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Tortoise Care

How to Keep Your Tortoise Happy and Healthy.

To maintain your tortoise in good condition and allow him to live a long and contented life various basic requirements must be met.

The more exotic species should only be kept by knowledgeable reptile specialists who have studied their very specific needs and can cater for them adequately.

The easier species however, such as the mediterranean tortoises like Herman's Tortoise, and the Spur-Thighed Tortoise can be cared for by anyone who is willing to provide a few simple requirements.

Here are some of the main things to consider. This list is not exhaustive, and other aspects of tortoise husbandry will be added, and much more detailed recommendations given, as the site develops.

Light

All species need access to good amounts of natural light. Ideally they should be provided with a secure garden enclosure, which is open to full sun for the main part of the day. Access to shade is also important, either provided by a neighbouring building or trees, or by a varied terrain and clumps of vegetation.

A well lit indoor area is also needed for times when the weather is bad. A greenhouse or conservatory can make a very good home as long as it is not allowed to get too hot.

Feeding Tortoises

Although many species of tortoise drink very little, a safe clean source of water should always be available, and care should be taken to ensure the correct diet is being supplied for your particular species.

If possible someone should be available during the warm parts of the day when tortoises are most likely to feed. This way an eye can be kept on the tortoises feeding habits. Any that are not eating well can be encouraged, by careful hand feeding if required. Care should be taken to avoid this becoming a habit. Some tortoise become very lazy if hand fed and then refuse to browse for food themselves.

A wide range of wild plants such as dandelions, chicory, sow thistle, white clover, heartease and wild radish flowers, provide the best and most natural tortoise diet. Mallow, mulberry and hibiscus flowers, and various other shrub leaves and flowers, add variety to the diet. Pansies and many other garden flowers are also popular with our tortoises. It is cheap and easy to grow a variety of these tortoise foods from seed and I recommend http://www.plant-world-seeds.com who collect their seed fresh every year, which gives very high rates of germination.

Care must be taken to avoid poisonous species. While tortoises will generally reject foods that are harmful to them this cannot be relied on, so always check that the plants you intend to feed your tortoise are completely safe. Also ensure that any weeds or garden plants growing within your tortoise's enclosure are not poisonous to him. Remove any plants you're not sure about. We are working on a list of safe plants, as well as one covering plants poisonous to tortoises and will add these to the site soon.

Natural browsing on safe wild and garden plants should provide all your tortoises nutritional needs. You can supplement the diet with a little cucumber, tomato, lettuce and other salad vegetables. These are useful early and late in the season when there is a shortage of suitable vegetation in the garden, and when it is urgent to keep the tortoise well hydrated.

However these salad foods are very high in water and low in nutrients, so are of limited food value for tortoises. They should therefore only ever make up a small part of the tortoises diet. Lettuce, tomato and other large plant leaves and fruit should be cut into small pieces to make it easier for the tortoises to eat.

Dog and cat foods, high protein feeds like peas and other legumes, and also tinned meats and highly processed foods should be avoided at all costs. These rich foods are not suitable for tortoises and will cause developmental problems including deformed shell growth and bone problems.

Foods high in sugars (including very ripe fruit) are unsuitable for many species too, as are certain vegetables such as cabbage and spinach. Feeding foods such as these can produce kidney failure or bladder stones, and may result eventually in the death of your tortoise.

Dietary requirements vary greatly from species to species. The recommendations above refer particularly to the mediterranean species. The individual needs of your chosen species should be researched carefully, before you buy your first tortoise if possible. This way you will be sure to choose a species that is a good match for the food plants and environment you can most easily provide.

All foods should always be fed absolutely fresh. Food should not be left lying around, especially in warm weather, or it will attract flies, and may rot. This could allow harmful bacteria to spread, which could kill your tortoise or make him very sick.

The only time you should expect your tortoise not to eat for extended periods is when he first wakes up from hibernation, or at the opposite end of the year when he will be 'winding down' in preparation for his long winter sleep.

Tortoises are browsing animals, geared to feeding on sparse vegetation. They often live in very harsh environments where they may have many days between locating suitable food plants. They have evolved to live with this irregular food avaiability and therefore do not need to eat every day to stay healthy.

So, as long as your tortoise is a good weight, there is no need to worry if he does not eat every day. On dull, wet or cold days your tortoise may not become active enough to digest food properly, and on those days he will not eat.

However, if a normally healthy, active, tortoise suddenly stops eating, for many days at a time, it is a sign that something is wrong and should not be ignored. It may be caused by constipation.

A luke warm bath (warm to the touch but not hot) can be given to help with this. A shallow bowl makes the ideal bath, but always make sure the tortoise's nose stays well above the water surface. Never leave a tortoise unsupervised while bathing.

Deeper water is more effective for bad cases of constipation. Here supervision is even more essential to avoid risk of drowning. A ramp made from a small wooden plank (or similar) can be used in a deeper bowl. One end of the plank is rested on the rim of the bowl and the other end rests on the bottom.

This will allow you to position the tortoise at an angle, so his body and legs are completely submerged, but with his head well clear of the water. Arrange it so it is not possible for him to accidentally fall over the edge of the ramp into the water. If you don't have a ramp then just sit and hold the tortoise gently at a 30° - 45° with the warm water lapping around his body.

Fifteen minutes to half an hour of this treatment will often cure a sluggish bowel. Then, it is likely that your tortoise will miraculously rediscover his appetite, and eat normally.

Worming can also solve the problem, if he is not already on a regular worming program. If your tortoise continues to refuse food, then take him to the vet for further investigation.

Most healthy tortoises have very good appetites; some are positively greedy! So your problem may well be the opposite: avoiding your tortoise eating too much, or having too rich a diet. A tortoise should eat no more food in a day than would cover the area of his plastron (underside of his shell). Over-indulgence can lead to lethargic unfit tortoises, so great care should be taken to avoid this.

Health Care

As alluded to above, a regular program of worming and general parasite control should be undertaken from the moment you get your first tortoise. Consult your vet for further advice on this. He will provide you with a course of worming treatment that is safe and effective. Tortoises worms can not only threaten the health of tortoises, but can be passed on to humans too. Therefore it is very important that you always keep your tortoise worming program up to date.

New tortoises entering the group should always be given several weeks in quarantine. A period in isolation allows you to make sure they are not bringing in new diseases. Also this will mean that worming treatment, given when the tortoise arrives, will have the necessary time to work, avoiding any chance of worms being spread to the rest of the group.

Great care must be taken when feeding tortoises vitamins and especially calcium supplements. These may well do more harm than good. We will publish more detailed recommendations in this area in due course.

Tortoise Enclosure

Keeping Tortoises Indoors

A small vivarium designed for a snake or lizard is not a suitable habitat for a tortoise. Tortoises like to wander over large areas of irregular, often very dry desert, terrain searching out plants and other foods. A confined and humid tank is no substitute for this environment and will cause them much stress and eventual illness.

It is therefore wise to avoid buying one of the many advertised tortoise vivariums found online. Most are not at all suitable for any tortoise species and certainly not desert tortoises, such as the Spur-Thighed Tortoise or other mediterranean tortoises.

There are now some well designed Tortoise tables available that can provide reasonable conditions for tortoises while they are kept indoors. They give good artificial lighting to keep your tortoise healthy and the best ones give sufficient space for your tortoise to ramble about and get plenty of exercise.

Keeping Tortoise Outdoors

Nothing beats a fresh air environment out of doors, with natural light and vegetation. So unless the weather is bad, the ideal is to house your tortoises outside in a large but secure garden pen.

For tortoises living out of doors, a simple 'stockade' made by enclosing an area with a rectangle of low planks, set on edge, can make an ideal tortoise enclosure.

Within this area, they like a box to retire to at night or when the sun becomes too intense for them. This kind of arrangement can be set up in a greenhouse or conservatory too.

Make the pen as large as you have space for and plant some non poisonous grasses and plants in it. This will not only give cover from the sun but will also provide a much more stimulating environment for your pet, a little closer to his natural habitat.

Large rocks, carefully placed to form a miniature landscape of hills and valleys, can easily be added too. These will allow your tortoise to prop himself up at different angles so he can 'catch the rays' as the sun moves around throughout the day. Sunbathing is the number one favourite tortoise passtime!

Make sure your planks are wide enough so that the tortoises cannot climb over them. The dimensions will depend on the size of your chosen tortoise species, but aim at using planks that are a little taller, when stood on edge, than you think is necessary.

Tortoises are far better at climbing than you would imagine. If one tortoise is resting at the edge of the pen it is not unknown for another to use him as a stepping stone to the wider world. Whether this happens by accident or design, the end result is the same; hours of frustration and worry, as you search for your errant tortoise, and wonder if he's made it as far as the road... It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack - they are very well camoflaged!

To avoid all this stress, and the risk to your tortoise, it's best to make sure your pen is totally tortoise proof before leaving your favourite pet unattended. Test it out first on a hot day, when the tortoise is very active and let him show you what he can do. All being well you will have a tortoise-proof pen, where your tortoises will be safe and happy. Always be wary with new arrivals however. Some tortoises are more talented escape artists than others.

Be especially careful to avoid planting tall vegetation near the edges of the pen that could be used as climbing perches. Also watch out particularly at corners where an active 'sun-fuelled' tortoise can be remarkably good at levering himself out of the pen.

A Tortoise Garden

The happiest captive tortoises are those that have a large area of the garden to wander in. Designing an area of your garden especially for your tortoises is perfectly feasable and an enjoyable pursuit for the real tortoise enthusiast.

There is no need for attractive planting or good general garden design to be abandoned to achieve this goal. With a few simple provisions a garden can function, both as an attractive recreational area for people, and as a wonderful habitat for tortoises.

If your tortoises also have free access to a greenhouse or polytunnel for cold wet days they will be even more contented!

Setting up a full tortoise garden is of course more complicated than a simple pen, but more rewarding too. The whole area the tortoises are to be allowed into must be fully tortoise-proof. Ideally a solid, tall, garden wall, or fence, should make up the majority of the perimeter.

Tortoise access to gateways or other entrances to the garden should be blocked. This can be achieved by simply creating a step, too high for the tortoise to negotiate, leading up out of the garden. Alternatively a very low fence or wall can be built to block potential escape routes.

If you give them a wooden box in a favoured sunny corner of the garden, most species of tortoise will return to it at night. Or at least this is our experience with the main mediterranean tortoise species. This means they can generally be easily located in the late afternoon, tucked up in the dry grass in their box. And so the 'needle in a haystack' search routine can be avoided.

Later in the year, but long before any danger of frost, it is best to confine these 'free range' tortoises to a smaller penned area within the wider garden. This way there is no danger of not being able to find them if the weather should suddenly turn wintery.

Tortoise Hibernation

As the summer draws to a close and the days shorten, here in our British climate tortoises gradually become more lethargic and eat gradually less and less.

This is a natural slowing down which prepares them for the winter months when the tortoise's body will shut down almost completely. His metabolism slows to the point where his heart is hardly beating and all of his bodily functions work at a level that keeps him alive, but no more.

Preparing for hibernation is always tricky and so particular care is required at the beginning and end of the season. We plan on introducing a whole section on how best to care for your tortoise as he goes to sleep in the autumn and how to safely get him back into action in the spring.

Watch this space for this and much more to follow on keeping tortoises.

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Comments submitted from other visitors
Name :	amina
Comment:	thankyou for teaching me to look after my tortes properly which i hope to be getting soon
Name :	kayleigh
Comment:	i think that is very helpful. we bought a tortoise from a pet shop. they said that they feed them spinach. is this a problem? ps. do adult tortoises need to take baths like babys?
Name :	bob
Comment:	it iz nice
Name :	tortoise.org.uk
Comment:	Thanks to all for your comments. In answer to Kayleigh, Spinach is ok in small amounts but it is rather too rich a food for tortoises. It's very high iron content can produce problems if it is fed in excess, so we only feed it as an occasional treat. They do love it! Some general suggestions on more suitable wild and garden food plants for tortoises are given on the Tortoise Care page, under Feeding Tortoises. A more detailed list of plant foods to suit various tortoise species is to be added shortly. If the tortoise is awake over winter it can be more tricky, but most species will eat a range of leafy vegetables obtained from the supermarket. Other vegetables and fruit can be valuable additions to the winter diet but requirements vary with species. More details on this will appear on Tortoise.org.uk soon. Specialist tortoise foods are also now becoming more easily available from commercial sources. These are very useful for winter feeding of non-hibernating tortoises. Good luck with your new tortoise! One small further point. A new tortoise, especially one from a pet shop, should always be checked over by your vet as soon as this is possible. Diseases are often picked up on their way to the pet shop. It is quite difficult to know where pet shop tortoises have come from, and sadly the conditions are often far from ideal. It is not uncommon for diseases to be present. Tortoises may take many months to display any obvious outward symptoms of a viral or bacterial infection. By this time it can be very difficult to treat the issue successfully. So to anyone acquiring a new tortoise I strongly recommend playing it safe, by getting him vet checked when he first comes to live with you. Early detection and treatment of illness is the key. Also careful isolation from other tortoises, until the newcomer is known to be fully healthy, will further help to ensure you have a long lived and happy tortoises.
Name :	kirsty
Comment:	iv had my tortoise for nearly a year now and i struggle to think of new foods to keep her diet varied she loves rocket and water cress and these are her 2 main sources at the moment along with home grown toms cucumber and on occassion grapes any ideas also how often should i be adding a calcium suplement to her food?
Name :	Sophie
Comment:	Hi my tortoise, is 7 years old, she used to be rather active and would always walk to your hand if you had any sort of food in your hand (after careful observation). Right now we keep her in a reptile encloser which is about 60cm by 30cm, with a glass front. I am really worried for her as she has not eaten in 9 days, she won't move to your hand if you have food. Sometimes she seems like she wants to move, by wiggling her legs however it seems like she just gives up and will lay there. Also one of her eyes is slightly closed than the other. I am really concerned about her and have read somewhere online that if I change the UV light then they will improve. Can you please help. I've typed in the conditions online however it has failed to come up with a diagnosis. Please email me back or message me on here. Really concerned. sophie.k.wheatley@hotmail.com
Name :	tortoise.org.uk
Comment:	Hi Sophie, Sorry to hear that your tortoise is not feeling herself. From your description several possible problems occur to me, but it's impossible to be sure, which it is without seeing her. The best advice I can give is that you contact a vet who specialises in tortoise care. The Tortoise Protection Group offers an excellent list of expert tortoise vets. You can find it by going to this page and clicking on the "recommended vets" list in the first sentence: http://www.tortoise-protection-group.org.uk/site/157.asp If you phone the one on this list who is nearest your home he should be able to help you, either in person, or over the phone. Tortoises tend to be slow to show outward signs of illness and problems can be well established before they're spotted. So I would suggest you don't delay in contacting the vet. He or she will hopefully be able to quickly and accurately diagnose the problem, and help you with the treatment required. From your description I would suspect that she probably has one of four conditions (although many other possibilities exist). She may be constipated, especially if she has just awoken from hibernation. This can make a tortoise very lethargic and can produce serious problems if not resolved. A gentle soaking in water can work wonders, as long as she is not too compacted. We have found the best method is to hold the tortoise in your hands and gently lower her into a shallow bowl of warm (but not hot) water. Rest her back feet on the bottom of the bowl and submerge her shell as much possible in the warm water. Tilt her at a slight angle so that her head is kept well out of the water. Do this for as long as you can, preferably in several sessions each day until it has an effect. It also helps to encourage the tortoise to have a good drink, and to eat some moist food if she will (the particular food will depend on her species). If she hasn’t passed anything after a few days then the problem will need more drastic treatment from your vet and he will give you good advice on this. Another possibility is that she has a viral or bacterial infection of some kind. Your description of her swollen eye and general inactivity leads me to think this might be the case. This needs urgent treatment with antibiotics and other drugs from your vet. A third, less likely, possibility is that she is egg bound. This can happen even if she has never been with another tortoise. The warm bath treatment may help resolve this problem but if she is seriously egg bound then an urgent trip to the vet will be required to help her. The fourth thing that occurred to me is that it could be a vitamin deficiency caused by a lack of daylight or shortage in her diet. Her eye problem is typical of vitamin deficiency symptoms. The enclosure sounds small to me for a seven-year-old tortoise. Tortoise tables are much better than glass vivarium style enclosures for tortoises. I would recommend you change her to a purpose built tortoise table if that is possible. There are several suppliers selling them online. It would give her a little more space and they come with the correct type of daylight UV bulbs to suit tortoises. They provide a good environment for tortoises to ‘sun bathe’ and wander about picking up food. Also they usually have a shaded ‘bedroom’ area where the tortoise can get out of the heat and light when she feels like it. This is very important. In the meantime I would certainly purchase a new balanced daylight UV light bulb from a reptile specialist, just to make sure a lack of suitable light is not the problem. If she could have some access each day to the outdoors and natural light that would be even better, but I realise it might not be practical. I hope I have not alarmed you too much with my suggestions. It is quite likely to be a simple vitamin deficiency or slight constipation that is making her feel off colour. However, I would strongly recommend you get her vet checked as soon as possible so any treatment required can be started as soon as possible. Good luck with her.
Name :	tortoise.org.uk
Comment:	Hello Kirsty, Watercress and Rocket are good in moderation. However, the watercress is high in oxalic acid which can cause white stones to form, and these may cause blockages and other problems. You are better to feed weeds and garden plants, rather than supermarket vegetables, if this is possible. It's also cheaper! Dandelions, violets, sowthistle, bittercress and clover are very common weeds found almost everywhere and are all excellent tortoise foods. Vetch (in moderation) and plantain are excellent foods too. Garden plants like pansies, mimulus, mallow, campanulas, and aubretia are also liked by many tortoises. It can be tricky in the colder months and then shop bought vegetables and salad plants are a good thing to fall back on. Rocket seems very popular with our tortoises too. Very lightly steamed broccoli (just enough to soften it) is another favourite for our tortoises. Kale or cabbage are also useful winter vegetables, again very lightly steamed to soften. However the cabbage family of plants should only form a small part of the diet if your tortoise is to stay fit and healthy. Small amounts of tomato and lettuce are useful, especially in the spring after a long hibernation, when they can help to rehydrate the tortoise. They too should not form a large part of the diet as the water content is too high and they lack the full range of nutrients required by tortoises. Of course the dietary requirements vary from species to species, with some preferring a more fruit based diet for example, but for the mediterranean species a diet such as I've suggested above, based on weeds and non-poisonous garden flowers is ideal. There are some pelleted tortoise foods available now from the big pet superstores and online pet shops. These are designed to provide a balanced tortoise diet for particular species. They can be very useful, early and late in the year, and also the middle of winter if the tortoise is not hibernating - in fact anytime when fresh food is hard to find. However it's always better to feed fresh foods whenever possible. There is much controversy in the tortoise world about the balance between calcium and phosphate and whether calcium supplements should be fed at all. Cuttlefish bone (as used for caged birds) if left around in the tortoise’s pen will be gently gnawed on at times. This provides a natural balanced source of calcium and phosphate. We have found this, plus their natural diet is all our tortoises need to grow up into large healthy tortoises with very flat well formed shells. Our oldest tortoise has been with us thirty years now and has always done well on this diet. Of course everyone you speak to who keeps tortoises will give you a different opinion on this one, and some will recommend a balanced calcium/phosphate powder. These can also be obtained from the reptile department of large online or high street pet shops. Hope this helps give you some more ideas for feeding your tortoise, it gets easier as you discover more and more plants that they like.
Name :	Carrie
Comment:	thanks for teachinn meeh how teeyh look after my tortoise properly
Name :	Mary Duncan
Comment:	Thanks for your article We have had a Herman's tortoise for over 30 years without serious problems but this year he came out of hibernation (end of March) lively as usual. Lately he has refused foood and we think he's constipated. We consulted a vet and are trying warm baths. He has begun to eat small amounts of dandelions and cucumber but so far has passed nothing. He has always been a safe-garden tortoise with an outdoor box, but lives indoors at night until warmer weather. Any further ideas please?
Name :	tortoise.org.uk
Comment:	Hello Mary, Thanks for visiting our site. As you have successfully maintained a healthy and happy tortoise for so many years, I feel we can discount many of the common reasons for tortoises lacking appetite on waking from hibernation. It is unlikely that he would have viral infection or be undernourished, for example. I think it's much more likely that he is dehydrated, or just possibly that he is suffering from bladder stones. Your warm bath treatments are exactly what we would do to get a dehydrated tortoise 'going' in the spring, so I would certainly keep going with those. Dehydration over the winter will produce a constipated tortoise who on waking refuses food. The baths can take quite a long time to work so keep going with them. They should eventually help to get him moving again. If you keep him in the bath long enough he should eventually put his head down to water level and drink. This is what you want to see. The water intake will quickly ease constipation, and it should not be long before he's eating well again. The vet should be able to prescribe a mild laxative if the baths on their own are not enough. If you can get your tortoise to eat a little cucumber or Iceberg lettuce (high water content) this will be a great help in rehydrating him. A little lightly steamed butternut squash is another very useful hydrating food. As you will know, these foods are not good in large amounts in the long term, but for this specific purpose they are ideal, assuming you can get him to take them. It would also be a good idea to consider the possibility of bladder stones. If he has large amounts of dandelions in his diet then this can eventually produce bladder stones. The stones form due to the accumulation of oxalates, which are found at very high levels in dandelions and some other weeds. These stones can grow very large over time. A tortoise can have had a stone for years, without symptoms. They gradually increase in size until they may block off the intestines, producing constipation and eventually severe bowel compaction. They can also compress other vital organs in the body. Other symptoms of bladder stones are weakness or even paralysis of the back legs, a runny nose, or lack of appetite. Having said that, tortoises can also have very large stones with virtually no symptoms at all, even when these are life threatening. The first you know of it is when the tortoise suddenly takes ill and dies without warning. No need to panic however. Bladder stones, unless very large and long established, can generally be effectively dealt with. It is also possible that he has swallowed a pebble. This is surprisingly common with Hermann Tortoises and can produce similar problems to bladder stones. If the water baths are not having any positive effect in a few days, I'd suggest you ask the vet to x-ray him for bladder stones. The treatment for bladder stones (or ingested pebbles) varies according to the size of the stones, but your vet would know the best options and treat him accordingly. Sometimes, for smaller stones, simply making the baths a bit warmer, hand hot, can help the tortoise pass them. We use a deep tray which allows us to make the bath deep enough to cover the whole shell, while propping the tortoise up to keep his head clear of the water. Do this two to three times a day. It could be useful to add some drops of Reptoboost to his bath water, daily, if he will drink. This is a reptile probiotic, and consists of bacteria, enzymes and electrolytes as well as suitable vitamins. It is good for helping tortoises that are off their food and is specially designed for those coming out of hibernation. It is very palatable, and useful for rehydrating tortoises after their long winter sleep. It should boost his health and stimulate his digestion into activity again, allowing him to flush out compacted material and even small stones if they are causing the problems. We have used it several times with 'slow starters' after spring hibernation, and with other tortoises that suddenly go off their food, with good effect. It can be obtained online from good reptile specialists. Increasing his daylight hours can also help with a lethargic tortoise in the spring. If he is still indoors then it can often help to use a good UV lamp, suitable for reptiles, suspended above his pen by at least 15cm for a full 16 hours each day. He will need a shady area (or hutch) to retreat to when he's had enough 'sun'. In this situation I would also use BSP Drops (Broad Spectrum Vitamin Drops) from Vetark in the drinking water to boost his immune system and get everything going again. Don't worry too much about the long term nutritional value of the food you start him off with. If his favourite thing is lightly cooked green beans or lettuce for example then offer him those. Some tortoises would sell their shells for the soaked commercial tortoise foods. I wouldn't recommend any of these foods as a major part of the diet but what ever the tortoise will eat at this stage should be presented to him in the hope that it will stimulate his first few bites. After he's eating properly you can then wean the tortoise back onto a good balanced diet containing natural weeds and flowers, like sow thistle, plantain, pansies, campanulas and so on. We too have had our oldest tortoise for 30 years and I know just how much they become part of the family. Life would not be the same without them. I'm sure you feel the same so I do hope your tortoise eats again soon and starts to feel his old self again.
Name :	sam
Comment:	i might be geting one but reading this it seems more complacated that i thought it would be.iv never had a animal like a tortoise so i wouldnt realy no how to make it happy and to love it .
Name :	corinna
Comment:	CAN YOU TELL ME. WHAT ARE THE NOISES THAT TORTOISES MAKE USUALLY RELATING TO ?
Name :	hayley Edge
Comment:	can i feed my tortoise cowslip
Name :	tortoise.org.uk
Comment:	Hi Hayley, Yes cowslips are a safe food and will be good for your tortoise in moderation. Some tortoises are very keen on plants from the primula family, which also includes, auriculas and other primroses. Some tortoises don't seem to like them at all. It will depend on the species of tortoise and also the tastes of the individual. Our Spur Thighed Tortoises are particularly keen on primrose flowers.