New Habitat

Our tortoises are finally home after their exciting vacation. They had a lot of fun meeting new people, fish, and even some dogs. They came back to the watershed room with some souvenirs. their daytime habitat now has 2 plants (cactus), and a new material for bedding. The bedding is a mixture of sand, soil, and substrate. Pictures of the new bedding will be available soon.

Spring Break Plans

Our tortoises have exciting spring break plans! They are going to Lexi's house! Lexi takes care of our tortoises most of the time, so they would feel right at home. Rocky and Wise can't stay at school over break, because no one is there to take care of them. When asked about Rocky and Wise's spring break plans this is what Lexi had to say, "They will go on an african safari and see many species of exotic fish." Rocky and Wise will depart from our classroom at 3:00 on Friday, and are expected to arrive at their destination at about 3:05. Bon Voyage!

Tortoise OUTSIDE the classroom

Now that the weather is getting warmer, our tortoises are starting to explore outside of our classroom. We try to get them outside as often as possible to expose them to UV rays. They enjoy our small grassy yard, although we don't let them eat any plants.

Your daily dose Vitamin Torts

Today we are going to bathe them at CRT (Community Resource Time- basically a "study hall"/free time period). We use this time to complete our daily husbandry procedures for our tortoises. This weekend, we are going to look into ways that we can improve their environment.

Also, Wise learned a new trick- he eats out of our hands! We gave him a carrot today so he would have a chance to chew on something other than a leafy green. We'd like to get something for him to wear his beak down as it is longer than it should be.

We Have Visitors!

Today 2nd graders from Mr. Hoover's (A teacher interested in our trout), came to visit us. They were very interested in how much our trout had grown since November, when they last saw them. We introduced them to Rocky & Wise, and showed them the work we had done on our blog. Wise was very shy, but Rocky seemed interested in the 2nd graders. We hope to have them come back soon! Also, we'd like to thank Ben and his family for bringing in a heat lamp for our wonderful tortoises!

Second day of new diet!!!! :-)

Today is the second day of the new modified diet. We introduced some apples and grape tomatoes. They also really enjoyed the Endive and Radicchio (both are leafy greens). They also are getting a lot of exercise.

<----- the tortoises exploring the Darby creek watershed : )

Lets hope the sun will come out tomorrow so we can put them outside for some vitamin D.!

(Rocky typing his first story and looking at the blog! Someday he will be famous!)

BATH TIME!!!!!

Yesterday we gave Rocky and Wise a bath ( soak). What we do when we give them a bath is we take a tub and fill it with just a little water and let them soak for about a hour while they evacuating their bowels (do their business).

Their new food consists of...

• Endive
• Escarole
• Radicchio (their favorite)
• Kale
• Collards
• Banana ( for a treat)
• Yellow Squash

Thank you to the people that have already brought stuff in for the tortoises and to people that volunteered to bring things in.

Thanks!!!!

Meet Rocky & Wise

As promised, we're going to introduce our tortoises!

We have 2 Male Russian Tortoises (scientific name: Testudo* Horsfieldii) named Rocky and Wise. They have been living together all 10 years of their lives. Rocky has a friendly personality and likes to hide under things and explore. Wise is calmer but equally as curious.
Rocky's shell is more roughed up and 'distressed' looking than Wise's, which has more of a grid pattern to it. Wise seems to love tomato's, but we will only give it to him as a treat.


Mrs. Agner is expecting an email tomorrow from an exotic veterinarian that she used to work with about their husbandry care. We will post the email tomorrow! once we get our instructions from an expert we will set up their new habitat!



(*Fun Fact: Testudo is the name of the mascot for University of Maryland!)


(Pictures coming soon! :) )

About Our Blog!

Why did we create it?

To give people the information they need to properly care for their Russian Tortoises, and to keep a log of ours!!

Do we have any other blogs?

Yes, we have a Trout in the Classroom blog. You can find it at: http://watershedtrout.blogspot.com/

How did we get the tortoises?

A former Watershed student is going off to college next fall and gave us the tortoises so that we could care for them.

What are some common misconceptions about tortoises?

~ Substrate: CareFresh, Newspaper, and other similar beddings all dehydrate a tortoise and are the worst choices. A better option would be a 50/50 mix (by weight) of sand and garden loam (or instead of loam, coconut coir).


~They do not drink. The do NOT absorb all of their water from soaking (which must be done a few times a week). They will drink while they are soaking if they are dehydrated.


~ They just need a regular light bulb. This is false! They need a UV light to get their regular intake of vitamin D.

In the picture: (from left to right)

Lexi and Leigh holding Rocky, and Zoë holding Wise.

See our next blog post to meet our tortoises!

Keep Checking Back!

Sincerely,

The (self-proclaimed) Tortoise Committee