

I mist my tortoises once a day, to help keep their shells nice and healthy. Although Russian tortoises are 'desert' or 'steppe' dwellers, they do actually need moisture to stay healthy. I soak my healthy adult tortoises at least once a week, usually more frequently. Sick Russian tortoises usually need to be soaked more often. When I have hatchlings (*hopefully!*) they will need to be soaked twice daily!

Both torts basking... again. 

Can you tell that these two tortoises love to bask? The basking spot is 100 degrees F. They move into the hot spot to warm up, then wander around their enclosure for a while, until they decide to warm up again.

Christmas week's tortoise food from the local produce store. 

I normally either collect or grow my own tortoise food, but I knew that Christmas week would be very busy, so I bought cactus pad, endive lettuce, collard greens, and kohlrabi (the torts only got the leaves of that, we ate the rest).  In addition to offering a wide variety of foods, I sprinkle TNT over my tortoises' food to make sure they get all the necessary nutrients and trace elements. 

Red leaf lettuce is only an occasional treat in our tortoise household...

Mila and Jill look like hungry hungry hippos when they eat. They are so greedy, and so cute! In the above picture you can see them eating some red leaf lettuce - because it is 'soft' and has a lot of water, it is not recommended to feed it to them too often, but as an occasional treat, mixed in with collards and kale and dandelions, it is fine. 

Nom-nom-nom-nom!

It is especially funny to me when my tortoises end up eating the same leaf, and then look at each other all surprised when they meet in the middle, Lady-and-the-Tramp-style.