Introducing Rainbow Sparkles

Suffice to say I was not party to the naming ceremony.

She arrived a couple of months ago via our tropical fish contact whose neighbour had an immediate requirement to offload their tortoise.

Confusingly she also has multiple identities to distinguish her from other Tortoises including Agrionemys Horsefieldii, Russian tortoise, Afghan tortoise, Central Asian tortoise, Horsfield's tortoise, four-clawed tortoise, and the (Russian) steppe tortoise.

I’d like to say I prefer to use the term Horsefield’s tortoise when describing her to others, however my ageing memory means I never remember this name and revert to Russian tortoise.

The girls love her a bit too much at times but fortunately she has a natural protective outer layer to defend against the inquisitive prodding of 2 and 4 year old fingers.