“Tort-ellini” is a cherry-head tortoise who currently lives in the children’s area of the Belleville Area District Library. Karen Dubke, youth services librarian, the library is caring for the baby tortoise for the Huron Valley Reptiles rescue group in Belleville.
It won’t be fully grown for three to five years and then they will be able to tell whether it is male or female. Fully grown it will be around 10 to 16 inches in size.
This type of tortoise can live 50 years or more in captivity. It originates in Brazil and librarians keep a close eye on the humidity in its tank and give it daily baths. It will go back to the rescue group once it grows too big for the tank it calls home, which is on the librarian’s desk. Three hundred children voted to determine the tortoise’s name.
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