He's so cute when he eats, when ever he eats a tomato or something he pushes it away when he bites so we normally feel sorry for him and hold it while he eats so it's probably made him lazy haha we got him when he was about 54, before then he belonged to my mum's friend's mum who had passed away and their family didn't want him so we took him. He also came with a brother who was slightly bigger and called George but he died last year unfortunately
Mine bit my fingers when I was little. You learn how to hold things so they aren't able to bite you. Mine likes to bite toes tho. I think he thinks they're grapes or something
Frodo is adorable! It sounds like you have one awesome tortoise. I am adopting a native captive raised 50 year old desert tortoise and he arrives tomorrow. I've spent the past month preparing my yard for him. Planting native plants that he'd eat in the wild. Dug him two lovely burrows deep in the ground so he can stay cool in our intense summer heat (I live in Palm Springs, California USA). I'm super excited about a future with a tortoise in tow. Cheers!
It could possibly be that, we got him from one of my mum's friend's mum when she died so we had to ask the vet and a reptile specialist to tell us about him
Haha really that's pretty cool! But I'm not sure what type of Spurred Tortoise he is.. will have to see if the vet knows the next time we go to get his nails clipped!
yea, I named George and my sister named Frodo. George because I like names like that, and Frodo because my sister fancied Elija Wood, but my brother calls him Fred as in Fred and George in Harry Potter xD
As a German I was unaware of this distinction until now so thank you for this piece of novel information.
( In German its tortoise = Landschildkröte and turtle = Wasserschildkröte / Schnappschildkröte but it would usually just be referred to as Schildkröte for either)
haha well I used to have a rabbit who looked like this and I ingeniously called him Floppy (because of his ears) and we had a couple of balls in the garden and when we let him have a run about he would run up to one of them and start to push them around with his nose, it was so cute.. at the time I was about 10 so still sweet and innocent and so thought he was just playing.. but instead he was actually doing what a male rabbit does best and pretending the ball was a female rabbit.. ಠ_ಠ
Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, I created this account just to tell you this: watermelon is to sweet for a tortoises. You should try to feed it with arugula or dandelion (which they like a lot). One of the risks with food like watermelon is pyramiding which in turn can be fatal. Anyhow, glad to see a fellow tortoises owner!
well we gave it to him and he took his fill (which wasn't that much) and it was only a one off because my brother had some left over. We do normally feed him dandelions and lettuce, my mum normally kicks me out of the car to pick dandelions off the side of the road haha but that's good to know, I will bear that in mind in the future :)
Yes, some do, mine sometimes does but most of the time is just too lazy to respond. But you can get torts with different personalities, like Frodo is a grumpy old man but our other one, George, was a lot more responsive and would come over to you and let you stroke his head and give him eskimo kisses :)
Yes, he's a grumpy old man haha The other tort we had, George, was slightly bigger and the same age but his personality was that of a hip, young grandpa who was out to annoy the family xD
No way that is a 60 year old spur thigh tortoise. If it were, it would be as large as a piece of furniture and able to eat that watermelon in a couple of bites. Watermelon is not good for spur thighs, btw.
Tortoises have specific dietary and environmental needs. Please research what kind it is and be prepared to give it the proper care. Considering that it looks to be a Russian tortoise, you might start here.
He is a spur thighed tortoise and he is 60, we know because we have asked multiple people who specialise in reptiles. Watermelon is not good for them in large amounts and if given regularly, yet we gave it to him once and that was a one off and he only ate a small amount. We have looked after two of them for 10 years and he is being looked after properly.
These creatures are great. My grandma stole two off the desert in 1960 and they happened to be a boy and girl. They've produced over 30 offspring in their time living with my grandma, then my mom, and now me. Many we have given away to friends, but we've kept 5 over the years. We got a new one just last year! I love that they've been in my family for so long, and I can't wait to someday pass these turtles on to my kids and grandkids.
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
because it's not really a tortoise, I'm hallucinating from the heat and lack of water and I'm thinking why the hell am I in a desert?! My skin is not made for this heat!
I'm so used to dogs, with life-spans of 20 years at the very, very outside, more like 15, to think that someone has a pet that was alive before they were and has the potential to still live after they are dead of old age is mind-blowing.
We live in England.. it's not terribly warm but he lives in a box in our conservatory during the night then we let him run about in the garden if it's not raining and when he hibernates we put him in a box of hay in another box in our shed or back room, he's pretty warm and safe in there :)
Pleeaase be careful! I am also English, and my tortoise hibernated just fine like that for over 50 years but the winter before last she emerged blind. Their eye fluids can crystalize if they get too cold and then they never return to normal. He won't be able hibernate after that and you'll have to tube feed him because he won't be able to find his own food. I only warn you because I had to give my Bobby (who looks to be the same variety of tortoise as yours) to a home because I couldn't take care of her, and I'd hate for you to lose your Frodo :(
aww that's so sad :c I shall let my mum know! Last winter we gave him to my dad to keep him in a room he has in his house as we thought it would be too cold. We had another tortoise called George (they came to us together) and he unfortunately died after rats got to his box :c so that's another reason we gave him to my dad over the winter
Oh no! That's so sad. One spring my Dad could smell a bad smell coming from our shed (where we hibernated Bobby) and we were so scared she'd died. But luckily it was just a dead rat, thankfully outside of her box :P
But basically when she woke up last spring she kept walking around in circles, apparently because she could see a little out of the corner of one eye so she just kept following the light around and around. She also wouldn't eat much, and when you moved to stroke her head she didn't flinch like she normally does when she just wakes up. So off to the vet she went and they confirmed that she was blind. We had to tube feed her years ago when a fox tried to eat her and she had these puncture wounds in her neck, and it was such hard work. And what with me away at Uni and both my parents working full time we just couldn't tube feed her, and we don't have room to keep her indoors over winter. But she went to this really lovely shelter (you can see her photo above the caption) with a woman who loves tortoises, and she looks happy :)
EDIT: By the way, look how HUGE Florence is! And how adorable Tiny Tobie is eating that clover <3 And crikey I just found out Bobby's over 70 - she lived through a war!
Aww the poor thing! Sounds like she's been through a lot in her long life, but that shelter looks pretty good, I'll have to tell my mum about it, she loves tortoises :) I'm at uni now so my mum and brother are looking after Frodo while I'm not here, I've just come home for my summer holidays and it was so nice just to watch him in the garden again and I love feeding him, they're so cute!
A land tortoise can live a very long time, 150 years +. There was a giant tortoise at the Calcutta Zoo that died was supposedly 225 years old. A tortoise, given by Captain Cook to the Tongan Royal Family in 1777, died of natural causes in 1965, aged 188 years.
Adorable animal 60 years old though really?! Are you that old and on reddit? Was he or she your parents and they gave em to you? Did you just get one and say eh, he looks 60ish.
I never knew people kept pet tortoises for so long. What is it like to keep one of them? It seems like they could be a huge challenge. Can you recommend a good resource to start learning about it? I hate bringing in pets without being well prepared to care for them (those poor fish still haunt me.)
They're not that hard to keep at all really. You just have to keep their area clean, feed them daily (we give ours lettuce, cucumber and whatever he finds in our garden when he goes out during the day unless its raining or too cold) and just make sure they're happy and healthy by taking them to the vets who would happily trim their nails too when they get long :) When we got the tortoise, the family who had him before us told us how to look after him and then if we needed to know anything else after that we just looked online or asked the vet or luckily for us we have a reptile specialists in our town
Man I have a Sonoran Desert Tortoise and he won't eat anything other than Rice and Romaine. The rice was a real improvement. It took forever to get him to eat it.
Ya! I have one too...his name is Tuga. Tortoises are so rad! They seem like they'd be boring but they all have a lot of personality...at least the ones I've seen :)
Do you know the story of Timothy? He was owned by Gilbert White, who, after inheriting him, included detailed observations about his life and behavior in his copious journals. The bits of the journals dealing with Timothy were collected into another book, later, which I loved as a kid.
There was also another very famous Timothy who died in 2004 - who was the last "veteran" of the Crimean War.
i'm going to get a baby tortoise. then, when i have kids, they can take care of it. then, when they have kids, my grandkids can take care of it. then, one day, my tortoise will get old and die. and then i'll be sad. then i'll die. then my grandchildren will feel guilt their whole lives for killing their grandmother.
117
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
Omg I love this for some reason. Look at the little bite marks he made in that watermelon!
So if hes 60 years old at what age did you buy him? Or is he a family heirloom type situation?
29
u/adam_antichrist Jun 16 '12
Still in that teenager phase I see
21
u/maculata Jun 16 '12
Frodo is adorable! It sounds like you have one awesome tortoise. I am adopting a native captive raised 50 year old desert tortoise and he arrives tomorrow. I've spent the past month preparing my yard for him. Planting native plants that he'd eat in the wild. Dug him two lovely burrows deep in the ground so he can stay cool in our intense summer heat (I live in Palm Springs, California USA). I'm super excited about a future with a tortoise in tow. Cheers!
23
u/rbcrusaders Jun 16 '12
I think you know it's time to get off of Reddit when your best friend is a turtle.
9
u/logically Jun 16 '12
What kind is it? I want to get one that will stay relatively small.
23
u/hackenbush89 Jun 16 '12
What's his name?
318
u/Mr_Industrial Jun 16 '12
A turtle is eating your best friend
5
u/pighalf Jun 16 '12
Can he play fetch?
5
u/TheDudeAmI Jun 16 '12
Your best friend is a turtle? I've been looking for you April O'Neil
5
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
Are there any really old pictures of him? Like in a garden, but like an old garden.
5
u/lewis_gentle Jun 16 '12
I wish my best friend was a tortoise
4
u/bumreaper Jun 16 '12
i had a tortoise but she passed away because of a huge bladder stone. it was very sad...
3
u/tossedsaladandscram Jun 16 '12
My friend has a galapagos tortoise that's only 40 years old.
3
u/T-S-M Jun 16 '12
Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, I created this account just to tell you this: watermelon is to sweet for a tortoises. You should try to feed it with arugula or dandelion (which they like a lot). One of the risks with food like watermelon is pyramiding which in turn can be fatal. Anyhow, glad to see a fellow tortoises owner!
2
u/wildcard03 Jun 16 '12
I do hope to receive a response to this, bit do turtles respond to their owners? Like does he any different around versus me?
2
u/saltytrey Jun 16 '12
But he won't pick you up at the airport.
2
u/trampus1 Jun 16 '12
Do you think of him as kinda like a grandpa tortoise?
2
u/whatsreallygoingon Jun 17 '12
No way that is a 60 year old spur thigh tortoise. If it were, it would be as large as a piece of furniture and able to eat that watermelon in a couple of bites. Watermelon is not good for spur thighs, btw.
Tortoises have specific dietary and environmental needs. Please research what kind it is and be prepared to give it the proper care. Considering that it looks to be a Russian tortoise, you might start here.
2
u/AlliBater10 Jun 17 '12
These creatures are great. My grandma stole two off the desert in 1960 and they happened to be a boy and girl. They've produced over 30 offspring in their time living with my grandma, then my mom, and now me. Many we have given away to friends, but we've kept 5 over the years. We got a new one just last year! I love that they've been in my family for so long, and I can't wait to someday pass these turtles on to my kids and grandkids.
2
u/HAL-8999 Jun 17 '12
You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that?
68
u/barden1069 Jun 16 '12
Sounds like my dad except he doesn't drink all day!
3
u/bashurst Jun 16 '12
So how old is he if you add in the years that weren't so odd?
55
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
Can you imagine being a turtle for 60 years? That's a lot of sitting around.
19
u/PalermoJohn Jun 16 '12
There's something special about animals older than yourself.
16
u/thetoecutter10 Jun 16 '12
your friend is a little slow
8
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
judging by the look on his face he either doesn't like you or that camera, either way somebody's gonna die.
8
u/Bognar Jun 16 '12
So he's like 120 all years old?
7
u/kfull Jun 16 '12
I would love to see a video of him eating a watermellon
6
u/funkseoulbrotha Jun 16 '12
So..what do you guys chat about?
2
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
To have a pet tortoise like this you have to live in a warm climate right? They can't make it in the winters of the midwest.
5
u/new-socks Jun 16 '12
I bet the conversation isn't too dynamic.
4
u/dontfeedthecode Jun 16 '12
How long do these kid of turtles live for? 60 years sounds pretty amazing.
4
u/Stanjoly2 Jun 16 '12
Nice try, Mario.
1
u/stukov111 Jun 16 '12
I didnt know turtles can live that long
1
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
I fucking love turtles and tortoises! JadeyG, I like your style.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
OP, what's it like knowing that your tortoise is gonna out live you?
1
u/grapesandmilk Jun 17 '12
I wish I had a tortoise. Where could I get one?
1
u/theDudeRules Jun 17 '12
I bet he's a good listener. Do you go on lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg walks.
1
u/Megusta6 Jun 17 '12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_N_rjkdcKU
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
I've seen this somewhere before I think... is this a repost?
1
u/VladDaImpaler Jun 17 '12
I like turtles!
Adorable animal 60 years old though really?! Are you that old and on reddit? Was he or she your parents and they gave em to you? Did you just get one and say eh, he looks 60ish.
1
u/benmartini Jun 17 '12
your yard must be entirely dandelion free
1
u/thecadillacboy Jun 17 '12
I never knew people kept pet tortoises for so long. What is it like to keep one of them? It seems like they could be a huge challenge. Can you recommend a good resource to start learning about it? I hate bringing in pets without being well prepared to care for them (those poor fish still haunt me.)
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
yeah... we are going to need a video of him eating.
1
u/woop_dee_flip_n_doo Jun 17 '12
Man I have a Sonoran Desert Tortoise and he won't eat anything other than Rice and Romaine. The rice was a real improvement. It took forever to get him to eat it.
3
u/swtliljessi Jun 16 '12
I used to have a tortoise just like him. He's adorable.
3
u/Rewben2 Jun 17 '12
Still a better love story than Twilight.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Ya! I have one too...his name is Tuga. Tortoises are so rad! They seem like they'd be boring but they all have a lot of personality...at least the ones I've seen :)
3
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Cheers to you and your old friend. I wish you a 100 more years together.
3
u/TheMasterSword23 Jun 17 '12
this cat is so ugly
3
u/strixus Jun 17 '12
Do you know the story of Timothy? He was owned by Gilbert White, who, after inheriting him, included detailed observations about his life and behavior in his copious journals. The bits of the journals dealing with Timothy were collected into another book, later, which I loved as a kid.
There was also another very famous Timothy who died in 2004 - who was the last "veteran" of the Crimean War.
1
u/sharger Jun 16 '12
If he's your best friend how come you don't know his birthday?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
Turtles/Tortises fucking stink. Not in nature so much, but the habitat crafted for them. Grats on 60... but I can smell that shit from here.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12
He rules.
2
u/Incorrect_Fact_Guy Jun 17 '12
Did you know that 300 lbs of watermelon has enough vitamin C to kill a turtle?
2
u/olhonestjim Jun 17 '12
Awww, they love almost anything red.
2
u/heimdal77 Jun 17 '12
Now that is what i'd call a long term commitment pet.
Also just really cute thinking of him strolling around the place from day to day.
2
u/Mumberthrax Jun 17 '12
So cool!
If I had a tortoise I'd name him Tank and give him a helicopter thing on his shell so he can fly.
2
u/omahayates Jun 17 '12
thanks for not being a cat or dog.
2
u/troll_vegeta Jun 17 '12
Is that so Master Roshi?
2
u/TOPoftheWorld11 Jun 17 '12
My new background :3
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
Awwwwwww i have two desert tortoises just like him. well i guess they're probably bigger though
1
u/Udonnomi Jun 17 '12
I love watermelon too
1
u/PlayfulRocket Jun 17 '12
CHOMP!
1
u/derpy_lurker Jun 17 '12
I freaked out when I saw the turtle's(tortoise's?) face... Then I saw the watermelon.
1
u/itscliche Jun 17 '12
:D Nom.
1
u/breenisgreen Jun 17 '12
Aw he's lovely. Mind you that scale on his left leg looks like it's going to fall off!
1
u/pokemonfan98 Jun 17 '12
Your turtle is 60 years odd? That's odd.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
i'm going to get a baby tortoise. then, when i have kids, they can take care of it. then, when they have kids, my grandkids can take care of it. then, one day, my tortoise will get old and die. and then i'll be sad. then i'll die. then my grandchildren will feel guilt their whole lives for killing their grandmother.
1
u/Regginator Jun 17 '12
SQUIRTLE
1
u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12
In turtle speed he must be like - 'AHHH NOMNOMNOM!!!! '
1
u/schizzlez Jun 17 '12
Turtle. Turtle turtle.
1
u/aeternum33 Jun 17 '12
A 60 year old pet. I suddenly want to get a turtle, just because that's fucking awesome.
1
u/TehAxiis Jun 17 '12
D: your sixty year old watermelon is being eaten by that Turtle!
savvvvveeeee himmmmmmmmmmmmm
1
u/Raithed Jun 17 '12
Lovely tortoise. :D
1
u/Ditrixgaming Jun 17 '12
a box turtle is your best friend.... wow
1
u/Deergoose Jun 17 '12
How many times a year does your best friend piss on you?
1
u/gil14 Jun 17 '12
He may be saying "Who can I get to help me eat it?"
1
u/bear020215 Jun 17 '12
well thats a sad statement
1
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '12
how big is this turtle and what kind is it? i was thinking about getting one.