$ making machine?

Dear Slow Coach & Charlie's fans,

Today I have accidentally come upon a website (inspired by Tristan Louis's research) to test how much Tortoise-Tales.com is worth. Guess what? This humble blog is worth $564.54. What a pleasant surprise! =)

Soon, Slow Coach & Charlie can go supermarket shopping for their food with their own $ & maybe take me out for a nice seafood dinner. =)

Cheers everyone!

Slow Coach & Co. - Wedding services

Dream of having a unique wedding? Allow us to gracefully lead you & the love of your life to walk down the aisle of eternal bliss.

Services include:

1) A pair of well-mannered tortoises (1 male & 1 female) - Very friendly. Not known to bite strangers. Welcome pats on the shell. Eagerly accept rewards by hand (handfed crabsticks/cockerals/prawns,anchovies, etc.)

2) Well-groomed & highly presentable - perfectly manicured nails, well-polished shells with fish oil & always smiling.

3) Customary ceremonial costume - Double happiness & bright red ribbon tastefully decorated on their shells.

4) Western ceremonial costume - Black butterfly bow for male & flower of your choice with soft ribbon for female

5) 1 time rehearsal in the location of your wedding - church, house, garden, etc.

Service fees: 10 freshly peeled prawns
Payment terms: P.O.D. (Prawn on delivery)
Bookings: 14 days in advance

Interested? Make your appointment with Slow Coach ( that's me in the picture! ) via http://tortoise-tales.blogspot.com/ now.

Mozzila Attack!

Last week, my niece visited me to collect her first Chinese New Year's ang pow (red packet) from her newly wed Aunt. Chinese New Year is a very pricey affair for married couples because you will need to distribute ang pows to kids & also single adults. But it is part of the Chinese New Year tradition. So, everyone distribute ang pows with a smile on their face. Haha!

An interesting conversation between my 2 year old niece & myself.

Niece: Auntie, where are the tortoises? I want to see them & wish them Gong Xi Fa Chai.

Me: Sure, they are in the bathroom right now. Sleeping but I'm sure they will be happy to see you.

Soon, niece & I are playing with the tortoises in the bathroom. Slow Coach showed off her diving skill in the tub while Charlie was demonstrating his version of moon walking in the water.

Note: Charlie's moon walking: 4 legs wading in the water without moving an inch because he lifted his legs with only his shell in contact with the tub's bottom. Tortoise version of running on the spot, I guess.

Me: What's that red spot on your arm?

Niece: *scratching her hand* It's Mozzy bite! Auntie, do tortoises get mozzy bites too?

Me: Well... *took a deep breath while figuring out the answer*.

In the end, my very deep breath came & went but the answer didn't come. That night, I took up an experiment, determined to find the answer to a 2 year old's question.

************************************************************************
Experiment Objective: Do mosquitoes suck tortoises blood?

Steps: I sat with the tortoises in the dark at the balcony at night. It was a hot night & my body was sticky with sweats. Nothing to do while waiting for the mosquitoes to take their bait except feeding the tortoises.

Bait: Slow Coach, Charlie & myself.

Results: The mosquitoes had a great time indulging in their blood buffet on my account but the tortoises were spared.

Conclusion: No, mosquitoes do not suck tortoises blood.

But why? Darn! The answer right in front of my eyes after all. Mosquitoes can only sense heat & tortoises are cold blooded reptiles. Therefore, where there is heat, there are human, there are food! Eureka! Duh...

*Scratched myself to sleep that night*

Pet's Hotel

Unlike countries like Japan, United States or Canada, the hotels from where I come from (no matter how many stars they are) have a policy about not allowing pets into the hotels.

With the week long Chinese New Year holidays just around the corner, it's that time of the year again for many pet owners - looking for home boarding for their pets while they go on vacation. Luck ones will get help from friends or relatives, while others opt to send their pets to boarding centres such as the Pet's Hotel which could cost a paw & a tail if your pet poodle is staying for many days there.

When Slow Coach & Charlie were young, they were sent to my husband then boyfriend's house for a couple of days when I went on vacation. Back then, it was a piece of cake taking care of them. For one, they were kept in a plastic container. Therefore, no missing tortoises when I come back from vacation.

Secondly, they fed on tortoise pellets. Therefore, no headaches when it comes to feeding time. At that time, the tiny tortoises ate very little but frequently, just like human babies. Nowadays they eat like birds if they don't like the food or eat like hungry tigers if the food is to their likings. Very picky & difficult to please indeed.

Lastly, they don't need to be taken out of their container for their walk or daily exploration. They were just as happy being in their small enclosure, oblivious to the changes in the surrounding. Though their container is tiny, the lid above their heads gave them a sense of security. Now, nothing can keep them indoors if they don't want too. *sigh* Those were the good old days.

When the tortoises were much older, home boarding didn't work for Slow Coach & Charlie anymore. Having already outgrown their plastic container, they were moved into bigger plastic bathtubs & were free to roam around in the house. Soon they began exploring their surroundings & found their own favourite spots, like under the fridge or under the coffee table. When they were sent to home boarding, their were checked-into a presidential suite (in the tortoise world for a large bathroom). However, when I called the owner of the presidential suite (a.k.a. my boyfriend), I found out that both Slow Coach & Charlie sat at a corner each in their suite & have neither budged an inch nor ate anything since checking in. A picture of depression. I guess they must have really missed the hands who fed them, bathed them & took care of them. You'll be surprised that they can recognised people as well as their surrounding very well.

Since then, I realised that they prefer to remain at home when I go on my next vacations. To them it's always home sweet home! When they are left at home on their own (so far, no more than 2 nights) I will usually feed them at frequent intervals for a few days before I go off (up to 2 meals a day) to make sure they are well fed, so that they can hibernate at their favourite spots until I return. Remember that adult tortoises need to be fed only about 3 times a week. So, they'll be alright on their own for a couple of days.

It will be so again this year unless they decide to build sandcastles with me at the beach. =)

Wishing all of you a prosperous piggy year. Happy Chinese New Year & Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Hunger Strike!

For the last few days Charlie didn't finish most of his meals while Slow Coach has been eating her food like a chicken pecking on the ground. Both showed lack of interest in their food. According to the tortoise guide, it is very common for adult tortoises to eat only 3 to 4 times in a week. At other times they will go into deep sleep or hibernation. At times like these I will usually let them skip their meals but make sure they get a healthy amount of water.

3 days have passed & they are still not taking to their usual food, i.e. tortoise pellets & crabsticks. They came out from their hiding place for drinking water but left the tortoise pellets floating in the water untouched and took only a bite or two on the crabsticks. They just sniffed their food & gave me that "Duh, crabsticks again...?" look.

Don't be fooled if you think something is wrong with them. From my many years experience of taking care of them since their hatchling days, this is actually a cheeky plot by the two green buggers. They are on hunger strike!

Usually if you feed animals the same food everyday, they will not easily develop picky eating habits. For Slow Coach & Charlie...well, the next day I bought some fresh shrimps from the supermarket specially for them. Guess what? As soon as they sniffed the fishy smell, they gobbled up the shrimps like hungry tigers!

See? Those two lucky buggers would rather go on hunger strike if the dish of the day is not to their liking. Bah! Spoilt brats! I must say though, for an animal with only a pea-sized brain, they are quite clever! =)

The Mystery of the Missing Stool (please read before looking at the pic)

We left the tortoises home alone yesterday for our brunch. Slow Coach was sleeping under the coffee table as usual after her morning walk on the balcony while Charlie was swimming in his tub. I have double checked that all doors were locked to prevent any *ahem* runaways & also unwanted break-ins.

3 hours later, we returned. Tummies bulging with pride from a hearty dim sum indulgence. Mum stumbled upon a dustpan in the hallway on her way to the kitchen. She was dumbfounded as to how the dustpan ended up there because she was very sure that she had put it on a little red stool after sweeping the floor that morning. The red little stool was missing too. We use the little red stool to stand on so that we can reach for things high above the cabinets. Mum thought that someone must have forgotten to put the stool back under the table after using it. She thought no further about the displaced dustpan & the missing stool.

We happily proceeded to a few strokes of dry swimming a.k.a. the actions of our hands mixing the mahjong tiles after every game mimics closely the breast strokes. Ah, mahjong. A very healthy game, mentally (lot's of mind strategies & also maths) & physically (continuous dry swimming for the next 4 hours!!!). Hehe! 3 players to a table.

1 hour into the game...

Me: Sshhh...I hear something.

Mum (sitting opposite facing me): What? Must be the wind whistling.

Uncle (sitting between mum & I on my left): Geez...Come on, I'm on the roll here. Don't stop.

Me: I thought I hear some dragging sound. Never mind. Must have been the caffeine from the Chinese tea kicking in.

Uncle: Oh my God! *Trembling voice*

Mum: What?

Uncle: Don't turn. Something is moving behind you.

Me: I don't see anything... but..but...I can hear that dragging sound again...

Mum: Hey, that's not funny. You are giving me the goose bumps, man!

Uncle: You know...about the missing stool...?

Mum & I: Yeah.....?

Uncle: Well, it's moving behind you....

Mum & I: What?!

*All of us turned at the same time & broke into laughter until our belly hurts*

Apparently, Charlie crawled under the stool from the wider side & got stuck on his way out at the front between the stool legs. He took to the stool so naturally, just like his second home *ahem* shell.

Geez, I should have known that he was house hunting.

The mystery of the missing stool: Case solved.

New Year's Egg!

Here's wishing readers of Slow Coach a Happy New Year! May the new year continues to bring happiness & joy to everyone.

On the 1st day of 2007, Slow Coach has laid her 1st egg of the year. A very good sign indeed.

Slow Coach & Charlie are back!

After 1 month of disappearance, my favourite tortoises are back in action! Watch out for this space. New post coming soon.

Wishing fans of Slow Coach & Charlie a Merry Christmas!

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. =)