Page 11 - Spring 2012 magazine-1_Neat

by Roger and Susan Kolar

Because of the warm weather, the tortoises are up early this year. Betty came out of her burrow on February 11th,
almost a month earlier than last year. Now it's time for the volunteer Tortoise Habitat Monitors to swing into action.

You may ask, “What exactly does a Tortoise Habitat Monitor do?” Tortoises in the wild find their own water and food,
but at Red Rock we fill up the water dishes every day and feed the tortoises every Wednesday and Saturday morning.
The tortoises can eat all of the plants in the habitat, but we can't grow enough to feed all nine tortoises. We supplement
their diet with specially formulated tortoise food that looks like vegetarian dog chow.

Each tortoise receives an amount of food based on their weight and served in their own personal food dish. The volun-
teers count out the proper number of kibbles for each tortoise and then add water to the otherwise dry chow. This
creates a sort of mush that doesn't look very good, but the tortoises love it. The Monitors try to keep track of how much
food each tortoise has eaten and record the information in a notebook. This can be difficult since the tortoises often
sample the food of their neighbors. After the tortoises are through with their wonderful meal, the volunteers wash the
dishes in a bleach/water solution.

Another fun volunteer duty is soaking the tortoises. Every other Monday inside the habitat the Monitors line up nine
plastic totes, one for each tortoise. We find each tortoise, figure out who it is, and place him/her in the proper tote. Just
add water until it reaches the bottom shell, and you have a soaking tortoise. The purpose of soaking is to encourage the
tortoises to drink. We leave them in the water for about 20 minutes and then pour the water on plants in the habitat. The
volunteers finish up their work by washing the totes in a bleach/water solution.

Visitors always have questions about the tortoises. Many of them have pet tortoises at home and are especially inter-
ested in proper tortoise care. We can give visitors information sheets about what to feed and what not to feed pet
tortoises.

The comment we hear most often from the volunteers is that they had no idea tortoises could have so much personality.
As the volunteers get to know the tortoises, the job becomes even more rewarding. We call the people who take care of
the tortoises the “Tort Team”. If you are interested in joining the Tort Team, training sessions are offered in the spring
and fall. Watch the Friends e-blasts for more information.

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