Ok so I had to write something about this.
Over at Jessie’s Grove Winery in Lodi. there’s this tortoise they keep as a pet. I was out there for an assignment the other day and got to talking to Wanda Bechthold at the winery and she told me all about her tortoise, Tortie.
As her story goes, there was a car pulled over on the side of one of the local country roads in Lodi and outside of it was a family gawking at their own car.
Apparently the driver stopped to see this renegade pet tortoise and it had crawled under the car. Wanda stopped and had help getting the tortoise. Wanda then put out the word that there was a lost tortoise. The reptile’s owners called and wanted it back. Upon returning the dinosaur like creature Wanda noticed the owners to have kept the poor critter in a small kiddie pool with not much room to move around. After trying to get “custody” of the tortoise, pleading with the family, she had to give it up.
The word got out that Wanda wanted a tortoise of some kind, and a family in Stockton called her up with a tortoise that needed a home. The family couldn’t take care of it anymore. With an appetite of two head of lettuce a day who could?!
So Wanda ended up with Tortie the Tortoise who remains in a resort like pen outside on the farm at Jessie’s Grove Winery.
Courtesy Wikipedia Common Snapper
Wanda, with a glass of wine, told me to hop in and pet the tortoise. I have to admit I was a little scared of the thing. In NY we have Alligator like snappers that are nearly the same size that will take your hand off!
So I hopped in. As soon as I did, almost dog like, Tortie came waddling over making grunting and hissing noises.
“He likes you!” Wanda laughed, “Pet him on the head.”
I reached down, being ever so careful of Tortie’s nippy looking beak and petted away. I pet him for a second then touched the rock like shell.
“What a day!” I laughed and finished the rest of my assignment after saying good-bye to Tortie, my new drinking buddy at Jessie’s Grove.
Looks like a California desert tortoise? We found one in our driveway near Volcano one morning. Like Tortie, it hisssed at us when we got too close (we didn’t scratch its head, tho). We were wondering whom to call about a lost tortoise — animal control? Fish and Game? Then we saw that our tortoise had a local phone number painted on his shell.
“Sheldon” turned out to belong to some folks who live about 3/4 of a mile away. He had managed to reach us after crossing the county road near our house, which was quite a feat.
Evidently the males wander in the springtime.