I should have some wonderful and enticing introductory blog entry here, but I really don't, and for that I apologize. What I can tell you is that I have owned and operated The Basking Spot for about 10 years and have found that it's the shelled critters that I'm most drawn to, so I decided to develop a site devoted to turtles and tortoises. I hope you enjoy it, visit often, and please post some comments to start some discussions!

Also please feel free to e-mail me with any chelonian info you think turtle fans would find interesting!

And for now I'll leave you with this, one of my favorite sites: The Slowskys.

"Susan Wilkes, a 1983 alumna of the University of Maryland, plans to be on campus this week for an activity she hasn't yet told her husband about.

It's nothing scandalous, but it could involve a large transaction of money.

Wilkes, 45, said she expects to bid at one of the silent and live auctions on Thursday for Fear the Turtle terrapin sculptures that have graced spots around the campus, the state and Washington, D.C., since last spring.

The 50 sculptures - decorated by 50 different artists - celebrate the university's 150th anniversary."

Related links:
UMD's 'Fear the Turtle' Sculptures Go on Auction
'Fear the Turtle' Sculptures Web Site
'Fear the Turrtle' Sculpture Project
Lone Turtle Faces Auction
'Fear the Turtle' Sculpture To Be Auctioned Off

"LONDON: Winky the three-legged tortoise has been given a lift after she was fitted with a suspension system and a pneumatic tyre to help her cope with muddy terrain.

The reptile, aged 54, can now go "off-road" and roam over boggy ground after the 4x4-style system was installed on the underside of her shell.

Winky was fitted with a two inch plastic wheel four years ago to replace her rear right leg which she lost to an unknown predator."

Related links:
Winky the wonky tortoise gets new tyre
Park shells out on tortoise Winky
Bet this tortoise runs on shell

Timothy begins:

"I was gone for more than a week before they found me. A rustling in the bean-field, heavy steps nearby. A shout -- the boy's voice -- more shouts. Thomas catches me up in his hands with sickening haste. I weigh six pounds thirteen ounces. He lifts me as though I weigh nothing at all."

Obviously, I have added this book to my Amazon.com Wish List.

Related Links:
What the tortoise knew
LibraryJournal.com

Yes, I know my last real blog entry was about a tortoise book. Well, this entry is, too.

Thomas R. Van Devender has written this work on the plight of the threatened Sonoran and Sinaloan desert tortoises, relatives of the well known "regular" desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii.

"Differences in climate and habitat have shaped the evolution of three races of desert tortoises as they have adapted to changes in heat, rainfall, and sources of food and shelter as the deserts developed in the last ten million years. This book presents the first comprehensive summary of the natural history, biology, and conservation of the Sonoran and Sinaloan desert tortoises, reviewing the current state of knowledge of these creatures with appropriate comparisons to Mohave tortoises."

I haven't read it yet. I have of course added it to my Amazon.com wish list.

Links to info about the book:
University of Arizona Press web page (purchase the book here)
Electronic Green Journal book review
Smithsonian National Zoological Park book review

Try adding up all the fines you will receive if you mess with this animal:
Summary of Laws That Protect Desert Tortoises

Links to more great desert tortoise information:
Desert Tortoise Wildlife Information
Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii
The Desert Tortoise Council
California Turtle and Tortoise Club's Desert Tortoise Care Sheet
Desert Tortoise Diet Sheet

And a great desert tortoise picture to print for your kids to color:
Desert Tortoise Printout

So, Pamela Anderson is making a film in which her character is to have a pet turtle. But Pam the PETA member wishes for the role of the turtle to be 100% animatronics so that no animals are harmed or used in the production of the film.

According to Ms Anderson, her request will be granted.

Now, I'm not sure any of my tortoises would mind hanging around on a movie set for a few weeks, and I question the decision to go ahead with the special effect. How large is this film's budget, anyway? Will the animators effectively capture the nuances of a turtle's movements and behavior?

Sigh.... But I must admit that I admire Pam's determination and respect for animals, and I can feel the Pam-Turtle/Turtle-Pam love. I think both parties win.

The story:
Pammie's loonie turtle demand

I get the feeling that shoddy reporting is at work, or turtle-flatulence is actually part of the plot of Pam Anderson's new film.

According to reports, the animatronic turtle that's being used in filming won't stop...er...passing gas...resulting in retakes because Pam won't stop laughing.

I for one can't wait to see the outtakes when this comes to DVD.

The story:
Pamela Anderson Laughs Off Farting Movie Set Turtle

NBC 10 wants your input. This Associated Press photograph of an Atantic baby sea turtle hatching from its egg lends itself to many captions. Send in your suggestion!

My favorite caption so far: "Wait, you are so not my mom."

Commentary on warfare. The story of the King of the Tortoises, Lions, and Boars.

...the tortoises were the first to speak up. The Tortoise King stood up and cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he said, looking about him, and then in a soft voice he said, "I must tell you there is one thing we tortoises abhor."

rest of story....

Turtle lovers, I have had absolutely nothing to say about turtles for several weeks, and for that I apologize. Whilst maintaining the reptilian current events on The Basking Spot my idea for a blog was borne; it seemed that there were always interesting, harrowing, or infuriating news of turtles and tortoises such as the news we hear of developers burying tortoises alive ... yes, mainly that one. I can recall wanting to fume about that nearly every day and thinking, "if only this forum were more like a blog I could go postal all over this," but as it turned out it's just not something I have the energy for every day. Going postal. It takes a lot out of me.

So here it is, well into the first month of 2007, the year of the turtle over and done, and I felt the need to pop in and reassure you that a human being does actually live here.

In fact, this human being has finally gotten the chance to start reading Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile, on which I blogged back on 10/25/06. Thank you, Amazon.com wish list!

(No, that is not shameless self promotion, that was merely self indulgence. If I had linked HERE it would have been self promotion.)

So hopefully there will be some fantastic tortoise news in the near future that will inspire me to blog poetic. In the meanwhile, I continue to read Timothy's tale.

As we sit under a foot of snow here in the midwest, I read with bitter envy the annual tradition of Nevada citizens who have their own rendition of "groundhog day": the day some arbitrary animal decides the weather the next few weeks will bring. No, they don't listen to Punxsutawney Phil or to any other groundhog ... they await a tortoise.

Yes, in Nevada they rely on Mojave Max to emerge from hibernation and inform them whether the weather is going to ... get even warmer than it already is. Usually he comes out between 2/15 and 3/15. My eyes will be glued to Nevada news sites.

Southern Nevada awaits signal from Mojave Max

Update: Mojave Max has finally emerged!

Mojave Max, the famous Southern Nevada desert tortoise, officially emerged from his burrow at 11:34 a.m. today.

No news yet on the winner of the Mojave Max Emergence Contest.

Today is World Turtle Day. Established in 2000, May 23 calls for worldwide recognition of turtle conservation. In the past several years, conservation efforts have finally begun to succeed in saving gopher tortoises from live burial on construction sites in Florida. In other parts of the world, turtles are nesting in record numbers, which can partially be attributed to protection they receive under "critically endangered" status. Alas, legislation in effect since 1975 banning the sale of turtles under 4" may be repealed in order to, of all things, financially aid turtle breeders. Let's start subsidizing puppy mills while we're at it, shall we?

Ill boy receives new home for tortoises

"When Nick Gleissner was offered a gift through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he asked for a new home for Elvis, Emily and Paul, his three African Spurred tortoises.

On Saturday, the habitat in the Gleissners' backyard was revealed to about 60 family members and friends from school, church and work.

Make-A-Wish Foundation of Orange County and the Inland Empire accepted Nick's application about six months ago.

President and CEO Mark Pilon said about 50 of the approximately 300 wishes his chapter awards each year are creative projects such as the tortoise habitat.

Pilon called on personal friend Richard Orr for help because he knew his wife, Betty, had raised tortoises for years.

Orr designed and renovated the Gleissners' 123-by-44-foot backyard into an oasis of lush lawn, a large patio and a tortoise enclosure that includes a log cabin, waterfall, pond and heating lamps for cold winter nights.

"It's even better than I thought it would be," said Nick. "It is really neat." "

Allison Nichols of Pensacola, Florida saved a bleeding gopher tortoise from near-certain blood-clotting Friday, in a precious act of wild animal empathy. Her mother did the right thing by calling The Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida, as it is illegal to disturb the federally protected gopher tortoise.

More.

Or if you don't happen to have this stuff in your trash, you'll need to go out and purchase:

"Amanda Cole-Hargie, 26-year-old photographer, said: 'I was taking a nap when I was woken by this continual banging noise.

'I traced it to next door's garden and there was Percy, nutting the ball against the fence over and over again.'

Percy's owners, Dave Miles, a paramedic, and his wife Jo, social work resource officer, said the tortoise had been playing football ever since their three children started kicking balls around in the garden at their Brighton home.

'Maybe he thinks the football is a potential mate - we just don't know - but his football crazy play is keeping him healthy.'"

Via.

UK blogger Ms Cellania was lucky enough to catch her tortoise "Tog" laying eggs yesterday morning and shot this video. Check it out!

My own sulcata tortoise "Tetchie" laid a couple clutches of eggs over the past two or three years that I had her. (She has since been relocated to warmer climes.) Below is one photo of her in action in April 2005 (alas, from the front) and a closeup of one of her eggs in my hand.

Blogger Carel Brest van Kempen writes a great read and paints a beautiful picture in his blog Rigor Vitae of the United States gopher tortoise.

"That’s not the beginning of a joke. It’s what one caller this weekend told Jacque Barborak, whose 65-pound African Sulcata turtle went missing after escaping from his Hermitage home on June 10.

According to the caller, Barborak’s turtle, whose name is Gus, was spotted Saturday in a Farrell bar.

The land tortoise is apparently alive and may be in the possession of a man who wants a reward to return the turtle, according to another phone call Barborak received.

Barborak, whose 7-year-old reptilian pet escaped, said he got a call from a woman demanding a $100 reward for the animal. When he refused to pay, she hung up.

'It’s just knowing he’s out there, and they won’t give him back,' he said. Police told him he may not get the turtle back, and his children are still upset by the disappeared pet."

More.

Via.

I have no explanation why the folks over at eat-stuff.net filed this under "recipes" (I hate to guess!) but they took some great videos of hatchling sea turtles emerging:

Turtle videos

Here you can view a snapping turtle actually laying eggs:

Snapping turtle laying eggs

The story, or at least photos, of Owen & Mzee have been making the e-mail rounds recently, some two and a half years after they bonded after the Indonesia tsunami. Here is a brand new interview with the author of Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship and the new Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship:

Up Close: Owen & Mzee author Craig Hatkoff

For those who are just getting acquainted with this adorable relationship, here are links galore:

Owen & Mzee
Another Happy and Successful Adoption Story
Owen and Mzee's Web Log
Owen and Mzee Wikipedia entry
NPR: A Hippo and Tortoise Tale
YouTube: Owen and Mzee

The video of the cat-ramming turtle suffered from such fatal overexposure that I never bothered to link to it here.

But a video with two tortoises and ramming, well, that's a different story. Not to mention the tortoise-lookalike rock.

Ask MetaFilter is one of my favorite web sites (I read it daily). In between various RelationshipFilter threads you can sometimes find gems like this:

Twin Cities Turtle-spotting spots
"My wife loves Turtles. Can anyone tell me where best to go, in the Twin Cities area, to see turtles in their natural habitat?

We're looking for (Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA) metro area parks, rivers, lakes, etc.; where we have a good chance of spotting wild turtles basking. While we're on the topic, any tips about the times of day or of year that are most favorable for spotting turtles will also be most welcome."

Several good answers follow.

A turtle can be a pet for a long time

"Puddles, a 10-year-old desert turtle at Delhi Pet Center in Cincinnati, likes to roam the store and greet customers."

Thank you, Delhi Pet Center, for being conscientious enough to show your customers just how large those cute little Sulcata tortoise hatchlings are going to grow to be in only one decade.

Maybe this is why I'm 35 and never married: all my commitment is tied up with my tortoises.

Clearly I'm getting caught up on the turtle events that have occurred over the couple weeks I've been away. I'm trying to make my selections carefully. But really, is there a way I could fail to post some acknowledgment of the explosion in popularity of the "I like turtles" zombie boy?

This page wraps it up well enough.

The concept of the hive mind (the sci-fi variety) has interested me for some time. Specifically, as it pertains to humans in one of our societies on Earth, I often wonder: how would things be different? We as individuals would face a whole new set of challenges that I struggle to even imagine. So many of our daily activities, thoughts and conundrums exist because we don't know what another person is thinking. How can we get the client to like our pitch? Will my boss give me a raise? What is this car really worth, and what's the lowest price they'll give me? Is that gorgeous man interested in me or not? Those questions: wiped clean by the wrath of god. (Or, whatever. I will always make movie/TV references that you will not understand.) Indeed, there would be few questions at all. Would the question mark even be? Would we live life without the interrobang‽ It's hard to imagine what issues we would face, if we each as individuals knew everything without having to ask.

But I can tell you this. If turtles were able to communicate with each other through their minds, this would not happen:

House lights draw baby turtle to pool

Hatchling loggerhead sea turtles are blessed with much knowledge. That they even know to sand-paddle to the sea is an amazing feat of evolution. But if this poor pool-bound guy had a little help from his siblings' brain waves, well, he wouldn't have wound up swimming alongside floating lounge chairs with built in beverage holders. In conclusion: turtles do not have E.S.P.

Tune in again next Tuesday for a new installment of ... What if turtles had E.S.P.?

As far back as I can remember in my life on the internet (which began in the early 1990s) I've been involved in the reptile and amphibian scene. And as far back as I can remember when it comes to turtles, David Kirkpatrick has always been the authority on shelled aquatic things.

When you google him, you get his home page at UNC which hasn't been updated since 1999. Yet, you'll still find that link all over the web. Here's a link to his turtle articles, as of 1999 at least.

Who knows how many turtles he keeps now, or how many more of his turtle articles are out there somewhere. David, do you copy? Are you still around?

Of course, I could try his e-mail address, but I don't really have much to say. I just wanted to give him a cross-country, cross-millennium high five.

There is so much strange stuff going on in this story that I don't know where to begin.

Saturday, August 4, 2007, Anita Lewis gathered some household possessions to sell in a rummage sale, while her husband slept. I'm all for independent women; I'm wildly independent myself, to a fault, most would say. If you want to sell your stuff, go ahead and sell it, and your husband's opinion be damned, is what I always say.

But apparently Anita is not the kind who can be trusted with sorting through household possessions. She chose to sell a ceramic turtle that lovingly held her husband's late ex-wife's ashes. Right now, I'm trying to figure out if "late ex-wife" means simply that his wife died, or that she was his ex-wife before she died; not that it has much bearing on the story. Except that it would be strange, I'd think, to be the keeper of one's ashes whom one has divorced. But many of the articles say "late ex-wife" and I know if I were writing the story I'd simply say "late wife" but that might just go to show what I know about how late wives are described when one has taken a new wife since. Some articles simply say "previous wife," which to me suggests that none of the reporters really know the circumstances surrounding Marcia Lewis's marriage/divorce and/or demise.

So anyway. The Lewises, it turns out, have a house full of turtles. They love 'em. And who can blame 'em? But wait! It was Terence and his previous, late ex-wife Marcia who collected them! And Anita decided to sell all these turtles while her husband slept, and she also somehow forgot that this large ceramic turtle, whose lid was fused to the rest of it, contained the ex's ashes? This woman is shifty and is not to be trusted.

Once Anita's husband woke up and discovered his ex-wife missing, Anita started a frantic search for the woman who bought the turtle for fifty cents, allegedly to use as a cookie jar.

But where was the turtle found? A thrift shop. Lies, lies, lies! What is it about this turtle jar that brings out the worst in people? So far, deception, lies, and negative energy all around.

Except in this picture. In this photo, doesn't Anita look like she took it on Antique Roadshow and learned it's worth about a billion dollars?

And yes, you have to inspect the photo very carefully to see that that's a turtle.

Via:
Human Ashes Accidentally Sold at Rummage
Turtle Ashes
Update: Turtle holding ashes back in owner's possession

On her blog, Tricia of The Miss Rumphius Effect has reviewed a book called Turtle Summer. It is a journal chronicling the adventures of one mother and daughter during loggerhead turtle nesting season.

So in Zambia, Africa, tortoises are being used to deliver warning messages.

Dogs and birds, too. Of course we all know about the place the carrier pigeon has in history, but who knew that chelonians were equally suited for the job?

In one recent instance, a tortoise carried a message to a magistrate (judge) who had just incarcerated two prisoners. The message suggested that the prisoners be released, as they have unfinished problems to resolve, or else the magistrate himself would have to tend to the trouble. The end the letter signed off, "If you want to talk to us reply through the same channel." Would that be the carrier tortoise channel?

This opens up my imagination to unlimited possibilities. On what errands might I send my tortoises? I wonder if they could handle my late-night Walgreen's candy runs?

Maybe I'll start by sending Scooter next door to deliver my neighbor's mis-delivered mail.

Zambia: Tortoise Delivers Letter to Magistrate
Zambia: Copperbelt Tortoise Shocker!

Disclaimer: With this post I am not criticizing another culture, their beliefs or superstitions. I am merely commenting on an occurrence that would not have happened the same way in my own culture.

This is one smart turtle, and one patient man.

The following links to a nearly-5-minute video showcasing this three-toed box turtle's talents. It is by far the most complete of the videos I found, though I don't like this link because, well, let's just say that this site makes me happy my local paper moderates its reader comments. Anyway, here it is:

Man Trains Turtle To Do Tricks

Here is another link to an edited version, and this one has an interesting voiceover commentary (and gives more information about how the man uses Florida in therapy for kids):

Trained Turtle

And here's a nice little written story: Turtle tricks

Sea turtles, they do not make good pets. They need an enormous amount of space, and just keeping all that water clean must be a nearly full time job. (I refuse to keep even a small aquarium.)

Plus, it is illegal to keep sea turtles as pets.

Still, there are a few ways to adopt a sea turtle, and ehow describes some of them for us, just in time for Christmas. The adoption site is AdoptASeaTurtle.com.

Disclaimer: I have not tried this, nor have I checked out the organization in any way. But it sure does sound neat.

Koopa is on YouTube.
Koopa has been featured on Product Buzz.
Koopa has his own web page.

Koopa is a turtle that paints, and his paintings hang in all 50 states, plus Canada, Bahrain, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy. Koopa even has a MySpace page, though I don't recommend you go there under any circumstances. (As the background music says, "Gimme one reason to stay here," and I have found no reason to ever stay on any MySpace page. Hire some user interface designers, MySpace, you're not a startup anymore.)

Koopa was recently featured on Neatorama's "Caption this photo" contest, but don't bother entering, as winners have already been chosen.

I have to hand it to Koopa's human assistant, Kira, for creating this turtle/art niche. That's some genius product development right there.

To view Koopa's current work for sale, visit Koopa's Ebay store.

This pancake tortoise could pass for my leopard tortoise, Scooter ... if Scooter were run over by a bus. How do they even fit all their organs in that flat shell?

Here is some good reading material on the species (Malacochersus tornieri):

David Kirkpatrick's article, originally published in Reptile & Amphibian Magazine
Natural History, also by Kirkpatrick
General Care, by Paula Morris
Keeping and Breeding the Pancake Tortoise, by Tortoise Trust

It turns out that if you search YouTube for "hungry turtle," you don't get hours of endless entertainment, like this:

Most of it is laborious, slow-eatin' action, like this:

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center's own blog alerted me to their new sea turtle adoption program. From their web site:

"Now you can 'adopt a turtle,' and for only $50, you can contribute to that turtle's rehabilitation. When that turtle is released, you will be able to track the turtle online and know that you helped to make him/her healthy enough to go back home! Or, you can adopt a turtle that has already been released, helping to pay for the research we are conducting so we can help sea turtles all over the world!"

This sounds like a great way to raise money for the GSTC. Their main mission is to treat sea turtles that get stranded along the Georgia coast; their center on Jekyll Island provides cutting edge care for turtles and also serves as a research and education center.

Get all the details on the Georgia Sea Turtle Center's web site.

Turtles All The Way Down is considering an adoption ... we'll see if we have room in the offspring budget and let you know what happens.

Turtles may not be cuddly, but c'mon, they're cute. Adorable slowcoaches with elephant feet, destined to lose each and every race, retractable heads cute as a button.

If you think that's the case, you haven't met Snappy! First spotted some 17 years ago in a Caldicot Country Park pond in South Wales, this snapping turtle has spent the past couple decades on the lam devouring fish, ducks, and whatever else he can catch.

The killer turtle has recently been caught, and he has been moved to the Tortoise Trust rescue sanctuary in west Wales.

It's hard for me to believe he weighs only 20 pounds, but regardless, a duck is no match for that.

This is another prime example of what happens when pet turtles are discarded into the wild. Yes, Snappy must have been a pet, since snapping turtles are native to North America.

Squishable.com is offering the biggest, snuggliest turtles and tortoises you'll find anywhere. One of these would be a great alternative to having a real tortoise: you don't have to feed it, water it, keep it warm, wet, or dry. And it's HUGE! Visit Squishable.com for all your cuddly turtle needs, and cuddly whale needs, cuddly duck needs, cuddly frog needs, cuddly octopus needs....

I'm so sorry I've been quiet for a couple weeks here. I went on a trip and, as usual, got clogged up with work. When that happens I often make the mistake of neglecting my other interests. I'm working on that.

To make it up to you, check out these hatchling Hermann's! Shells inside shells of pure cuteness.