Greeks vs Russians

This sunny weather the past few days has been so nice. It was still a little chilly, but I decided to let the tortoises tank up a bit of good old 'real' sunshine. The 4 Russian tortoises had a BLAST, climbing and running all over the place. Boo, our Greek tortoise, on the other hand... well...

"I'm not coming out. You can't make me."

Boo spent the ENTIRE time hiding in his shell. I don't let my Greek interact with my Russians, mainly to prevent them from trading pathogens. They have separate tortoise tables in separate rooms, and I wash hands between handling them. One of the Russians managed to cross over into Greek lawn territory, however...

"Hey! You look different!"

Mila was very curious about Boo, she sniffed his shell, and then tried to bulldoze the side of his shell. When she started to circle him and moved towards him with her mouth open in classic territorial defense, I separated them. Boo probably didn't notice any of this - he remained snuggly tucked into his shell the whole time.

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.