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Christopher's first pet



Meet, Spud, a Russian tortoise. He came from PetSmart during spring break, as a belated birthday gift. We told Christopher he could get a tortoise for his birthday, but none of the pet stores we went to had any. When Lindsey and Christopher went to the pet store recently to buy food for her birds, they saw the tortoise in the store. He was the only one in stock, so the next day, Kelly took Christopher to bring home his first pet.

Russian tortoises have a lifespan of about 50 years, and Spud is about one and a half years old now. He eats carrot peelings and leafy greens like kale, lettuce, celery, and occasionally, apples. He lives in Christopher's bedroom in a large see-through storage tote, filled with store-bought sand and various turtle playground equipment. Kelly sawed the lid off and designed and attached an ultra violet light, which Spud needs about twelve hours of per day. Kelly and the kids took Spud outside for an adventurous photo op last week, and these are some of his poses. He had a heyday outside and really enjoyed it, and was crawling all over the place. Christopher is taking good care of his pet and hopes to have him for years.
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Comments

Lonna said…
That is so neat. What a fun pet. I like the picture of spud wandering in the garden. What a great diet he has. I think that he is going to be a fun little pet to have around.
March 30, 2008 10:55 PM
It's Been a Day! said…
What a great pet!! I'm not really a pet person, but I think i could get used to having one of those!
March 31, 2008 1:24 PM
Kelly said…
Paige, I'm not a pet person either, which is why it took ten years for me to allow Christopher to get one. I gave it a lot of thought, wondering what type of creature I could handle. Hopefully Spud won't be too much trouble.
March 31, 2008 1:31 PM
~ Tina said…
Spud is adorable - how fun is that!!!
March 31, 2008 4:19 PM
Robin said…
How big will Spud grow? He's very cute! I can imagine how much fun he is.
March 31, 2008 6:16 PM
Callisto said…
Cute! As far as reptiles are concerned, I'm rather partial to snakes, but tortises are neat, too. We have a gecko named Quigley. He's awfully cute.
March 31, 2008 6:30 PM
Julie said…
How cool! My first pets were turtles when we lived overseas. Sadly, their lifespan was not very long. :( I had no idea tortises lived that long! How big will he get?
April 02, 2008 1:24 PM
The Roberts said…
That is really a cool pet and I love the pictures of him/her out in nature! I have a really mean cat that I will trade you. Any takers!
April 02, 2008 6:49 PM
Julie V. said…
I have always loved turtles. They seems so mellow, and so quiet.
April 09, 2008 11:48 AM
Anonymous said…
that's really cool! I have to agree with madison but spud is still nice!
April 09, 2008 2:40 PM
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