Tortoise tales

This is Cedric the Tortoise. He is of unknown age and lived in my friend's garden for a year and a half before she discovered him (rather, she lived in her new home for that time - perhaps he belonged to the previous owner). He has become very tame after hiding in the undergrowth for so long and she goes out into the garden and calls his name and he comes running - as tortoises do. They are in fact quite speedy when they want to be.

He feeds from her hand and made short work of a few leaves from the vegetable patch. I suggested she give him a red hibiscus as torties are known to love them and she went to fetch one. Well, he practically stood on his hind legs when he saw it and lunged forward as if not having eaten for a year! He made short work of it and then succumbed to a chin scratch before heading off for his little home - a pile of rocks with a bit of greenery forming a nice canopy.

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Sadly, Cedric appears to have a shell disease, as can be seen from the markings, and in fact has a hole on one side. If any herpetologists are reading this and have some advice, please let us know if he can be helped!

I used to have three tortoises in my garden and it was always nice to see them pottering about, but when the porcupine dug a mineshaft under the fence, I'm afraid they took the gap! I'm sure they are much happier out in the wild and hope they haven't been trapped again.