Kobe is my captive bred and born baby Redfoot tortoise that I got from Vicki (Queen of the Redfoots) Hale. He hatched on August 13, 2006 and his parents are Mrs Slocombe and Flip. Kobe's name means "tortoise" in Swahili. I was inspired to get a Redfoot after reading a post Vicki made on the Yahoo Russian Tortoise Forum. Below is the story she told about some interesting behavior she noticed in her females; she called it "Redfoot Rescue":

A very remarkable thing happened tonight and I wanted to share. While I was mopping out the tort shed this evening (thank you Mel and Knobby for the HUGE mess) I was watching the Redfoot table. They were very active and pacing all around. While they were pacing around, Grace flips Sal over onto her back. (Grace is a master at flipping other torts). I was watching to see if Sal could right herself when another female walked up to her, shoved her head under Sal's shell, lifted, and flipped Sal back onto her feet. I've never seen anything like it.

After looking into Redfoots further (and reading all about their outgoing personalities and curiosity around humans) I decided to get one of my very own, and on September 7, 2006 Kobe arrived here in Juneau all safe and sound after his long journey from Alabama.

Kobe hatched on 8/13/06 (Photo courtesy of Vicki Hale)	Here you can see Kobe's egg tooth which was used during hatching. (Photo courtesy of Vicki Hale)

Kobe's mom Mrs Slocombe (Photo courtesy of Vicki Hale)	Kobe's dad Flip (Photo courtesy of Vicki Hale)

Back in Alabama Kobe lived with lots of siblings... (Photo courtesy of Vicki Hale)	Now he only shares this jiggity joint with his brother Aesop.

When I got Kobe he was less than 2 inches long. (Photo courtesy of Vicki Hale)	Welcome to Juneau Kobe!

Cactus = yum, yum, yum...	Bath time's fun!

Kobe turned 6 months old on February 13. As you can see, he's gaining weight and growing big.