Hello, everyone! I’m Curtis Curly-tail. You may know me as the perfect Curly-tail lizard from the Bahamas with an itch for adventure. OR, perhaps you’ve seen me starring at my very own YouTube page, Curtis Curly-tail Speaks. Well, of course, I do! I am perfect, as they say!
Every morning I start the day by basking in the sun to warm up my body. I am a Sun Worshipper, after all. It’s warm on my cay but nor overly hot. I love to pose for visitors, and I’ve heard them say that I look my best when the sun is glinting off my shiny scales. I turn this way and that so they get their best shots. When I’m not riding Horace the Hutia, that is! YEE-HAW!
However, some of my friends who live in the Sonoran Desert don’t worship the sun. I agree with them that there’s a bit too much sun when it gets to be 110 degrees, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that my tortoise friends all run out into the rain when a storm starts.
Sonoran Desert Tortoises, like Zoe, pictured above, prefer to drink from the puddles that form when it rains. That ensures the water is fresh. Zoe carries all her water around in her bladder so it’s important to keep her reserve filled. The scarcity of water in the desert is why you should never pick up a desert tortoise. If she empties her bladder to scare you off, a popular defense mechanism for reptiles, she will lose the water that keeps her alive.
