Weird but amazing pet: my 85 year-old pet desert tortoise, Bongo, who hibernates in a cardboard box for 3-4 months/year

Meet Bongo, the family heirloom-pet. He was the best show-and-tell subject on show-and-tell days in elementary school, because no one else had a pet desert tortoise, let alone a pet that was in his 60's (at the time). In fact, I remember being in a summer extra-curricular science class where they were focusing on reptiles, when I was about 8 years old. The topic of tortoises and turtles came up. I turned to the boy sitting next to me and told him I had a desert tortoise at home. He did not believe me. I insisted that I was telling the truth and he insisted that I was lying. Too bad we didn't have show and tell in that class-- I would have shown him! :)

Here is Bongo, next to another family pet, Jack, who was caught mid-bark in this photo:

Bongo is a desert tortoise, estimated to be about 85 years old (no joke!). The story goes that my paternal grandfather first found him in the 60's, wandering the streets of urban San Jose, very much out of his element. Grandpa apparently took the tortoise home, the family posted some ads for "Found Tortoise," but he was unclaimed.

So, my dad's family named him Bongo, took him to a vet who told them he was a male desert tortoise, and estimated his age by counting the rings on his shell. Like trees, tortoises get concentric rings on their shells with passages of time and growth, although they aren't necessarily precise down to the year... so it's still an estimate.

How to live a long life like Bongo: eat lots of veggies & fruit and get tons of sleep! Every day, Bongo eats healthy servings of salad-- some combination of: lettuce, grass, bananas (sliced), oranges, grapes, dandelion flowers, mulberry leaves, watermelon, and rose petals (his very favorite delicacy). He lives in his own little pen in the backyard, with dirt and grass and a little tortoise-size house made out of wood (where he sleeps every night, or goes for shade when it's too hot out).

Every year during the cooler months-- late fall to early spring-- Bongo goes into hibernation for 3-4 months. He literally shuts down and doesn't eat or drink during this time. We wrap him in newspaper (for insulation), stick him in a cardboard box and place the box in the garage, where he sleeps away the cold! When things start to warm up again, we sometimes hear him rustling around in the box, or sometimes we just wake him up at that point by taking him out and putting him back in the sun. After being asleep for several months, it takes him a few days to fully wake up and regain his appetite!

Bongo is not only a precious family heirloom, but he's also a sweetheart. He doesn't have any teeth (he uses his jaw to bite into veggies and fruit), and is a very peaceful creature. He moves slowly (with a limp, since he was once badly bitten by my dad's dog ~40+ years ago), and wouldn't hurt a fly. In fact, I've only heard him hiss twice in my life-- once when I picked him up too quickly and startled him (but still, it's just a hiss and not even an attempt to snap or bite). The other time was when I was washing off his shell with a hose as a child, and apparently got too much water in his face. When he's hungry, he shows it by climbing on the fence of his pen and looking for someone to bring him food or let him out to roam and "mow" the grass.

The desert tortoise's lifespan is apparently 50-80 years. If our estimate of Bongo's age is correct-- around 85-- I'm not sure how much longer we'll have him around. But I'll always be grateful for the fun memories of this docile, chill reptile who has always been a part of my life, and was part of my dad's life before me. After he goes, I might just have to get another desert tortoise to pass down to my children, and grandchildren... :)