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.