# Scruffie



## Maggie Cummings (Apr 5, 2010)

Here are some pictures of Scruffie my Red Earred Slider. She was my very first turtle and it is her fault that I now have too many animals. She was chewed on by a dog. Someone called my sister about her and I went along for the ride. We met this woman in the Safeway parking lot where the woman handed my sis a box and off we went back home. Sis put the box on the seat between us and I looked in and oh my! I fell in love. She was beat up pretty good but not with any serious injury. She was missing parts of her carapace and plastron both. I asked my sister what was gonna happen now and Yvonne told me so I asked if I could help and I took her home with me not having a clue how to care for her at all. She looked to be about a year old. In a few months I had Scruffie and several other aquatics in a 300 gallon dumpster bottom and boxes and bins full of other tortoises in the house. I got too many too fast. My sister kept bringing me more animals complete with lights and substrates and hides and just all the needed stuff. When I'd hear her truck in my driveway I knew I was getting something else to feed and care for.
I'd take the chewed and blind animals because I had the patience to care for them while my sister was too busy. I was good with the sick and damaged. I really enjoyed caring for them, and that's how I got the ones I have now. I don't know how I knew how to care for the sick ones but somehow I did. But I didn't want this thread about me, it's about Scruffie...
She was beautiful in her beat up way and she never once tried to bite, but then after some years we moved to Oregon and her disposition changed and she can bite so hard she'd bite your hand off at your elbow. Her carapace is all beat up and she's not much to look at but she's a great turtle to have out in the shed by herself. In the summer she has a 200 gallon pond that she stays in for sun and fun.
So here's Scruffie in all of her dog chewed glory...






































Well there ya go, some pictures of Scruffie in her winter quarters. Her hide is a plant pot turned upside down with a door cut away. Her basking platform is a brick and she basks under a 150 watt flood light. I hope you enjoyed looking at her. She'd be pretty rough to go up against Bob I think She's 10 inches and about 8 pounds...


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## Tom (Apr 5, 2010)

Funny how the littlest things in life can bring about the biggest turns.


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## DonaTello's-Mom (Apr 5, 2010)

How old is she Maggie?


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## Kymiie (Apr 6, 2010)

Lol at the pictures where she is smiling, they are adorable x


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## Stephanie Logan (Apr 6, 2010)

It's a Family Afaaaaaiir, It's a Family Afaaaaaaair! (no music smilies?!) 

What I want to know is whether it's truly genetic (your brother, parents or children) or if the rescue urge affected only you and Yvonne. 

Scruffie looks plenty happy and confident enough to snap at your camera, so I'd say the rehabilitation is a success!


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## Yvonne G (Apr 7, 2010)

Scruffie was appx. 5" front to back when we first got her, So she's maybe 9 or 10? Who knows?

Our brother used to live in San Francisco before he got old and infirm and went to live with his daughter. While in SF he had a large aquarium that housed a RES. The turtle was quite tame. I remember him holding a piece of some sort of kibble, probably cat food, in his mouth and the turtle would climb up onto the basking platform and over to his face and take the kibble out of his mouth. E-w-w-w-, right? Salmonella!!! Our parents were into raising Persian cats, but I doubt they ever gave a thought to a reptile of any kind.


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## TortieGal (Apr 8, 2010)

Great story! Scruffie is so cute.


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## ChiKat (Apr 11, 2010)

hehe I love the open-mouthed pics!! What a trooper


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## N2TORTS (Apr 12, 2010)

maggie3fan said:


> Here are some pictures of Scruffie my Red Earred Slider. ...



Great Pics ... LQQKS as the " Scruff" has a pretty good Profile shot eh? ..nice smile too! 
JD~


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