Pet Stores

It's hard to get a Greek Tortoise anywhere else, so we go to pet stores, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Pet stores have numerous animals all in one place with pet accessories, pet care products, pet habitats, pet smells, and almost any other pet-related commodity you can think of! Those of us who love Greek Tortoises also have a love (if not of affection then of necessity) for the pet store around the corner.
Like many others, walking out the door of the pet store with a "new" Greek Tortoise stirred the same feelings experienced by a driver taking that beautiful new machine out of the dealership lot for the first time: excitement to the point of giddiness.  Unfortunately, not all pets in these stores are as brand new as one might hope, and none of them come with a five-year warranty.

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Greek Pyramids

"Pyramiding" is a condition that the experienced keeper of Greek Tortoises (or any chelonian for that matter) will surely know about. However, for novices, this affection is either unknown or at the very least misunderstood; until a few weeks ago, my level of comprehension was a lot closer to the latter.

I thought that Pyramiding was a general doming of the carapace, almost like a bubble was caught inside the shell and was gradually making it taller and more convex. I also was under the impression that pyramiding was caused by a diet severely lacking in nutrients and just abhorrently poor in general (something like using white bread, dog food, meat, or some other heinous "food").

Not so.

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A Tasty Treat

I don't understand why, but Hector and Phoebe love to bite our fingers.  In fact, sometimes to get them to eat something that we know they need but refuse to eat, we'll hold the food a little to the side of their heads so that our fingers are right in front of them.  Right before they chomp down we move the food into their mouths--success!  If they really don't like the food then they will spit it back out (which is quite funny to see since they can't "grab" food with fingers), but this technique usually convinces them that the food we're offering is worth-while.  I have an idea or two as to why they do this, but nothing too concrete.

An idea that I have is that they have formed such a strong association between our skin color and food (since we often, but not always, feed them by hand) that sometimes our skin looks even more enticing than the food we're offering.  The problem with this theory is the fact that they will continue to bite a finger for several minutes until they finally give up on the idea of getting any food for all the energy being spent (or they are tired of the salty taste of our skin).

Oddly enough, while Hector and Phoebe bring the total number of Greek Tortoises we have had to five, they are the only two that have ever exhibited this behavior.  If any of our past Greek Tortoises ever bit a finger it was on accident while we were feeding them.  (A notable exception to this rule occurred with Sampson I as seen here).

They don't even care how big the skin is, they just like to chew on it.

Yes, this hurt a little.

"What do I feed my Greek Tortoise?" Part 1

My wife and I didn't even worry about this question when we picked-up our first Greek Tortoise.  The answer was obvious: "Leftovers from our dinner salads, lettuce, probably some broccoli, and just about any other vegetable.  Right?"

Wrong.

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"The Early Tortoise Gets the Lettuce, Phoebe"

Hector, as always, got up before Phoebe, started eating before Phoebe, and left nothing before Phoebe (not much of a gentleman).  Phoebe's understandable disappointment is captured well in this photo.  I can almost hear Hector taunting her.

Fortunately, it was just an early-morning snack that I gave Hector since Phoebe will sometimes sleep in relatively late. When I saw that Phoebe was up (and after I captured this poignant moment) I gave them both a proper breakfast.

They are both quite active this morning.  Phoebe is clambering over the rocks, looking quite unbalanced while trying to move a flat shell over a very uneven surface.

She just fell over backwards!  I need to get a webcam for these two, they do too many hilarious things that happen too fast to capture in a picture.