Einstein and Newton are growing well, Newton is much smaller than Einstein (it still worries me but Ive been told that different growth rates are normal) I am finishing construstion on their 2 floor 4ft X 8ft tortoise table which, when completed, will give them 64 sq ft of floor space Einstein has gone from 2 lbs to 3 lbs since xmas and has a really healthy appetite. I tried something new yesterday, taking them outside on the front campus lawn at my college (No fertelizers or pesticides used!) and let them walk around (supervised of course). Lots of people came to watch them, tutors, students, and security included. Today I was bold and took the babies out as well. The lawn is mostly grass and clover with a few dandelions and plantina(sp?) and the tortoises did nothing but eat for the first hour. They also really enjoyed the natural sun light. I still cant house darwin and galileo with einstein and newton yet (gotta wait till November to have a nice 9 month quarentine). The babies (only 8 months) are in their own 4ft X 2ft enclosure at the time and the big guys (3 yrs) are in a 8ft X 2ft until the new cage is complete. My torts are certainly developing their own personalities. Newton is more relaxed, he will just look at you, yawn, take a lap around the cage and go back to sleep. Einstein has developed a habit of running oval laps around the cage and will do it with lots of energy meanwhile trying to say "Look at me!! you should be so proud!" and of course I am. The babeis gave me a startle when I first got them a couple of months ago, they had namonia(sp?) and I almost lost them. Since then thou they have recovered completely but do sleep alot. (is this normal??) the bigger two never slept that much until recently. I keep the enclosures between 70 and 105 F. The babies are on orchard grass hay, but the bigger two are on a temporary hemp litter (they were sneezing so I took them off of hay for a month and they seem to be doing better so back on hay in a week). And thats it. Any coments are welcome.

Richard K. Grape, Jr.
A member of the Polity at St. John's College, Annapolis MD