Montana in the "Spring"

Hello again. Today I have woke up to some lovely freezing Montana weather, so much for the spring. This gave me an excellent idea for a post.

Some of you may know and some of you may not, that tortoises do really well outside, better maybe depending on your region. Unfortunately, one of those regions is not Montana. As anyone who has spent a few days in this great state, the weather is highly variable and can and does change at the drop of a hat. I was really hoping that the spring would have sprung by now; mainly I'm looking forward to dandelions.
My little Russians love dandelions, and I have got them in spades in my yard (much to my landlord's dismay, who would much rather have a beautiful grass only manicured yard).

Spring is a great time in the tortoise realm. My torts have recently come out of hibernation, and the weather is starting to warm up, however grumpy it has been this week. I cannot wait until June. June will be the time when I move my torts outside. This probably won't be for an extended time as there will inevitably be massive thunderstorms accompanied by sheets of rain, and would surely be enough to frighten and possibly even drown a Russian tort. But there will be amazing days where the sun will shine, and the temps will be prefect for the little guys to bask in the sun. That is if spring will ever decided to come along.

Brachiotortoise

You may not know (or you may) that tortoises have been around for millions of years -- far longer then humans. Tortoises have seen dinosaurs, and the very tort you care for (or will in the future) is the living descendant of an animal that lived all so long ago.

I found this picture online and made me think of a brachiosaurus, I just brought these two pictures together and thought other tort wranglers and enthusiasts might find this amusing. 

Welcome to Montana (and Wyoming)

Hello there! I am so very glad you have stumbled across my blog. I have started this in hopes of creating a local base for those hoping to raise tortoises in the state of Montana, and I hope to extend this base to Wyoming as well.

First I'll tell you a little about myself. My name is Megan, I've been living in Billings Montana for the last twelve years, my mother's family all live here, and I have grown very fond of Yellowstone County and really the entire state of Montana. I first started wrangling tortoises a couple years ago. I was first drawn to tortoises because I had just graduated high school and I wanted a long term pet that didn't need constant attention and didn't demand the hours of being trained; but also a pet I could keep in my perspective apartment, since a lot won't allow cats, or dogs.

These requirements ruled out pretty much all mammals, and I started to look into reptiles. After a bit of research, I was really turned off by the fact that a lot, if not most, reptiles require meat and/or live food. Almost put off completely, I stumbled across tortoises.

Almost all tortoises are herbivores, relatively quiet, and the smaller species could be kept indoors given large enough habitats. After learning this, I searched for a tortoise high and low. Not knowing where to turn to, it took me a good three months to locate one which was given to me by an elderly man no longer to care for his nearly 70 year friend.

Upon receiving him, I rechristened him Donatello (after one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and at the time I knew very little about the care of tortoises (or torts, for short), and didn't even know then that the little guy I took into my hands was a Russian tortoise, and had no idea what sort of environment he needed. Naturally curious about my new charge, I researched, finding his breed, the environment he needed and a good diet. During the ensuring research I discovered the natural curiosity of Russians, their intelligence and the pure joy of looking after them.

After a year with Donatello, I unintentionally came back from a trip to Seattle with two female Russian rescue torts -- at the time I was completely unable to resist a tortoise in need, and upgrading to a much larger Rubbermaid bin (literally made to store large fake Christmas trees!) I welcome the girls to my happy family and named them Raphael and Leonardo (sticking with my TMNT theme).

Now I have grown to be somewhat of an authority on Russian torts, I'm not going to pretend I know everything but I have spent the better part of two or so years wrangling and studying them. Also over the last two years, I've noticed a huge lack of a tort community in Montana. I know there are some tortoise enthusiasts out there, but none that heavily network online. I started this blog to be a base of support for those in the Montana area, for those who'd like to reach out, network, and even those who are just starting out to give advice. So please feel free to ask me anything, that's what I am here for.

I will post some pictures of my girls soon (sadly Donatello passed away away this last Sunday being over 72, he had a good long run), and I will post more on caring for torts in Montana, where to find your first tort, and more.