When we bought our property here, we inherited Lulu, and I have to admit that I have grown rather fond of him. He's pretty cute, eats our rotten mangoes, and you never know where he will pop up next. Lulu is a tortoise. I do believe he is a red-footed tortoise to be exact. And I think he is a he, although I may be wrong about that.
The sad thing is there used to be a Mrs. Lulu, but she and her babies have somehow escaped the confines of our wall. I think they are living next door in an overgrown area, so maybe we can reunite the family one of these days.
I've never had a tortoise before, and have only recently begun doing a little bit of research about them. I have, though, spent some time observing Lulu. I've discovered that he is a persistent fellow. Before we started doing renos on the property, Lulu lived in the back apartments. From the amount of poo we found back there, I'm guessing that had been his home for a long, long time! When the major construction was happening, Lulu tended to hide out away from the action, and we didn't see a whole lot of him. Now that things have quieted down, though, he's coming out of his shell again. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) The thing is, he's not happy about giving up his living quarters. If we leave any of the bedroom doors open for more than 5 minutes, I can guarantee that Lulu will have snuck in and will be hunkered in the corner. We move him to the opposite corner of the yard to munch on all the fallen mangoes, but 5 minutes later, he has made the trek back and is getting into the rooms again! Painting posed an interesting challenge. Let's just say we had an albino tortoise for a few days!
Before I met Lulu, I didn't think tortoises were that smart, but I am convinced he is learning. It used to be that when a door was closed, he would just walk on by to check on the next one. Now he stops and pushes on it with his head to see if it is latched or not. He also understands physics. I used to wonder how he was able to climb and descend stairs. Then I saw it. To get up, he extends his neck way out, puts his chin on the step and lifts himself up. Getting down is the funny one. He walks to the ledge and lets his font legs dangle. Then he thrusts his neck in and out until he is rocking on the ledge. Eventually he tips over and slides down. Smart, eh?!
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