See you in the spring

[woolymonkey]

Speedy, the tortoise, has been too quick for me. Before I could put him in a nice box in the shed, he made his own arrangements in the garden. Partly in case I need to find him before spring, here's where he went. (Lower left, where they soil looks crumbly.)



At the time, a couple of weeks ago, we were enjoying a warm sunny autumn and Speedy was still (relatively) frisky. Normally, if I put him in his box before November, he just tips it over and climbs out again, so I was amazed to find he'd put himself to bed in mid-October.

But seeing what the weather's been like the last couple of days, I reckon he knew what he was doing.

Comments

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

I believe in the wild they bury themselves to escape the hot summer, but pet ones in Britain have adapted to do it the other way around.
Back in the 70s, people were bringing in wild tortoises, mostly from Morocco and Spain, to be sold as pets here. Most of them died and the trade has rightly been banned.
Speedy is one of the survivors. He turned up in our garden when I was a child. We never traced where he came from (tortoises were common and boring back then). He's been looked after by various friends and relations, but he came back to me about 6 years ago. The garden here has brick walls - about the only thing you can rely on to keep a tortoise from escaping.
You're supposed to put them in a box in the shed for the winter, which I normally do, but I know he's fended for himself for most of the 30 years he's been with my family. I figure trying to dig him up now will likely do more harm than good.