What? You think I can't spell "rabbit"?
So there I was bending over a short warm water hose at the side of the coach, breaking my back, while Marilyn and I gave Abby a bath. It's Saturday! She kept barking- thought it was dogs going by but it just didn't stop...and this is not her normal behavior. The older she gets, the more laid back she gets.
Bath wrapped up, we went to the front of the coach for the fluff dry cycle. That done, I got out the clipper and trimmed up some of that too long HAIR. Now she was looking good but still had that barking thing going on. Only this time we couldn't begin to see what she was barking at. Her look was intently focused across the street in an empty space, a sand lot behind the row of rv slips across the way. Marilyn saw something move. I went to investigate and what we found was a gigantic (by Florida terms) tortoise. 15 inches or more in length with a high shell that looked almost armor plated. I went to get the camera but what I thought would be a slow tortoise turned out to run faster than a hare, and down the hole he went. Later near evening he stuck his head out and I circled around behind him and quietly advanced to get my picture.
So now, the moral of the story:............oh wait; there isn't one.
2 comments:
While it is certainly in the realm of possibilities that a male tortoise was simply snoozing in a nice, warm sand hole for the night, it is also a more likely possibility that she was laying eggs in a nice, warm sand hole. I suggest pointing the location out to park management if there is any chance of predation from camper dogs or cats or if a tire could roll over the sand pot hole... Might give future tortoise hatchlings a better chance for success.
Thanks, Wil! She or he has apparently picked the perfect spot. - out of the way of tires and in an area where the leashed critters don't roam. AND, I think the tortoise is large enough to take care of anything other than a motor coach that might come along...and that hole is big and deep.
And anything that does drive on that sand will sink deeper than the tortoise- so I guess he (or she) had things pretty well planned out.
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