YOUR GARDEN TORTOISE

Evening Star, Issue 19328, 14 August 1926, Page 5

YOUR GARDEN TORTOISE

“ By tlio dcccitfulncss of tlioir vendors tortoises are sometimes introduced into gardens in the bspecuiuon that they will make themselves useful by destroying beetles and slugs. Gardeners* who buy them in this hope are unversed in the diet ol the various branches of the cbelonian lain.ly,” says ‘ The Times.’ “ The garden tortoise is no carnivore, like the snapping turtle, or the little water-tortoises sometimes sold in naturalists’ shops. Even under the demoralisation of captivity it almost invariably remains a vegetarian; the most sinuous dew-worm excite.-- in it no voracious passion; and it will gn/.c with eyes of utter unaggressivencss at the fattest and blackest slug. “It is a vegetarian of almost .the strictest type, and can only be in 'duced by the mo-t flatterin'’ attentions to include bread-and-rniik in its diet. But it is an example to some other vegetarians in the cleanliness of its meals. “ ft chooses the, freshest lettuce leaf, the most sprucely golden dandelion' blossom, and closely grasses the cloverpatch without swallowing dirt. On the drink question it displays' a characteristic moderation; it drinks when it is thirsty, and that appears to bo about once in Ev© years*”