EMPORIA GAZETTE (Kansas) 29 December 06 Tortoise Paradise (Brandy Nance)
Nine-year-olds Hercules and Zena have it good. They have their own room, complete with a castle. They even have a roommate who lives on top of the castle.
The three roomies aren’t your ordinary house guests — they are tortoises. Hercules and Zena are sulcata tortoises and their roommate, who is younger, is a leopard tortoise. The tortoises, along with two red-eared slider turtles and many box turtles hibernating in the backyard, are owned by Dennis and Wendy Barr. The Barrs also have a large koi pond in the backyard.
“We figure when it’s time to retire, we can just retire here,” Wendy Barr said as she looked at the fish swimming in the water.
Back in the house, Hercules and Zena have their own room — an indoor patio that the Barrs built just for them. The room cost about $5,000 to convert into a turtle’s paradise. It took about a year to build and had to be gutted and put back together again. The room includes a sunken area for the tortoises with a castle the Barrs built as a tortoise house with a heat lamp. On the top of the castle is the leopard tortoise, who is quite a bit smaller than Hercules and Zena.
In front of the sunken area is everything the Barrs need to enjoy the outdoors without having to go outside. They have a patio table, a television and VCR and the room is peppered with plants and heat sources to keep the tortoises warm.
“This room was built for them. We enjoy the room. There’s all kinds of wildlife out back,” Dennis Barr said. Barr added that Hercules and Zena get to go outside in the summertime. It’s too cold in the wintertime for them to go out. “Now we call it the tortoise room.”
Hercules and Zena, who are desert tortoises, eat a lot, the Barrs said. They eat everything from lettuce to peppers and zucchini. The tortoises usually go through three heads of lettuce a week, four zucchini or squash and various vegetables the Barrs pick up at the store on the sale racks. Wendy Barr also adds calcium to the tortoises’ food for added nutrition.
“I start every day with a certain amount of lettuce and then add the rest,” Wendy Barr said.
Dennis Barr said the tortoises have their own personalities.
“You wouldn’t think a turtle has personality,” he said. “But they do. They are real affectionate too and they are smart.”
The Barrs’ love for turtles and tortoises began with a box turtle. Wendy Barr’s son was young and they picked up a turtle, put it in a box and it laid eggs. Now, the Barrs keep numerous box turtles in their backyard. People bring them injured box turtles. The box turtles have their own haven — a portion of the yard that has been dedicated to them. They have their own water source with a waterfall. When the box turtles get done hibernating, the Barrs know it is spring.
“When the box turtles come up, we know it’s time to plant,” Wendy Barr said.
The koi pond out back has really taken off too. It’s loaded with dozens of fish. Only about 15 of the fish were purchased by the Barrs. The rest were hatched in the pond.
The Barrs said they hope to add a second leopard tortoise when they can find one. They are open to taking one if anybody has one, they said.
Tortoise Paradise