George and Mildred

George and Mildred are leopard tortoises and I had the pleasure of meeting them today.

20 very well behaved and interested 10 year olds came to work this afternoon to have a chat about their classroom pets. I have been reading up on Leopard tortoises but was still totally terrified when they arrived. They joined in doing an examination on them, weighing, measuring and discussing food and habitat and Mildred had a bath. I really enjoyed myself especially the little boy who was really interested in parasites! I phoned the lab and persuaded them to do a reduced price faecal parasite test for the tortoises, they'll have fun collecting the samples for me!

I have been hankering after adding a tortoise to our menagerie for ages now but couldn't persuade anyone to buy me one for a 40th birthday present, I think they all feared Marks wrath. I still want one but now I know just how hard it is to keep them properly I think it's been shifted to the wish list instead.