More adventures of Edith The Tortoise
The second time Pat went into hospital was really and truly a nightmare re-enactment of the first time. Same A&E, same ward, same stress, same excruciatingly hot weather and the tortoises went missing again!!!!! And as before, I was too stressed to think about looking for them.
But on day 2 of them being missing, I found Beryl and assumed she’d been around all along but I’d not been at home to see her. But I had to face up to it that Edith had been missing for 4 days. What I couldn’t work out was how she’d got out because Edith is the largest and if she’d managed to find a hole, why hadn’t Beryl gone through as well?
On day 5 of her being missing, I was outside looking for her when suddenly I heard a scratching noise and there was Edith - in the drain!! She must’ve fallen in and been in there for 5 days!! How awful did I feel? But she was fine and I washed her off and fed her and she was back to normal.
You may be wondering why I am now referring to Edith as she because I was so sure that she was a he!
As you know, I thought I had it sussed. Edith was seen shagging Beryl (I had photographic evidence!) but who did I spot laying eggs the other night? EDITH!! Confused or what????
There is no doubt that Edith is a girl - I saw the eggs actually coming out of her! (Quite exciting, actually!) What I also wondered was whether the eggs were likely to be fertile - bearing in mind that she hasn’t been near a male tortoise (the tortoise thief’s tortoise is also a girl - apparently) Apparently, they might be fertile because they can store the sperm for years inside them for later use (shame we can’t do that. Hey? Wouldn’t need IVF, then!)
I have read up about hatching out tortoise eggs. The old-fashioned thing is to put them in an airing cupboard, but we don’t have one. I could get an incubator and fuss about with that, but I cant be bothered, so they are still in the ground. I have a theory that at the moment, the temperatures are similar to those round the Med, where these tortoises originate from, so I’ll leave them be. If they are likely to hatch, it will be from 18th September onwards, so watch this space!
And to think I though tortoises were easy pets. They’ve been nothing but hassle from the day we got them! But they are sweet …;o))
Sarah
xx
PS You may be wondering why the shagging if Edith is a girl. Pat thinks it's a dominance thing - she was just showing Beryl who was boss!
But on day 2 of them being missing, I found Beryl and assumed she’d been around all along but I’d not been at home to see her. But I had to face up to it that Edith had been missing for 4 days. What I couldn’t work out was how she’d got out because Edith is the largest and if she’d managed to find a hole, why hadn’t Beryl gone through as well?
On day 5 of her being missing, I was outside looking for her when suddenly I heard a scratching noise and there was Edith - in the drain!! She must’ve fallen in and been in there for 5 days!! How awful did I feel? But she was fine and I washed her off and fed her and she was back to normal.
You may be wondering why I am now referring to Edith as she because I was so sure that she was a he!
As you know, I thought I had it sussed. Edith was seen shagging Beryl (I had photographic evidence!) but who did I spot laying eggs the other night? EDITH!! Confused or what????
There is no doubt that Edith is a girl - I saw the eggs actually coming out of her! (Quite exciting, actually!) What I also wondered was whether the eggs were likely to be fertile - bearing in mind that she hasn’t been near a male tortoise (the tortoise thief’s tortoise is also a girl - apparently) Apparently, they might be fertile because they can store the sperm for years inside them for later use (shame we can’t do that. Hey? Wouldn’t need IVF, then!)
I have read up about hatching out tortoise eggs. The old-fashioned thing is to put them in an airing cupboard, but we don’t have one. I could get an incubator and fuss about with that, but I cant be bothered, so they are still in the ground. I have a theory that at the moment, the temperatures are similar to those round the Med, where these tortoises originate from, so I’ll leave them be. If they are likely to hatch, it will be from 18th September onwards, so watch this space!
And to think I though tortoises were easy pets. They’ve been nothing but hassle from the day we got them! But they are sweet …;o))
Sarah
xx
PS You may be wondering why the shagging if Edith is a girl. Pat thinks it's a dominance thing - she was just showing Beryl who was boss!
posted by Sarah Bee @ 2:00 AM
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