A Trip to Idaho and 3 new Tortoises

I drove up to Twin Falls, Idaho this weekend to meet the owner of the Land Turtle & Tortoise Rescue for a tortoise swap. Do you follow them on Facebook? You should. Click HERE.

I LOVED driving up to Idaho by myself. Well... technically it was me and two box turtles. :) I picked up these two to deliver to Kacy.

An Ornate who was FEISTY! And needed a beak trim.

And a regular female who was very shy and obviously got bit by a dog at some point in her life.

I had never been to that part of Idaho as an adult! And to go there alone was fantastic. I left my zoo in the capable hands of my hubby & kids and took a much needed break. I listened to a book on CD as I drove too-- "The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto" by Mitch Albom. LOVED it!


Friday night, I drove around and saw the Snake river. That river is incredible! In Idaho, you can see all the way around you, almost from horizon to horizon. SO gorgeous. I fell in love with that area immediately.

On Saturday, I went to see one of the sets of water falls on the Snake River- the Twin Falls. The other set, the Shoshone Falls, I ran out of time to see. But there are two sets and that's why the city "Twin Falls" has that name. :) The Snake River has been super full because of the wet winter and the falls were running fast & hard. 

I met Kacy and gave her the two box turtles and she gave me three tortoises to take back to Utah. One is staying with me (and will show up on the blog later). One went to my rescue brother Joe. The other, Merlin, is about to be adopted out. He's a doll!

Before she left, I decided to keep one of the box turtles- no, not the feisty one. :) I kept the sweet one and brought her back home with me. I'll blog about her later.

I had such a wonderful trip. I wish I could have stayed longer, but am already making plans to take my family back there so we can hike in the river gorge and watch the falls and enjoy the beauty.

Check out the sunset pic I took Friday night:

Humpty Dumpty

I had to discuss Humpty Dumpty with Dr Folland today. The poor turtle's eyes keep getting stuck shut. 

So now I get to put the antibiotic drops in his eyes twice a day. And starting tomorrow, Humpty will be in outside in a little plastic wading pool I got. He needs more sunshine therapy to heal. 

Turtle Timer

(Note: Humpty Dumpty was found wandering a neighborhood two months ago and had obviously been run over by a car. He has three major cracks on the bottom of his shell and the only way to get those to heal is to keep him "Dry Docked" for 3+ months. So while he is an aquatic turtle, he's in a sick tank and has to be dry. He just finished a round of antibiotics too)

I try to put Humpty Dumpty in the bath everyday.

It never works. 

So I try every other day. 

Which sorta works. 

Except I forget about him. 

A lot. 

Whoops! 

Today I set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes and let him soak. I threw in a couple pellets even though he never eats them. 

The timer went off and I turned it off. Then I forgot about Humpty Dumpty. 

About an hour later, I remembered him! 

Blast!! 

The water was only a degree or two too cold and he had eaten! And pooped! 

So I added more warm water to get it to 85 degrees and threw in a few more pellets. 

When I checked on him again, the pellets were gone. Again!! 

Woo hoo! This is the very first time I've seen him eat! 

I must not be leaving him in the water for long enough. I'll rethink my soaking now. 

Doggie Transport for Torts

I got to be part of the most amazing group today as I sent 2 tortoises and 1 turtle to Idaho. An incredible rescue transport group had two abandoned dogs in a 15+ leg plus drive from Wyoming to the Seattle area. I met up with them in Ogden, Utah and they took my critters with them and dropped them off to their new rescue in Nampa, Idaho. 

All 3 were in their own boxes for the ride. They were transferred to at least 4 other cars before they made it to their new home. 

This is one of their riding buddies. He is the sweetest dog. Someone found him tied to a fence in the middle of empty farmland. :( 

I got the tortoises/turtle boxes all set up in the first van-- 

They left Ogden at 11 am today and made it to Nampa at 3:30. The Land Turtle & Tortoise rescue has already found a permanent home for Pancake and will find forever homes for the other two. 

You would not believe the coordination and planning behind this. It is, by far, the most organized group I've ever met. They arrange rescue transports all over the United States. When I get to my laptop, I'll add links to their Facebook group and to the other turtle & tortoise rescue. 

Last night, I took Stinky Winky the red ear slider to his new home. Now I am down by 2 turtles and 2 tortoises. :)