Joey the tortoise is awake!

AskAlice, it is lovely to hear about your Joey, such a lovely thread.

Yes I remember the Blue Peter tortoise. I expect it encouraged many children to want one as a pet . I wonder what happened to it.

Hello Joey! Happy spring.

Chocolatelovinggran

Oh AskAlice I was interested in your account. My eleven year old grandson is desperate to become a tortoise owner. Would this work, do you think?

We are members of the Tortoise Trust. They have lots of information on line and on Facebook group. There are many tortoises looking to be rehomed (no money to be exchanged). There is also a Tortoise Keepers course. My DD loves tortoises and we fostered one which now lives with her family.

I am so pleased that Joey has come out of hibernation. My George didn't one year and I was absolutely bereft. He usedto follow me around the garden and was a character.x

Thank you for your help oldbat and AskAlice. My grandson has been offered a young tortoise needing a home.
Will s/he be OK around the family dog?

There’s a list of Blue Peter tortoises here, along with other BP pets. 🐢

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peter_pets

I'd be very careful with a dog and tortoise, particularly while the tortoise is still small. Cats are fine with them, but it has been known for dogs to injure them with rough "play". An acquaintance of mine had a tortoise for many years which unfortunately had its head bitten by, they think, a fox and the poor thing didn't survive.

My Freda (a vet corrected us when she was Fred!) is still hibernating in the fridge in the garage. No movement a couple of days ago apart from a hiss. I’ll check again today. She must be well over 40 years old but we inherited her from an elderly friend.
I had a tortoise - Tilly -when I was a child. We couldn’t find her one autumn to hibernate her and as it was that harsh winter of 62/63 we never expected to see her again but she turned up in the spring having buried herself underground. We left her to do that each year after that but unfortunately after I’d left home mum didn’t check her enough after hibernation and she died.
Tilly was a bit of a wanderer and I almost lost her. I was a few doors away from home when I saw a child visitor to a neighbour putting a box in the back of a car with Tilly in it. What great timing - a few minutes later and I might never have seen her again.

My Tortina has thankfully also survived another hibernation! Currently in the conservatory at night and wandering around the garden on the sunny spring days. She is about 90 years old, with a bit of a wonky walk as she doesn't have many claws left, but still gets up quite a speed when she sees breakfast arriving! My sister and I found her in our garden in 1964 and she was pretty big then. She came to live with me when my parents died in 2020. Now my grandchildren love her just as much as we did.

what a lovely thread.

Yes indeed what a lovely post.
And you clearly take such wonderful care of your beloved pet.
May both of you live to a great old age!

That really made me smile. Thank you for posting - have a wonderful Summer, Joey. ♥️

How lovely! I hope you and Joey will have a wonderful summer this year and for many yet to come.

The cats and I are currently waiting for Mrs Hedgehog to waken up She spends the winter under a very large heap of brushwoood on my drying-green. Tigger squeezed himself in under the pile the other day to see whether Mrs Hedgehog was awake yet and came out looking disappointed, but I have put down a shallow bowl of water for her outside her front door.

It's so lovely to hear that other people have dearly loved tortoises, and also hedgehogs *grandtanteJE65! I do wish I had a hedgehog visitor as they are such wonderful, interesting creatures.

Joey didn't venture out of the greenhouse today, much too gloomy. The weather here in Hertfordshire is not looking good for the next few days, but I hope it won't be too cold - I really want her to start eating soon. Maybe another few warm baths will help!

Some sunshine this morning and she's emerged from her kennel, but still in the greenhouse.

I've just checked and she's having a little nibble on some lettuce. I'm going to have a walk around the neighbourhood to see if anyone's garden is sprouting dandelions or plantain yet. The neighbours are happy for me to pinch some if I spot it, but I suspect any I do find will be very small-leaved at this time of year - more hors d'ouevre than main-meal!

How lovely that you’ve been together for so long! Can we have a pic of Joey?

At about 9 I was finally allowed to have Timmy, very small then - he cost 4/6d and the pet shop keeper just put him in a brown paper bag!
A few years later we also acquired a much bigger one, found in the garden and nobody claimed him - we called him/her Big One 😂) but alas, neither survived hibernation during the very cold winter of (IIRC) 1963. I was devastated when I went to check and found them both dead.

All I have now is Spike O’Saurus, a prehistoric tortoise who came from a little metal worker’s shop in France. Cast in bronze, he’s happy to live in the garden all year round.

AskAlice

It's so lovely to hear that other people have dearly loved tortoises, and also hedgehogs *grandtanteJE65! I do wish I had a hedgehog visitor as they are such wonderful, interesting creatures.

Joey didn't venture out of the greenhouse today, much too gloomy. The weather here in Hertfordshire is not looking good for the next few days, but I hope it won't be too cold - I really want her to start eating soon. Maybe another few warm baths will help!

AskAlice, my Timmy used to love dead pansies! Not too dead of course, just somewhat past their best.

On our recent holiday on Madeira we met the hotels resident giant tortoise Columbos. Here he is 'rushing' over to see us. He's very friendly. (The tortoise is!)

We once came across a local tortoise while walking in a park in Athens. I happened to have a small bag of peaches, so took a bite out of one (to make it easy to access) and offered him/her the rest. S/he attacked it with evident relish!

I was always frightened of the hibernation aspect of having a tortoise, but they intrigue me.

I had terrapins when I was little, instead. (I think a tortoise would have been a better choice)

Chocolatelovinggran

Thank you for your help oldbat and AskAlice. My grandson has been offered a young tortoise needing a home.
Will s/he be OK around the family dog?

It would depend on the dog really. The family tortoise lives with a dog and cats without any issue. Like with all pets i wouldnt leave dog and tortoise together alone. I find them fascinating. Do your reading up on the species you have. Our tortoise cant be trusted around bare feet!

My mum's next door neighbour looked after someone's tortoise, and her dog killed it, thinking it was some kind of a toy.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202404/medium-743721-joey.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202404/medium-825266-joey-march-2022.jpg

I'm loving all your comments, thank you all for joining in!

"Witzend", I love your bronze Spike O'Saurus. I have several (actually about 20!) tortoise ornaments dotted about in the garden but they are all bog-standard resin or stone, and also 30 or smaller tortoise trinkets in a cabinet in the living room. One of them has a noddy head, and our youngest granchild loves looking at the "Nod-Nod" when she comes to visit. Joey likes pansies too, and also rose petals - but only certain colours!

I've added some photos of Joey.The first photo was taken a couple of years ago by our neighbours, when they were pet-sitting while we were on holiday. They love her too! The second is of her in her kennel last summer.

For you tortoise people, I have a question, please.

I knew a lady who had a very elderly tortoise (Samantha - the tortoise, not the lady!)

Samantha's shell curled upwards all around; is that because of her age, or her species, please?