Daisy, Cocoa and Georgy, when I first got them

I found some pictures of my 3 adult torts when i just got them in my old Image shack account. Their first indoor pen and how small they have been (appr. 2 y/o) They all weighted around 400 gram, which is not even a pound. Now they are +/-15pounds.

This picture was the very first day when I brought them home. The pen was a 4x4" bookshelf, which I had lined with rubber pond liner on the bottom and taped with duck tape to the side.
Daisy looking out from the hide, Georgy in the green water dish and Cocoa in the bigger water dish.
They had 3 of these reptile hides, but were always squeezed together in one.

I added some more plants for visual interest as the days went by.

More edible plants added, which they appreciated very much. It looked from above like a tropical jungle and they were used to eat right from the plants. I bought later a vulcano from zoomed that was supposed to provide humidity and a waterfall, but those 2 very expensive features broke after only 2 weeks. Though as long as they lasted, they looked pretty nice and the torts were sitting in front of them looking at the steam coming out from the vulcano and enjoyed the splashing water from the waterfall.

This is Cocoa, she was my first love.

One day in early April I drove to petsmart to get a parakeet. I was standing in front of the parakeet cage when I felt behind my back, somebody is looking at me. I turned my head around and saw this incredible beautiful Redfoot tortoise sitting in a 30 gallon tank, staring at me. Forgotten were the parakeets and I went over to the terrarium, opened it and got the tortoise out of my hand. She looked at me with her beautiful eyes and it seemed as if she would say: "Take me home, Mom" Who could resist this beautiful girl? Not me. I cuddled her a while and promised her to come back in a couple of days, when I had something set-up for her. I drove home and googled Redfoot to make myself smart about set-ups and diet, then I rushed out to buy all the things nessecary to make my new girl happy. I sacrified one of my bookshelves, and made a pen out of it. The very next day I drove back to the petsmart to look at my girl again and to hold her again. Also to buy some furniture, food and water dishes. She was priced at $150, and although I wasn't expecting to spend that much with all the stuff I needed, I could not go back and get a parakeet instead. The store owner came talking to me, when he saw me almost hourly coming back holding my girl. I said, I will get her the next day and he asked me, if I could buy 3, they had 2 more in the other store in Florence. I wasn't sure, didn't want 3 but said, I will think about it. The next day, when everything was prepared for my girl, I drove back to pick her up and found 2 more of these beautiful tortoises in her terrarium. One was a lot smaller and the other one was medium sized. Cocoa was the biggest one. Who could resist seeing all these wonderful creatures squeezed in a 30 gallon tank? Not me! - and home I drove with 3 tortoises.

I called the smallest one Daisygirl, she looked so innocent and I was sure, she is a girl. Cocoa was my big love though from day one. She was the most outgoing tort I have ever come across. And she loved me from the very beginning, always came to me, never feared my hands, and just loved to get cuddled. Georgy was the medium one, he was an explorer, climber and destroyer. Nothing was safe from him, he was a real character.

Later when I realized how messy thee torts can be, I also covered the sides of the pen with a plastic liner. I used a green shower curtain for that purpose.

They really felt home from day one, have all been very outgoing and seemed to be happy in their new habitat.

They loved to bath in the water dish and sometimes they would stand in a row to enter as soon as one got out.

Here is Georgy, eating watermelon

And Daisygirl (now Daisyboy) posing for a picture.