When I first brought Malti home, the breeder reassured me that she was “eating voraciously” and that this was a sign of good health in hatchling tortoises. Later, as I began to (er) devour books about redfoot tortoise care, I learned that the red footed tortoise is what breeders and biologists like to call anContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Opportunistic Feeding”
Tag Archives: tortoise
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Environment
One (of many) things I didn’t know when I brought Malti home was that different shelled beings need different types of care. For example, some tortoises thrive in desert environments. They like dry air with low humidity and high heat. Other tortoises, (for instance, red footed tortoises), hail from tropical climates. Wild redfooted tortoises liveContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Environment”
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Veterinary Care
There are pros and cons to raising a tortoise from a tiny hatchling. The main pro is that you get to learn. Unfortunately, this is also the main con. I made a lot of mistakes in raising Malti, who was only just over a month or so old when she came home with me. AsContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Veterinary Care”
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Diet
Malti loves to eat. I mean….she LOVES to eat. When I take her box turtle brother, Bruce, out of his enclosure and put him down on the lawn, he runs around on the lawn. When I take Malti out of her enclosure and put her down on the lawn, she immediately dips her head andContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Diet”
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Size at Maturity
When most people think of tortoises, they think massive. Huge. Oh so big. Like a very small vehicle or a very large rock. In these cases, they are usually thinking about the giant Galapagos tortoises, which can weigh nearly 1,000 pounds at maturity and live 170+ years. Malti won’t ever get that big (WHEW). But….theContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Size at Maturity”
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Girl Versus Boy
When I went to pick Malti up from her breeder, he presented me with a small plastic container. Inside the container were two VERY tiny tortoises. One of the tortoises was even smaller than the other, and quite quick while running and scampering around the little container. The other tortoise was a bit quieter, slower,ContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Girl Versus Boy”
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: The Shell
Scientists trying to describe what a red footed tortoise shell looks like often use terms such as “loaf shaped,” “bumpy” and “blotchy colored.” It is no mystery why scientists aren’t in demand to write for beauty magazines. To add (um) fuel to that particular (er) fire, the red footed tortoise’s formal scientific name, Geochelone carbonaria, translates toContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: The Shell”
Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Red Dots
It isn’t too challenging to figure out how the red footed tortoise got its name. There is the tortoise….and then there are all those red dots. Considering this species’ formal scientific name is Chelonoidis carbonaria, that gives us one more good reason to be grateful for simple, easy-to-pronounce common species names. While their common name suggests thatContinueContinue reading “Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises: Red Dots”
About: Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises
Malti, a young lady red footed tortoise who lives here with Bruce, Pearl and me (their mama) here at Casa Feathers n Beak n Shells, has it on very good authority that red footed tortoises are very important beings. In fact, all tortoises – and turtles and terrapins, for that matter – are very importantContinueContinue reading “About: Malti Explains Redfooted Tortoises”
Tortoise Care Books & Resources
In the first few weeks after I brought Malti home, I spent most of my available free time: Panicking. Reading about red-foot tortoises on the internet. Checking her habitat every hour on the hour to make sure she was still alive. Super (scary) fun times. All that to say – while I am feeling more confidentContinueContinue reading “Tortoise Care Books & Resources”
Love & Feathers & Shells 