Close call

This morning was a bit cooler so I was sitting under the little leaf cordia when I heard my tortoise mom talking to me. I was hoping she had lots of desert willow flowers for me, so I was in kind of a hurry to get my breakfast. Anyway I took the shortest route, which meant climbing up and then sliding down the side of the new burrow. All of a sudden, I let out a hiss as I flipped over on my back and slid down the bank, under the branches of the cordia. My tortoise mom heard me, so I got rescued right away. It was a little scary but I forgot about it as soon as I saw the flowers she had for me.

(Actual accident scene in upper left of photo)


But this explains why my tortoise dad found Tortellini in almost the same place a few weeks ago. She had been struggling upside down for a little while and was very stressed and upset. No one could figure out what had happened to her, but now we know that the side of the new burrow is too steep so we can flip ourselves over easily. So our tortoise dad will fix it today.

Tortoises are excellent climbers and thrive in rocky hillsides. But going downhill is always harder, and it is easy to flip over when places are too steep. So you have to look at the yard with a tortoise-eye view. That burrow mound didn't look too steep until I veered off to the side and then it turned into a dangerous situation in a hurry. We can't survive for very long when we are flipped upside down. If the sun doesn't overheat and kill us in a hurry, then the stress of carrying all our weight directly on our lungs will do it for sure.

Whew, that was a close call. Now both Tortellini and I have been rescued from the same place for the same reason. Thanks for tortoise-proofing the yard for us, Tortoise Dad, so we won't have any more life-threatening accidents. These things can happen so easily. It's a good thing my mind quickly switched to eating flowers or I could have PTSD. Ok, back to thinking about delicious flowers... (shudder)