Cocoa

I
am Cocoa, the biggest one of our group. I am a very friendly and cuddly
female Redfoot tortoise and love to get scratched by my Mom. She
scratches my shell and my neck and boy, do I enjoy this. I could stand
still for hours when she is doing it. I also love to get a bath every
day. When I live outdoors in the summer, we have bath dishes everywhere
in the yard and Mom showers us every other hour with the garden hose.

During
the winter we get our daily bath in the kitchen sink. Yeah, that's
relaxing! I could stay for hours in this sink, but when the water gets
cold, Mom takes me out.

Here am I resting in my
outdoor hide. This picture was taken during a hot
summer day. It was so hot, that I didn't want to move at all.

An other view of my favorite hide.


Here
I am hanging out under the UVB heat lamp, T-Rex 100 watt Mega Ray flood
lamp. This lamp has the highest UVB output on the market and helps me
to produce Vitamin D3, that my shell can grow smoothly. Since we grew
so large (I am now 12 inches long) Mom bought us 3 pens, so we have our
own space. Actually our pens are outdoor ponds, filled with soil, Coir
and Cypress mulch. Coir and Cypress mulch can keep the humidy better
than just soil and that makes us feel so good.