Our Resident Tortoises



  • Our apartment is surrounded by gardens, including an orchard with various fruit trees, grapevines and roses.
  • When we arrived, we found two grapefruit-sized tortoises, which we named Shelley (self-explanatory) and Diesel (lives near the fuel tank).
  • After a month, Shelly and Diesel – who rarely moved at all – suddenly disappeared.
  • A month later, they returned and we started spotting tiny, chicken egg-sized tortoises crawling around the property.
  • After a few were spotted, Maleaha collected them and tagged them with nail polish.
  • So far, we’ve tagged six baby tortoises and more may be hiding out there.
  • As pets go, they’re not terribly exciting, but it makes visiting the garden a daily must.
  • We’ve also brought them inside the apartment for a change of scenery and some fresh salad.
  • However, it is best to approach carefully and handle them gently, as their defensive mechanism is to urinate.
  • As for what’s next, who knows? Tortoise petting zoo? Illegal underground tortoise race betting ring?
 
Location: Jerusalem

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