THE TORTOISE AS A PET.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue IV, 27 January 1900, Page 190

THE TORTOISE AS A PET.

No parental objection will be made if you acquire a tortoise as a pet, for he keeps insect pests down in the garden in a delightful manner. The writer is always glad to see his tortoise arrive some sunny morning from his secluded winter home, generally a corner in the tool-house, in which he has dreamed away the disagreeable part of the year very comfortably. In a greenhouse the tortoise is most useful, and keeps the rapidly increasing insects at bay, and in the garden his work is never Cone, as he slowly moves about waging war with insects of all sorts. These animals are very fond of milk, and a story is told of one which had most amicable relations with the family cat, and used to drink from the same saucer. When ill, or distressed anil alarmed, the tortoise mews like a young kitten. They lay a great number of eggs in their own hot climate, but the writer has never had any breed, though he has kept several. The chicken-tortoises (so called because. the flesh is eaten in America and thought to be as delicate as chicken) are very interesting pets. They must be kept in a tank, or glass case, and the water changed after their daily meal of meat. The meat, cooked, should be thrown in to them in small pieces, and their antics as they catch the food on their carved, hooked beaks are very funny. If you take them out and place them on the table or door, they make themselves quite at home, and scuttle along at a rapid rate; their shell must be very hard, for a fall from a good height does not at all disturb them. They breathe in the water by throwing up their long snake-like heads. Their sense of hearing is most acute, and the least alarm sends head and tail under the protecting coat of mail with lightning speed, as they dive amongst the rocks and pebbles in their tank. They make capital inmates for an aquarium, and prove interesting pets at small cost for keep. You should not pay more than a shilling for one, and you may be able to get one for much less.