'Twas The Night Before Christmas...

'Twas the night before Christmas

and all through the house,

not a creature was stirring -

not even a mouse. 

(or in our particular case, a tortoise) 

The non-stirring state of the household pets has been going on around here since mid-October when we opened the back patio door and our two Desert Tortoises came marching in on a fine, sunny and warm fall late afternoon as if they had business inside.  Apparently they did have business indoors as they had the demeanor of determined domestic pets looking for a spot to settle in and hibernate until March.

We let Isaac and Chomper in to have a look around and I suspected that they would tire of the search and want to go back outside shortly, fully expecting, based on past experience, that it would take this pair a few starts over the coming week before they were ready to hunker down and drop into deep hibernation sleep.  We both watched in puzzled amusement as both tortoises by-passed the kitchen corners where I had placed their custom hibernation boxes (which they used last year) and headed down the hall toward the master bathroom.  Chomper and Isaac piled in behind the toilet and quickly dropped into motionless hibernation states.  That was quick.  They both have their favorite parts of the house, Isaac prefers the kitchen and Chomper nearly always makes his way to the dinning room. But never before have they shown any interest in the master bath.  At least not until this October.

After a few days, I removed Isaac to his custom spiced maple hibernation quarters where he comfortably sighed and eased into his mid-winter's nap.  I could have placed Chomper in his own box as well, but he looked so awkwardly sound asleep with his head tucked into the toilet cleaning brush receptacle that I was reluctant to disturb his amusingly chosen spot for the next 5 months.  Besides, I find it quirky and charming to have a hibernating reptile sharing our water closet.

We acquired a couple of other tortoise siblings from my sister and brother-in-law about that same time in October, and the new additions, Morpheus (a restless, slow to settle type) and Vortexia.  Vortexia has taken the vacant spot in Chomper's box while Morpheus remains in the cardboard moving box in which he arrived.

For now, all through the house not a creature is stirring -- but we will have some interesting tortoise dynamics to deal with come March and through out the Summer of 2019.