Desert Tortoise Surprise!!!!

Since my sister and I were young, our family has had desert tortoises. Our first one was Jadzia, she was awesome and had such an amazing personality. Next, we got Cowboy (who was seriously the coolest tortoise ever!), Ahab and Starbuck. Ahab and Starbuck were a surprise because the guy who gave us Cowboy hid them underneath him. Than we got Big Mama. Big Mama was a friend's elderly tortoise who needed a new home. After that our family became known as the "turtle people" and every time someone found a tortoise, they brought them to us. We "adopted" Norman, Harlow and Sabino after that. 

For the past 15+ years, my parents have nurtured and fed desert tortoises and as is what happens in nature, we lost most of them. Jadzia was killed by a bird, Cowboy died during hibernation, Ahab escaped from the yard and died of dehydration, Harlow flipped over on her back and suffocated, and we still don't know what happened to Norman and Sabino but they died too. That just left Starbuck and Big Mama. Until yesterday...

Surprise!!!!!!!! It appears that after all these years, Big Mama and Starbuck have created their own offspring. Dad found the one above and than...

he found another...

and than he found two more!!!

Dad built a temporary barrier (above) to keep the babies together and in the next couple of days will be building a "crib" for them. The "crib" will be a separate enclosure inside the yard that will keep the babies safe from the adults and have a mesh top on it to keep the critters out.

My parents are hilarious! They thought they were almost done with tortoise-raising. Now they have to start all over again. We are taking suggestions on names!