Geronimo update: Hibernation, then not, and now for real. (Desert tortoise update!)

A week after I posted my last Geronimo update post, we stopped seeing our little guy – nighttime temperatures had dropped below the mid-50’s. He was right on schedule for hibernation. I thought it’d be months before I’d see my little boy again. Then, about four weeks later, I went outside to find that he was out!! SURPRISE!

Hello.

It was November 11, Veteran’s Day. Of course I thought he’d come out to wish his mommy a happy Veteran’s Day. He’d been out of sight for weeks, and then suddenly, there he was! The temps had risen again. It was like a false hibernation had happened.

My day was totally made. Geronimo roamed around his universe (our yard – his yard) and ate everything in sight. I helped.

I fed him hibiscus flowers.

Hello.

I fed him hibiscus leaves.

Hello.

CHOMP.

Hello.

He went around eating weeds. I shadowed him everywhere he went, and he loved it. “Where are we going, Geronimo?”

He loves all of the weeds in the yard.

Hello.

ALL of the weeds.

Hello.

He loves the grass.

Hello.

ALL of the grass.

Hello.

He loves plowing through fallen Bougainvillea petals!

Hello.

He loves to see me sitting on the patio. If I stop following him, he comes to me.

Hello.

He loves, he loves, he loves. That’s what Geronimo does. (And he says “hello.”)

When he finally made his way to the path behind his burrow, I knew he was heading in… maybe for good, this time. I went around the front and crouched down in my usual spot so he could meet me at his doorway.

Hello.

My heart!

Hello.

Then I watched his butt disappear into his burrow. I haven’t seen it since.

Good-bye.

That was just about two weeks ago, and I know that my precious scale-son is in for the winter for real this time. These last two days, we’ve been having some weather (AZ-speak for “rain”), and once we get weather in the colder months, the desert tortoises settle in for their long sleep.

Sweet dreams, Geronimo. See you in 2020!