Fort Tort

Wow, it’s barely June and I can hardly keep up with all the photos I’ve taken! First, the blackberries are going crazy. I have so many this year! Everyone is enjoying them; Amie, Koko, Butters- I even convinced Bella to try one this morning! How can a dog who thinks lettuce is a treat be suspicious of a blackberry? I stopped in at Fort Tort this morning to deliver a breakfast feast of a few blackberries, spent hibiscus blossoms and a couple mulberry leaves. Here’s a picture of Butters munching her flower. A family of small red and black wasps has moved into Buttercup’s burrow; you can see one perched on her in this picture!

Meanwhile, amphibians still rule at the Water Garden. I pulled a lily pad out from under the ledge and discovered Baby Toad Hideout! There must have been 20 or more to start with, seeking protection from the heat of the day in the cool darkness. A week later, they have little by little dispersed out of the Water Garden and off into the grass and plants in the big wide world. Whenever I find one, I move it to the safety of Terra Pen. Every evening I am treated to frog song, all night long. There are at least five different species I can hear. I love trying to trick them into calling by making frog croaks myself.

Back at The Fort, I’ve been trying without success to establish _anything_ growing on top of the burrows. Whatever I plant is consumed as soon as the torts find it. However, we have a new inhabitant living in the vicinity of Koko’s home! This big skink is always out basking on top of the barren wasteland that is Koko’s burrow. He’s quite tolerant of me photographing him. There are lots of lizards out there this year. I’ve noticed that there are more green anoles than brown anoles so far. I wonder if many of the brown anoles were weeded out by the very, very cold winter. Here’s a picture of Koko, deciding if he should follow his blackberry treat with mulberry leaves or a hibiscus flower. I hope everyone is having as nice a summer as we are, here at Fort Tort!

I had to come up with a little project for my spring vacation, and decided to expand the little patio to the east of Terra Pen. The hard part is digging up the sod and removing the dirt from it. Laying the stones is the fun part! I bought 20 of them and laid them out to extend the patio out in front of the Water Garden’s north side, and then along in a nice curve to the existing decorative fence. Then I had to go get six more, and them I had to go get three more! The baby toads are out and about now- each the size of a small house fly, so I had to be extra-careful not to injure any with all the digging.

After the stones were laid came the exciting part- planting! I decided to try day lilies and lilies of the Nile for a change, and I also found some gorgeous fuchsia Gerber daisies and three new sage/salvias for the butterfly garden. I enclosed it all with a small wrought iron fence so now Bella can go out and sit with me at the Water Garden, off lead. This means she sits as close as possible to my rocking chair on the deck! I’m so happy with how it turned out. Now, what next?

It’s late spring and the tree frogs are out in full force! They start calling when the sun starts to set, and it is even possible to trick them into calling by making croaking sounds myself! A careful search will usually turn one up.

Over at the Water Garden, the baby toadpoles are growing quickly. Most have hind legs. As in years past, the toadpoles quickly figure out that they can join in when I feed the Sarassas in the evening. This year, even the snails come out when it is fish-feeding hour. If I am very careful, I can hand feed them!

I have tried unsuccessfully to get a picture of the large bullfrog who lives under the bench facing Fort Tort. I hear him rustling around in the evening and have even seen him twice, but he is very wary. He likes to take a dip in the small free-standing water garden next to the big Confederate Jasmine. Maybe I’ll catch him “on film” some day. Finally, here’s a picture of the D.D. Blanchard Magnolia with a bloom at the very top. Remember, you can click on any image to make it larger!

I picked up a little female Florida boxie yesterday from a friend who works on a road construction project down in Polk County. Some workers were carrying her around in a shovel because they thought she was a snapping turtle. Amie has an upper respiratory infection among other problems. She has severe shell damage to at least the keratin layer of her carapace, as well as a big bite out of her plastron near her left hind leg. Some animal, perhaps a coyote or raccoon, tried very hard to eat Amie! It seems that this damage was not very recent, though. She uses the leg most of the time, but sometimes just keeps it tucked in. I plan to take Amie in to see Dr. Pat on Tuesday- we’ll see what his assessment of her health is! Her weight feels decent- not too light. The good news is she has already eaten a couple superworms for me.

The word of the day is amplexus! Last night a monstrous storm came through the area. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado warning for much of the evening, and even when the warnings expired, the severe weather continued till midnight. I packed up Dillbird and Isabel for evacuation, put the iPhone in a waterproof bag, and prepared to bolt to the safety of Fort Tort if it seemed necessary.

Luckily, the most severe weather split and passed through to the north and south of my house. At one point, the radio died, and I could hear toads singing. I ventured outside, and ended up wading through a river of flooded fire ants. Ow.

This morning everything was green and wet and humid! Koko and Buttercup, having found shelter from the storm for the night, were out grazing before the day got too hot. As a special treat, I picked a strawberry and a couple mulberry leaves for the torts. The pick-your-own strawberry garden in Terra Pen is producing a good handful of sweet red berries daily. Here’s a photo of Koko enjoying a bite of berry, and Butters with her beloved mulberry leaves.

As I was walking around my beautiful “outdoor room,” I stopped to check the Water Garden. There’s a toad! It looks strange…Wait- AMPLEXUS! “A sexual embrace, a grasping reflex, the mating ritual of toads.” I’ve seen pictures of the act, but never witnessed it in person! They must have started in the night and continued mating into the morning. This, exactly, is why I allow the unkempt mat of grassy greenery to take over a good portion of the Water Garden- to provide an appealing haven for mating amphibians and shelter for the tadpoles and toadpoles. The toads remained locked together, seemingly undisturbed by my presence. I had time to run in and get the camera. Not wanting to disturb them, I limited myself to a couple quick photos. When I returned later, they had moved slightly, leaving a trail of hundreds of toad eggs. Toad eggs are easy to distinguish from other amphibian eggs because they are laid in a string of tiny black pearls, not in a mass.

The spring flowering trees at Fort Tort have finished blooming, giving way to vines, roses and perennials. I enlisted Isabel as a model and set out to photograph the Wisteria, the Black Magic Rose and an unusual Gerber Daisy. Although the immense Wisteria up by the house has yet to bloom, this little Wisteria covering the west half of the arbor at Fort Tort has been a faithful bloomer since the day I planted it. Wisteria is toxic, so cannot be planted inside the enclosure, but it provides a shady cover for the little bench facing the Fort. There are three big rose bushes around the deck, and I would like to plant more. Although I’ve grown roses for cutting in a greenhouse, these are the first I’ve grown in a garden, and I really enjoy them. The Black Magic Rose is the youngest of the three.

I love growing Gerber Daisys , especially those of the bright red variety. I’ve planted many around the Water Garden patio over the years, but have never seen one with a double bloom like this. I can’t wait to see how it develops!

The cushions for the glider up on the deck overlooking Terra Pen have not weathered well, and were replaced this spring. This glider makes a perfect place for an afternoon nap, complete with a patio umbrella for shade, a warm breeze and plenty of wasps! Fortunately, the wasps are of the non-confrontational persuasion, so far. Here’s Isabel, relaxing on a pillow in the shade.

Speaking of naps, I’m a little tired from my midnight storm watch, so I am ready to hit the glider and doze off! I leave you with one more photo of the blissful, prolific toads of lengthy amphiplexic stamina! Go toads! I am looking forward to many, many toadpoles soon!! (Don’t forget, you may click each photo if you would like a larger view).

It’s Mr. Frog! I don’t know where this big frog came from, but he’s lived out at Terra Pen for a year. I have so much clean-up to do out there it’s not even funny. The grasses have gotten so huge they have taken over the entire enclosure and the St. Bernard’s Lily has crowded out about a quarter of the strawberry garden. I spent some time pulling the water lilies out of the bottom of the water garden so they could warm up and get some sun. The Sarassa Comets were happy to “help!” Unfortunately, the lilies have lost all their tags, so I can’t tell who is who until they send up some leaves! It looks like they all survived the winter, although I am not quite sure about Mrs. George yet. I’m hopeful, though, that she made it!

Well, Butters and Koko survived their first night out! Rather than return to the burrow that had housed them for months, they decided to sleep in a half-log hide. It was a tight fit. We’ve had a bit of rain and there are even more green shoots springing up. I’m afraid that we’re not done with cold nights yet; the forecast calls for lows in the 30′s a couple nights from now. I think herding the torts into their burrow and covering the entrance will keep them warm enough, since the days are now sunny and mid 60′s to mid 70′s.

The Sarassas are heating up, too, by basking in the sun-warmed upper level of the water garden. It’s hard to get good pictures of them, but here is Levy enjoying the sun. Once the water temperature reaches 60F throughout I will start feeding them again. Until then they are free to nibble on algae or any insects they can find. The water lilies look promising, too! Mystery, pictured, is a hardy lily who survived the record cold with no problem. Tina is definitely alive, and I am hopeful for Mrs. George One and Two. I haven’t checked on Albert Greenberg or Queen of Siam yet. No- I don’t name the lilies! They are named by the person who produces the cultivar, often after friends or family.

The weather forecast for the immediate future looks good! No more near-freezing nights for a few days. I decided to remove the torts’ heat and open the burrow this morning. A quick check of the torts assured me that both were still sleeping the winter away. I left for a few hours, returned and ran out to check the burrow. It looked empty! A search revealed Koko napping in his hollow log hide. I turned the water on to fill up the watering hole, and brought Koko in for his post-brumation weigh-in. 832 grams, down from 856. A 3% loss- excellent! I placed Koko in the water so he could fill up. After a long cool drink, he wandered off to graze on dried grasses and leaves.

Next I searched for Butters, but I couldn’t find her anywhere! I reached as far into the burrow as I could, but felt nothing. Finally, I took a picture of the inside of the burrow and this revealed Butters, still napping. Since I had guests over, we spent some time visiting with Isabel, Bella, Cherry and Jasper. Suddenly, Shellie noticed that Buttercup had emerged! I handed Jasper off to Judy and brought Butters in to be weighed. A 4.5% loss, again, an excellent brumation! Butters drank deeply and then started making her way around the perimeter in search of her first meal. She, too, settled on dried grass.

Meanwhile, Koko lumbered off for a nap in his favorite half-log hide in a shady corner. It’s so nice to see them again! I’ve been missing my torts since November. Although it looks dry and barren, there are fresh green shoots of grass all over in Fort Tort. I’ve left the second burrow blocked off. If I need to return the torts to a heated burrow for a frosty night, they will be easier to find. In only a couple more weeks I should be able to start planting some fresh flowers out at the Fort. The torts will proceed to mow them down…

Fort Tort is what I call the wondrous creation I have constructed in my backyard.  It all started when I made a 16 x 16 outdoor enclosure for my tortoises, Koko and Buttercup.  The tortoise pen, Fort Tort, is a self-sustaining environment for the torts, where they can live, eat and brumate with very little assistance from me.  If the temps in the winter get below 40F I turn on supplemental heat.  I provide water.  They graze on grass and other plants and the lowest growing leaves of their weeping mulberry tree.  For a treat I will give them hibiscus flowers.  They have cuttlebones for calcium.  That’s it.  They have above-ground burrows for shelter.  When the weather is warm, they dig scuffs under the tall grass for shady napping.  This is their third winter brumating outside, and everything is going well, except for the weather!

Traditionally, Koko and Butters emerge from brumation sometime around Valentine’s Day.  This winter has been colder than normal, longer than normal.  They still require heat, because the temps at night are still hovering around freezing.  In fact, snow is predicted for tomorrow night!  I don’t believe that will happen, but you can bet if it does, there will be pictures!

So as I was saying, it all began with Fort Tort in 2007.  Then I built a little patio that August, complete with an arbor covered in Confederate Jasmine, with a little bench and table.  I was hooked!  I spent many a summer evening out at The Fort, my feet up on the wall, a glass of wine on my little table, relaxing with the latest gardening magazine.  I had a perfect view of the crows, rabbits and squirrels, and on rare occasions would even see a red fox searching for wild plums way out back.  Weekend mornings would find me in the same place, Isabel on my lap, soaking up the sunshine.  I was so sad to see winter come, the torts vanish into their burrow for brumation, the plants wither and die.

In the early spring of 2008 I decided to build an outdoor enclosure for box turtles.  This was to include a deep pond with a false bottom, so the turtles couldn’t fall in and drown, as well as a pick-your-own strawberry garden!  I documented this undertaking in its entirety at cornsnakes dot com.   Who’d have thought my backyard adventures would generate nearly 20,000 views!

One thing led to another.  I ordered two pond liners by accident, and decided that rather than returning the extra liner I would build an above-ground water garden.  To enjoy the water garden, I would need a deck.  The deck was so simple to build, I decided to add a larger deck to join Inez’s Patio with Terra Pen.  Of course, Inez’s Patio had to be expanded to tie it all in together.

The Water Garden is one of my favorite places in the world, right in my backyard.  As soon as I filled it up, critters started arriving.  Dragonflies were everywhere.  Tadpoles appeared as if by magic!  Tadpoles turned into frogs, and my yard was filled at night with frog song, something that never happened until I built my pond.  Toads made the journey over the patio, onto the deck, up over the wall and into the Water Garden, where they bred prolifically.  Soon I had hundreds of toadpoles.  I bought Sarassa Comet fish to live in the pond and trained them to come to the edge for feeding.  The toadpoles learned to come for feeding too!  I’d sit out there every evening, reading Reptiles, watching the Anole Wars.  Another winter came, and the torts brumated again.

I didn’t do as much hard construction in 2009 but I did put in another patio to the east of Terra Pen, joining it to the water garden.  Along the edges I planted a collection of salvias to attract hummingbirds and butterflies.  I loved the water garden so much I wanted water everywhere and so I added a couple free-standing small water gardens planted with water lettuce and other aquatic plants.  A pretty black wrought iron fence encloses one end.  And I’m not done yet!

My plans for this blog are to write a diary of the continuing adventures at Fort Tort:  the amazing life cycles of the animal residents, the exciting new creatures that stop by, continued construction, and of course my favorite activity of all- photographing snakes and flowers.  Stay tuned for the next installment!