You have to have enough space that you can put each new animal received in its own habitat. Call around to the veterinarians in your area, or go and make a personal visit with each of them. Find out if one would be willing to give you a break on medications and treatments. See if they will show you how to give injections and take care of day-to-day first aid.

I live on an acre of land. In my area of Central California, what I rescue most of is:

1) male Calif. desert tortoises
2) male sulcatas
3) female RES

Since male tortoises fight, I have to have enough space to provide a separate pen for each male I take in. Last year I ended the year with 10 male CDT's that I had to over-winter...two of which were sick and had to be kept up. The others hibernated. My own personal desert tortoises lived in a 2560 square foot pen. Over the years I've had to section it off to provide for the rescues. I made pens along one side that are about 64 square feet each. Each pen has a hiding place and plenty of grass and weeds for them to graze on.



In the picture, you can see all of the isolation pens around the edge of the large field where my own personal tortoises live.

Because Sulcatas take up so much room, I try to find homes for those rescues as quickly as possible. My own Sulcata, Dudley, has three pastures that I rotate him through. When I get in rescued Sulcatas, they have to be put in one of Dudley's pastures. Also, my back yard is suitable for a temp tortoise, but has no electricity, so can only use it during the warm months.

I try to keep a list of people waiting to adopt so I'm not left caring for animals for too long a time. Two weeks is my bogie. In order to have a waiting list, I have advertised in the classified section of the local newspaper, joined local turtle clubs and advertise locally online. When a person's name comes up as the next person to adopt, I make an appointment and go take a look at their yard or tortoise habitat. I look for a safe place for a tortoise to live...no dog, no built in pool, safe fence, gates that close securely, a good hiding place, lots of sun and shade, etc. Hardly anyone fails to pass the inspection. What little needs to be done to make the yard safe most people are very willing to do.

After the first of every year, I make up a list of all the turtles and tortoises that came to me and I found a new home for. I make up a flier with this info and send it out to quite a few different vets in my area and also to the Sherriff, Police Dept., S.P.C.A., the Zoo, etc. In the flier I thank all of the above mentioned folks for their cooperation. I make sure that my name "Clovis Turtle & Tortoise Rescue" is in large letters and also my phone number. I also go to the different pet stores and make sure they have my business card.

I try to save money by doing all the rehab on the sick and injured tortoises myself. I lose very few animals, but some of them come to me too sick or injured to help. I don't take donations because I don't want the exchange of $$ to be misconstrued as "selling" a desert tortoise, which is illegal in Calif. But it does cost a lot to feed, medicate and care for turtles and tortoises. It would be a good idea for you to look into becoming a non-profit org. so that you can take donations.

Good luck with your endeavor. It is very rewarding work.

Yvonne

I neglected to mention that there is a very big difference between a "refuge" and a "rescue." If you want to rescue the turtles and tortoises, you do so with rehabilitation and adoption in mind. You don't keep them. A refuge is a sanctuary type place where the turtle goes to live out the remainder of its life. Most rescues don't have the land to be able to keep the animals that come in. You have to find good homes for them. Also, you don't want to end up on Animal Cops Houston, or Animal Precinct, as one of those "collectors" (read Hoarder). You don't get into being a rescue in order to add to your own collection. You do it so that you can find GOOD homes for the many turtles and tortoises in need.

Yvonne

wow - that's amazing.

I really want to do this - since I live in Louisiana there would be very little need for indoor pens except for maybe three months - which I think is a lot less than most states. It might have to wait until I get out of law school though since I live in dorms.

You also have to take into count state laws.. For example in AZ you have to have a hunting license, a wsp (wildlife service permit), sometimes a rehabbers permit (maybe not if you are a rescue), Then at the end of each year you have to send reports stating what animals you removed from wild (if any), what happened to them, etc. etc. etc. If you do decide and you want I have different health sheets, and a paper theat I fill out anytime I bring in a new tort, let me know I would be happy to email them to you. Good luck with your adventure... RFBT if you want contacts in FL that run rescues let me know I know of a few and I can email them your info to contact you.

As for keeping rescued water turtles, I use large water troughs that I bought at a feed store. I have one for the females and one for the males. I like to use the rubber troughs because I'm not sure if the poisons they use to weld the aluminum ones would leach toxins into the water. I put a clean cinder block in the middle and add water until it reaches the top of the cinder block. This leaves about 8" to the top of the trough and the turtles can't climb out. I only have them in there for a week or two, and if the water gets dirty, you just siphon it out and add clean.

Yvonne

If you use use rubber ones have you thought of putting a drain in the trough that way you could pull the drain and not have to worry about siphoning it. You just need to dig a little hole underneath the drain, so the water goes out. I was told they work well.