Happy thread

Started by Deleted Member, March 30, 2011, 06:08:29 PM

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Bealman

Not so sure he/she has got much to worry about this year, but hey, this is the happy thread, so I'll look at that from Freddie's perspective!  :thumbsup:
Vision over visibility. Bono, U2.

port perran

Quote from: trkilliman on April 05, 2020, 08:09:47 PM
Quote from: port perran on April 05, 2020, 07:58:27 PM
He/She looks to be a fine specimen.
We've got two Hermans tortoises, Capel  and Dewi, who are mere youngsters  (at 24 years old).
Ours woke up about a month ago after just over three months in hibernation.
People think tortoises are slow but they can be surprisingly quick when they want to and provided  they are warm (being cold blooded creatures  they are very slow when they are cold).

Capel and Dewi.  I visited Bristol's former Barrow Rd shed (ex-LMS) a few times in 1964/early 65. On one occasion when I ventured down the staircase from the roadbridge to take numbers, there was a Modified Hall class...Capel Dewi Hall!

6999. It was my favourite engine when aged 10 or 11. Saw it lots as it was shedded at Westbury.
Hence the names of my tortoises.
I'll get round to fixing it drekkly me 'ansome.

stevewalker

Quote from: port perran on April 05, 2020, 07:58:27 PM
He/She looks to be a fine specimen.
We've got two Hermans tortoises, Capel  and Dewi, who are mere youngsters  (at 24 years old).
Ours woke up about a month ago after just over three months in hibernation.
People think tortoises are slow but they can be surprisingly quick when they want to and provided  they are warm (being cold blooded creatures  they are very slow when they are cold).

Three months! Maybe it's Freddie's age, but it is always a good 6 months! Around the end of September, beginning of October, we start putting "him" into his box overnight, until he burrows down into the straw - which usually happens within a week. Past experience has shown, that if we don't do that at that time, he burrows into the ground and then you have the problem of finding out where and carefully digging him out. As the weather warms in March, we start listening and taking the odd look into the box, until he's come back up to the top  (or is trying to dig through the side of the box).

Indeed, they can move faster than people expect. Ours is particularly good at short-term weather prediction. If you can see him on the grass and a minute later, he's moved fast and vanished, you'd better get the washing in, because it'll start raining in a couple of minutes.

Bealman

Vision over visibility. Bono, U2.

Malc

I had two as a child, but the little male did a runner when the dustmen left the side gate open. The female was much larger, about the size of the one in the photo. We had a "kennel " for them in the garden, so if we hadn't seen them for a few days we brought it into the conservatory. In the spring, they bashed their shells against the wooden sides to let us know they wanted out.
However, a friend of mine had a tortoise that didn't hibernate, which I found strange. Apparently they only hibernate if the weather cools down and food is scarce.
The years have been good to me, it was the weekends that did the damage.

stevewalker

Yes, some people keep them indoors or bring them in for the winter and they never hibernate. In the wild, many live in places that never get cold enough for them to hibernate, which raises the question of why they developed the ability to.

port perran

Quote from: stevewalker on April 06, 2020, 10:03:37 AM
Yes, some people keep them indoors or bring them in for the winter and they never hibernate. In the wild, many live in places that never get cold enough for them to hibernate, which raises the question of why they developed the ability to.
As a general rule Mediterranean tortoises hibernate naturally whilst most Tropical tortoise species do not hibernate naturally.
As I understand it Mediterranean torts will be ok not hibernating (especially if kept indoors) but their health is overall better if allowed to hibernate as you are replicating their natural lifestyle.
We weigh ours prior to hibernation to ensure they have put on sufficient weight over the Summer (if not they may not survive hibernation),
It's also important not to feed them for 3 weeks or so before hibernation as their system need to be empty (else undigested food will rot inside them as their digestive systems slow down).
What always amazes me is that ours wake up and immediately they're almost saying "right then, where's our food?"

Ok, I'll go and find a tortoise forum now  :D

I'll get round to fixing it drekkly me 'ansome.

daffy

Our tortoise Tim lived in the garden and Dad had drilled a very small hole in the rear edge of his shell so he could attach a long length of fishing line, the other end attached to a spike he pushed into the ground. This limited Tim's range, mainly to stop him eating all the salad vegetables like lettuce, but he had a broad expanse of lawn to wander over. I think Tim had been bought before I was born and was so used to his tether that he would rarely even try to test to its limit.
He was spoilt rotten, was quietly ignored by our cats, and feasted royally on all we put out for him, showing his satisfaction with occasional white droppings across the grass.
In winter we placed him in a straw insulated cardboard box in the brick built outhouse to the rear of the garage to hibernate.
One year he just didn't wake up.😭
Mike

Sufferin' succotash!

stevewalker

Quote from: port perran on April 06, 2020, 10:30:33 AM
What always amazes me is that ours wake up and immediately they're almost saying "right then, where's our food?"

Ours generally nibbles a little on the first day, but isn't very interested in food. What always gets me is that as he moves, you can hear the creaks of joints and skin that hasn't moved for months. That usually takes a couple of days to go. Then everything is back to normal.

I do wonder how they survive in the wild, as they are the stupidest animals, getting themselves stuck all over the place by forcing their way into places they don't fit or climbing over something and falling into a gap they can't get out of. Last year ours was missing for a week and was found on its side, wedged in the narrow gap between the shed base and the fence gravel board.

Skyline2uk

I am enjoying one of those times when you seem to get on a roll with modelling at the moment.

My NGS shark has progressed to needing a few more decals (sorry for all those on the Facebook page who are sick of seeing it) and then there are these.



50% (one side) of the main ARC branding is now applied to this rake, after doing only 2 in 6 months or so.

Hope my mojo stays with me, one of the few rays of light in these grim times

Best to all

Skyline2uk


tutenkhamunsleeping

Hats off to both Kernow Model Rail Centre and my ever dependable DPD delivery driver.  I ordered some swag yesterday and it turned up this morning - irrespective of Coronavirus I wasn't expecting a delivery on a bank holiday! :thumbsup:

:beers:

guest311

a really good walk for HB and I today, fields reasonably empty of other dogs, but several walkers, who as long as they do not have pockets stuffed with tasty bites, are of no interest to HB.

on the other hand, one field seemed to have several active mice in the long grass and hedges.....

HB likes mice  :food:

mind you in six and a half years he's caught one, and then dropped it  :-[ not the worlds greatest hunter.

still, several attempts made, non of course successful, but he had fun, not so sure about the mice.

much less water drunk today, and he seemed more sedate off the lead, so learning.

now home and under the dining room table, HB not me, with a bone.

it's a dogs life, you know  :)

railsquid

Well this is weird... We've been inhabiting the current Chez Railsquid for nigh upon 8 years now, and I've only just noticed I can see the second highest structure in the world, the Tokyo Skytree (634 metres if anyone is taking notes) from the second storey Railsquid Lair. I only noticed because I was mildly perplexed by what appeared to be a bright light hovering above the horizon (said structure is a good 20km or so distant) rotating through various primary colours, which is kind of unusual and either a sign of space aliens hovering above the city or some sort of illuminated tall structure, and thanks to the magic of the interwebs I was able to confirm via a
live cam that the colours I could see matched the colours it was being illuminated with.

Bit of a mystery why I never noticed before, I can only think a tree or some other object in the middle distance previously obscuring it has been removed at some point recently.

dannyboy

Quote from: railsquid on April 10, 2020, 03:07:42 PM

Bit of a mystery why I never noticed before, I can only think a tree or some other object in the middle distance previously obscuring it has been removed at some point recently.

Have you been to 'Specsavers' lately?  ;)
David.
I used to be indecisive - now I'm not - I don't think.
If a friend seems distant, catch up with them.

railsquid

Quote from: dannyboy on April 10, 2020, 03:13:27 PM
Quote from: railsquid on April 10, 2020, 03:07:42 PM

Bit of a mystery why I never noticed before, I can only think a tree or some other object in the middle distance previously obscuring it has been removed at some point recently.

Have you been to 'Specsavers' lately?  ;)

Bit far at the best of times and at the moment too much mandatory quarantine involved.

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