this thread is per poster Cam's request. It will be interesting to the different stories on this subject. Feel free to write about your experience but lets try to stay on topic so we can hear everyone's story.

How old were you when you purchased/were introduced to your first tort?
And how/where did you first become interested in torts?

Well my eldest son (who is 13) had been wanting a pet of his own. We have dogs and cats, and that eliminated most types of other pets - rodents and birds and fish, especially. We were at a petstore over the summer and he was looking at a Russian Tortoise and said, "Can I have a Tortoise?" I looked at it and thought, well yah, sure... I told him if he saved up his money, and did his research, he could get a tortoise.

Well as he was reading up on them on the internet, I read with him so I could know what he was getting into. Well over the summer of research, I fell in love with everything I read about them! So I decided I'd get one too - we'd get two Russians and have them together!

So we finally got our first ones in early August, and we both FELL HARD for them! I just loved everything about them, and I LOVED the change of responsibility and attitude I saw in my son, especially with his school work! He kept saying the tortoises motivated him, now he wants to be a Herpatologist when he grows up, so he's trying extra hard in school to get good grades for college.

It's just done wonders for him, and for me, being the mom of nine kids, sitting and watching my tortoises brings peace to my rather hectic days. They give me a chance to unwind and chill.

I started with my sulcatas first. Decided to do some research on them because I was not happy with their shells pyramiding and while doing that started reading about other torts. I found this forum and I was completely done after that! Since joining the forum this fall I adopted 7 more torts! My family thinks I am nuts they just don't get my interest. But, I have learned so much from everyone and the sulcatas and all my new ones are on the right path. Just had a reptile workup on one of my sulcatas and got the thumbs up!

This post was last modified: 01-07-2008 08:16 AM by jlyoncc1.

I have always been a “cat person” (in fact our boy cat is convinced that I am really a big cat with no fur!), but had been interested in tortoises for many years. I grew up in San Diego, CA and a friend I met in college had a tortoise. However about the time some ten years ago that I was seriously considering getting one and bought a couple books to read up on the subject, I got kicked out of my apartment and shortly thereafter moved to Tokyo for seven years.

I forgot about the tortoise plan in the meantime (moved back to the US/Los Angeles about three years ago with husband imported from Japan), but just about a month ago our lovely little Farishta (Russian girl tortoise) wandered into the yard in front of our apartment and adopted us, so the tortoise adventure has just begun! I found this forum about a week later and have since been greatly enjoying taking care of Farishta. My husband and our two cats are interested in her as well.

It has been especially rewarding for me since slowing down to her pace when sitting with her as she takes her baths and goes for her outdoor walks gives me an experience I have never had before in my otherwise high-speed runaway train of a life. The kitties (both young, energetic and playful) find her bathing and walking ritual fascinating, and are very nice to her. Jaco even occasionally reaches out with his paw and pets her gently on her back while she is in the tub! I’ll get a video of that one of these days soon. It is easy to see how people get addicted to these beautiful, gentle creatures, and we have already raised the subject of getting a boyfriend for Farishta once we establish a successful programme for taking care of her and she completely settles in.

Back 1974 (the dark ages) having always been fascinated with herps, I bought a golden tegu. Several months and scars later , I decided he had to go. Now while in a pet, I saw a pair of redfoot tortoises. Now at that time, there was a great demand for medium sized man eating reptiles, so I traded for those "boring" tortoises. Well I had those "boring" tortoises until last March when I lost them in a housefire. I was so bored with them that I am bored 11 times over.

Sometime in the early '50's my grandmother bought me my first turtle.. it had a palm tree painted on his back. I fed it dried flies and ant eggs out of a cardboard box.. I guess I should fast forward to 1976 when I had water and box turtles in the 2nd bedroom of our first apartment.

Then in '96 I met some folks from Florida and went to visit and met a few importers. One actually flew to Africa to put together a group to go into the bush to collect sulcatas! He had several [ 25-30 ] HUGE adults on his property. I wish I had kept a group of the hinge-backs that he had imported. Adult breeder size for $15. I've seen several tortoises since then.. before the laws [ and the prices ] were as crazy as they are now.

Terry

My fasination started when I was a kids with painted turtles. Painteds are very common around here so I was always finding them and trying to keep as pets . I always let them go after they wouldnt eat for 2-3 days I was afraid they'd die on me.
As Terry stated...fast forward to 2003 when I went to Florida on vacation and saw the Gopher torts and wanted one.....no one said they were in trouble. Of course I didnt find any - so I went home to read up on them. I was very overwhelmed with all the info but then got into turtles.
So I think my first tort was a Christmas gift 2 years ago. It was a baby Hermanns......its all history from there...
I'm HOOKED! LOL

Ive always had Box Turtles/Water Turtles and the likes along with my bazillion other reptiles and amphibians. I loved finding box turtles as a kid in Arkansas. (well that and everything else, dont even get my mom started about the snakes I used to hibernate in boxes in my closet as a small child!)

In 2003 I picked up a few different tortoises and did some water turtle dealing throughout the summer. I was picking up all the water turtles I could afford from the mexicans that worked on a large commercial fish farm where I lived and reselling them into the pet trade. Anything I didnt buy went straight to the Asian food market truck each week. It was heartbreaking that I couldnt afford to purchase them all! I got burned out on that and continued keeping a few tort and box turtles here and there. Earlier this year I decided I was going to pick up a few torts to mess with again. And the rest....is history! lol

I am finally enjoying my torts and turtles far more then I ever have before. Its nice to go down each night and feed and sit and watch them eat. Its my little relaxation time.

The first experience I had with turtles was back in the 80's when I was about 11. Someone offered me 2 RES in a Palm Tree tub with some dried shrimp for food... not surprisingly, they soft-shelled and died within a couple of months...

That was that for me. I've always had pets, but no more reptiles.

Then, last year (and to our amazement), my girlfriend was offered a tiny Ocadia Sinensis water turtle, inside a Palm tree tub (20 years did not help the portuguese pet trade industry, when it comes to turtles).

It wouldn't eat it's shrimp for a whole month, so I started to read up on turtles and got him set up correctly. During this research I found out about torts, but found I had no room to keep one.

When the now not so tiny Ocadia "ran" away on the last day of our summer vacation (we had him on the yard, insde a kid pool), I started reading about torts again.

I finally decided to buy a Western Hermanns only to find it a lot more fun to keep.

Humpfree was a Christmas present to me and I loved him from the start and still do.