The Caviar

Someone asked me how does Slow Coach and Charlie’s caviar look like? Does it look like does tiny red eggs on a sushi? Well, actually the caviar that my tortoises eat is more like caviar in its most original form. The tiny white eggs are contained in a sac taken from the fish stomach.

I’ve attached a picture of the caviar that Slow Coach and Charlie are going to eat tonight. It’s a delicacy for them. Makes them go crazy! They like to eat it raw just like sushi.

Star Tortoises in the Making

You won’t believe this! One of my friends has caught the shutter bug’s fever. She asked me if I would like to be her model. Well, though I would love the chance to flex my hair and pout my lips, I don’t know if I still have what it takes to grace the glossy covers, considering the extra flaps here and there. Hehe!

Instead, I asked her if she would like to capture pictures of my tortoises in action, though tortoises have very limited facial expressions. Their most common expression being the cool smile formed by the natural upward slant on both sides of their beaks. Nevertheless, my friend has accepted my counter offer. I sure am one helluva good publicity manager. Hak!

I plan to use the fish oil (from my Sevenseas supplement capsule) to polish up Slow Coach and Charlie’s shells to bring out their shine during their photo shoot. If that doesn’t work, I’m using Kiwi shoe polish. Yeah, shine like a star!

Tortoise Anatomy

Found an interesting picture that I want to share with all the tortoise lovers.

This is the closest of how a tortoise looks on an X-ray. It is interesting to know that the shell is actually the tortoise’s rib cage & it forms part of the spine that runs along its back ending at the tail.

The empty space inside the shell contains the internal organs and liquid. So, you can imagine how important the shell is to a tortoise. A broken shell is equivalent to a broken spine! I saw on a documentary show before that if you can seal a tortoise cracked shell with the help of Super glue and allow time to slowly heal its injury, the tortoise may just survive.

Remember to always be gentle when you handle your tortoise. =)

The Great Escapes

Slow Coach has performed some very interesting escape tricks.

Escape #1: The suicide climb from her tub.

I ignored her many failed attempts to climb out of her old tub because I needed her to deposit her golden poos before she can roam free in the house. She used her chin to 'hook' onto the top side of the tub while her 2 front claws scrambled to push herself up so that her 2 hind legs could catch hold of the side of the tub. She then used her chin (again) to prevent herself from slipping back into the tub when her attempts failed. This resulted in a cut on her chin & I had to send her into the animal hospital on emergency at 11:30pm for the doctor to put a plaster on her chin to stop the bleeding. I didn’t have any tortoise's size plasters. She was put under observation there for 3 days 2 nights (like a holiday package man for her – I guess she had slept in the dog’s cage). Cost me RM150!!!

3 days, 2 night and RM150 later, she was discharged from the hospital & once again broken the newly healed skin on her chin on her 2nd attempt to climb out of her tub. This time, I applied the blue colour liquid (iodine) on her chin & took her out onto the balcony. A few minutes later, the bleeding had stopped & she was happily strolling on the balcony.

Now, she eats in a new blue tub which has lower sides so that she could climb out easier. Anyway, she hates her old tub. Maybe because it's red colour. =P

Escape #2: The side push

She tried to climb out from the living room to the balcony via the grille door. Grilles are vertical & close to each other. Her shell is wider than the grilles. How did she escape? She turn her shell sideways with one side of her front & back legs dangling in the air (say left side) & the other side (right side) are on the floor. Dangling legs claw for the side of the grilles & pushed herself out. Voila, tortoise on the run!

Escape #3: Sky diving

She did the same stunt in #2, except it was the grilles ON the balcony. The ones that were supposed to prevent her from straying beyond the balcony into...erm...open space. She landed on the ground floor. Finally, she had a taste of gravity & the notion of heights. She also got the shocked of her life. Peed in her pants er..shell. She still climbs in/out from the living room to the balcony & vice versa but doesn't do the sky diving stunt anymore. =P

Escape #4: The head peeler

She was too naughty. Locked her in the toilet. She used her head to peal open the metal plate at the bottom of the wooden door. This is to prevent water from splashing out. The attempt resulted in a cut at the back of her neck. No blood sighted. Only a thin piece of skin peeled off.

Escape #5: The squeeze

She was too naughty...again. Gave her time out on the balcony. Closed the grilles & the sliding glass door. Did Stunt #2, then uses her head/shell/legs, find a gap between the glass door & the side of the wall, squeezes herself sideways in between & slowly uses her hind legs to push open the glass door.

Escape #6: The shell butt

Closed the wooden door leading to the prayer room to prevent our friend from digging up the ash (one of her favourite activities) incense container for one of the deities located at the lower part of the altar. Our friend uses her shell to push/bang on the door until it opens. Old doors aren’t made to last. The next time I saw her, I ran ahead of her to close the door. She picked up speed trying to out walk (running in tortoise speed). If I reach the door first and closed it, she turns to other places to play. But when I walk away, she goes back to the door to try her luck again.

Escape #7: The vertical climb

When she was a little tortoise, with a much smaller shell & better agility, she even climbed up the chicken netting before that we used to have in the kitchen to prevent stray cats from coming into the house. When I saw her she was already half way up.

Escape #8: The monkey bars

Same time back then, she used to live in a small plastic container with the opening on top. She would stand on her 2 hind legs while her 2 front legs reach for the top netting covering her container & did the monkey bar trick all the way to the middle of the cover where the opening was & lifted herself up.


I think I have gotten myself something more than a tortoise.....

Charlie's Recovered

Just a short note to all of Charlie's fan out there that he is no longer wheezing. He had a good session of sunbathing today and he will be sleeping indoor tonight. =)

Charlie’s Wheezing

It’s been raining everyday in the evenings. Many days it rained in the afternoons and then it rained again in the evenings. Certainly cools the weather.

Slow Coach and Charlie love to play in the rain. When it rains both of them will walk around on the balcony under the rain. Slow Coach especially likes to stick her head into the water puddles and does her stunt of drinking water through her nose. Haha! They are not afraid of the thunders and lightning. The heavy raindrops falling onto their shells are like God’s way of giving them a good massage. They just love it.

However, Charlie is a little softie. He needs a lot of warmth after playing in the rain. Otherwise, he will catch a cold like today. He is wheezing like an asthmatic patient. Can you believe it? A tortoise wheezes. Oh, they fart too. A little bit of bubble popping sound in the water but no smell though. Haha! Just nice for you to know that too. =)

As there isn’t much sun these days and it rains everyday, the weather has been rather cold for Charlie. Tortoises are cold blooded animals; therefore they need external heat to keep themselves warm. So, tomorrow I will have to get Charlie to bask in the sun to dry his lungs.

Visitor

Today Slow Coach and Charlie had a visitor. My friend, Little Cloud dropped by for a visit in the early evening. Though Little Cloud started off as my friend, eventually she became my tortoises’ friend when I introduced them to her last year. She loves to listen to me telling her their mischievous antics.

She even brought them little gifts! Today, she brought them home cooked skinless fillet chicken meat!!! What do I get? 3 mangoes. *pouting*

I fed Slow Coach and Charlie the chicken meat for dinner just now. I took a small bite at the meat, curious what flavour it was. Guess what? The chicken tasted like those in Caesar Salad!

Huh, lucky buggers!

Slow Coach’s Personal Chopsticks

Do tortoises bite? Many people believe that when a tortoise bites, it will only let go when the thunder roars. On the contrary, you don't really need the thunder to save you.

Generally, tortoises do not bite unless provoked. Well trained pet tortoises are gentle animals. As long as you do not abuse them, they will not open their mouth and threaten to bite you when you approach them. After all, it is only natural to protect themselves from danger.

Of all the 11 years that Slow Coach has been with us, she had just bitten me once and I have to stress that it was an accident. She was overly excited when I showed her a piece of raw luncheon meat. I hand feed her personally every meal. It was her first introduction to raw meat and she was only 3 years old. I thought she had wanted to taste a small bite of the meat but I guess the seduction of the juicy meat was too great to keep her cool. She took a bite a little too large for me to handle and ended up accidentally bitten my finger but as soon as she realized that, she quickly withdrew herself. No thunder needed. Hehe!

Though it was just a bite, nonetheless my finger bled a little. Tortoises in the wild eat small fish, fruits and leaves. They do not have any teeth to chew like us. Instead, they have blade-like beaks. The cut on my finger looked more like a paper-cut. So, it was not a big deal. Anyway, Slow Coach was sorry for the accident. She was a bit shy to take the second bite. I had to coax her before she lightened up and gobbled up the rest of the luncheon meat.

The next day, Slow Coach has her own set of chopsticks for her meals. I realized she has grown quite a bit and I should be more careful when feeding her in the future.

However, the Alligator Snapping Tortoise is totally another story. It is the ugliest, fiercest and most vicious tortoise in the tortoise kingdom. Imagine it being equivalent to a shark. The Alligator Snapping Tortoises have powerful jaws and can bite off a finger. They will attack and eat just about anything. They are not something that you can play a fool with. Most importantly, they are not suitable as pets. I saw one in the petshop recently and I don't think I would dare to feed it at all. Nope. Not even with the chopsticks.

The Fan Dance

Once again I was clueless as to Charlie’s gender when I first got him. That was why I had named him Charlie. In case he turns out to be a female, well Charlie can be the nick name for Charlene. Fast thinking, huh?

Charlie’s growth picked up speed soon after he joined the family, eating up to 5 times a day! His favourite food when he was growing up was KFC’s chicken nugget. =)

It was only when Charlie grew to a considerable size before he was introduced to Slow Coach for fear that she would squashed him in case she tramples over him or stacks herself on top of his shell sunbathing.

When Charlie was introduced to Slow Coach, he was curious of her. He sniffed her out from head to tail and followed her around consistently. She hated his attention. *Ouch* Every time he goes near her trying to get to know her better by sniffing her, she pushes him away and then walks the opposite direction from him. Sure took a long time for them to be friends.

They may be friends now but Slow Coach still prefers to have her own tub. She likes privacy. A lot! She will not hesitate to kick him with her hind legs or push him with her front legs just to get him out of her private chamber.

Then, one fine day… something that I had not seen before happened. I was observing the both of them on the balcony having their daily walk. I noticed Charlie kept circling Slow Coach before stopping in front of her. Then, he started vibrating his front out-stretched claws. Either Charlie was desperately trying to get Slow Coach’s attention or he was trying to pick a fight with Slow Coach. Their eyes were locked onto each others’. I was certain there were sparks flying between the two of them.

Romance or feud? None of them. Once again, Slow Coach, the ice queen pushed Charlie out of her way and continued on her morning walk. Sorry for the anti-climax. =P

That same day, the same scene repeated itself every time Charlie found Slow Coach in his proximity. I googled and found out that Charlie was actually performing the fan dance for Slow Coach, which is part of the tortoise mating ritual.

Then, I added one to one together and I came to a very important conclusion. No, make that an important discovery. Here’s my hypothesis:

Female tortoises lay eggs.
Slow Coach lays eggs.
Therefore, Slow Coach is a female.

Male tortoises do the fan dance to mate with female tortoises.
Charlie was trembling his claws like a Parkinson patient.
Therefore, Charlie is a male tortoise!


I am happy that Slow Coach has finally found a partner to enjoy some mating rituals with, though she isn’t too impressed by his dancing skill.

Huh, she’s a girl?!

Slow Coach’s true identity was actually revealed by accident. There are many birds in my residential areas like a few king fishers, mynas, pigeons and the pesky crows, of course. Naturally, one could spot bird nests on the trees nearby. Sometimes, I would find a bird nest on the giant bougainvillea plant in my garden. Many times I had found bird eggs there. I think it belongs to my favourite pair black and white mynas. Mr. and Mrs. Myna are wonderful singers. Every morning their sweet melodies fill the tranquil air. It’s a wonderful feeling to wake up to chirpy mornings, thanks to the mynas.

One day I found an egg on my balcony. I looked around but couldn’t find any nests nearby where the egg could have fallen from and the size of the egg was a little big to belong to a bird. The only other creature who roams the balcony was Slow Coach. I couldn’t believe my tortoise laid an egg. I thought she was a male?! Even her doctor said so.

It was only when I saw her pushing the egg out from her tail did I believed that my Slow Coach is a female. Geez, can’t believe everything a doctor say, can I?

Tortoise eggs are long and white in colour. You can see the orange yolk from the thin almost transparent white shell. When the eggs are laid, they felt warm and soft. It only hardens after a few minutes. If you leave it, the egg will become dented after a few days. Each time, Slow Coach would lay 1 to 2 eggs but it could be up to 4 eggs in one day.

As Slow Coach’s eggs are not fertilized, I let Slow Coach and Charlie eat them. They love eggs. There is no wastage at all because they even eat the egg shell as it is still soft when newly laid. Once Charlie found out that Slow Coach lays eggs, he started waiting behind her tail for his protein fix. Sometimes, when Slow Coach has not been laying eggs for a while, Charlie would bite her tail, as if asking her, “Hey babe, where’s my food?”. Hah, typical male!

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Today I had Hainanese chicken rice for lunch. What has chicken rice got to do with my tortoises? A lot.

Last count on their food inventory - this morning:

Tortoise pellets: 1 tablespoon full (that’s enough to feed Charlie only)

Crabsticks: Nil

Now, before you get any wrong ideas, I had replenished their food supply the Sunday before last week. I had actually bought a large pack of crabsticks for them from the market at Mil’s (mum in-law) place. It’s just that yours truly here have been quite absent minded lately. I kind of forgotten to take the crabsticks home with me after dinner 2 Sundays in a row! *shaking head at myself*

Had I not eaten chicken rice today, I think I will have to ransack mum’s freezer for her smoke sausages which she has reserved to make fried rice this coming weekend. However, those buggers in the green shells prefer chicken meat floss over sausages. I guess, it must have something to do with the meat textures because Charlie especially tends to bite a little too hard into the cut sausages, often resulting in the sausage meat being stuck in his beak.

~ Menu for tonight: 1/3 portion skinless chicken breast meat floss (Hainanese style) ~

Ps: I finished the rice and 2/3 of the chicken. What to do… All in the name of L-O-V-E!

Chicken Soup for the Tortoises

Tortoises like human welcome a change of menu once in a while to keep them stimulated. Slow Coach and Charlie love meat. No vegetable, please. They would rather fast than swallow a piece of green leaf.

Tonight, Slow Coach and Charlie are having chicken soup (minus the soup) for dinner. Actually, they are sharing the chicken from our soup. They are our de facto back-up in case we can’t finish our food. That is meat only, of course. Vegetable is totally out of the question.

I shred the chicken meat into small pieces, like chicken floss. It is important that I remember to add a dash of soy sauce onto the meat for seasoning. Both Slow Coach and Charlie are picky eaters. Especially Slow Coach. The first time when I fed them meat from the soup, they refused to eat. They took a sniff at the meat and then looked at me.

It was as if they were telling me, “Hey dude, can’t expect me to eat that chicken, man. It’s totally tasteless!”

Then, I tried to add a little soy sauce onto the meat and voila! They finished their food. Mum wasn’t exactly pleased of the soy sauce intervention. It took me a while to convince her that there was nothing wrong with her cooking. =P

They sure have distinctive palates for tortoises. =)

Introducing Charlie!

I adopted Charlie when Slow Coach was about 4 years old. One day, my childhood friend asked me if I would consider having another tortoise to accompany Slow Coach since Harriet, her first mate, had already gone to heaven.

Ms. Childhood had bought him for a bet with her colleagues. A bet that Charlie could stay afloat in the water for 2 weeks! What a cruel thing to do to a poor baby tortoise. Baby tortoises have soft shells and they should not stay in the water for too long. Charlie had been staying afloat in the little portable plastic tank which had been filled to the brim with water for a week already when Ms. Childhood brought up the adoption question.

I had agreed to adopt Charlie on the condition that Ms. Childhood would call off her bet immediately. Charlie arrived at my doorstep that same night.

Charlie was a timid, insecure and aggressive little tortoise when he first arrived. He opened his mouth (beak) every time he was picked up, ready to strike even the hand that feeds him. It took a while to retrain him and regain his trust. Can’t blame him after what he had gone through within the first 2 weeks of his life.

Now Charlie eats from my hand directly, just like Slow Coach. What a long way we have gone together. Sometimes, he will stretch out his neck and enjoys a stroke or two on his head.

Probably because of his past, Charlie looks different from the rest. The front and back of his shell curve out, like the letter ‘W’, giving him the rebellious look. Don’t let his look fools you because Charlie is really a very sweet tortoise.