Another Craigslist Sulcata Disaster

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cmosuna

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My frustrated rant. This is a picture of two very different types of care when it comes to tortoises. (Tuck our tort is on the left) In no way do I want to be disresepectful to the previous owners, they seemed very nice and only seemed to be following care guidelines given to them from a backyard breeder. Sulcatas CANNOT live in Romaine lettuce and strawberries! This poor little guy has pretty severe MBD. His entire shell is soft and flat. He cannot pull into his shell for protection because it has not grown properly. He was housed in a 10 gallon tank with 60 watt UV heat bulbs. Not UVB light or natural sunlight that is needed so his body was never able to break down and use the Calcium that they were providing for him. His shell fells like soft rubber and it makes me feel ill. For stuff like this I blame ignorant and or greedy breeders. I have seen Sulcatas posted as "teacup tortoises" that won't get much bigger than that. They get up to 200 lbs and require an outside environment to live properly! Luckily I think we got him in time, lots of summer heat and TLC and we should see some results over the next couple of months. There are some fantastic backyard breeders and very responsible store fronts. When we bought our first torts the breeder we purchased them from had a website with care sheets, with enclosure ideas, showed us around his yard and helped us pick what would work best for us. He was so passionate about them he even kissed the two goodbye. But to many people see easy dollar signs.

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kimber_lee_314

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Glad you got them! Did you see the little one I gave to Brooke? She was really bad!
 

cmosuna

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kimber_lee_314 said:
Glad you got them! Did you see the little one I gave to Brooke? She was really bad!

The one on the left is mine and healthy and hard as a rock. The guy on the right just makes me sad. Heat, calcium and tons of natural son is on order for him. Yeah i saw that one, so sad. Ignorance is a choice, anyone can google sulcata care sheet and get some good info.

Oh and we are all insanely in love with our Leopards! OMG I've layed in bed with them on my chest letting me pet them a few times already lol. My youngest screams Baby Turtles! Thank you again so much.

Russians making friends
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Hungry Hungry Hippos
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cemmons12

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Glad u got them also!! Hope everything goes great with them both!
But (I'm sure u know and agree) not all breeders are turds. But the ones that are, I would like an hour with each and a ballbat! :)
Have a great night! :)
 

ALDABRAMAN

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cemmons12 said:
Glad u got them also!! Hope everything goes great with them both!
But (I'm sure u know and agree) not all breeders are turds. But the ones that are, I would like an hour with each and a ballbat! :)
Have a great night! :)

:cool:
 

Tom

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I understand your frustration and share it, but I think you assume too much. There is a whole lot of ignorance out there, but you can hardly blame the breeder when vets and books all same the same thing. Right here on this forum is the only time I see anything, but the "dry" methods promoted. There IS mass ignorance, and I hope we all work to eliminate it, but I would not assume it is based on greed. I am certainly not greedy. I give lots of my babies away for free. (I know you were not directing this at me.) But I was just as guilty as everyone else for promoting what I was taught about sulcatas and "desert" conditions. I just figured "it" out before some of the others for whatever reason.

I would love it if that frustration you feel would motivate you to try and educate those who have NOT yet figured it out. That's what it does for me. You obviously learned the right stuff somewhere. We've gotta get that info to all these other people who haven't learned it yet...

P.S. I too am really glad that tortoise found his way to you and that you know what to do with him.
 

Urtle

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Im also happy you got them. Please keep us updated I would really love to see more.
 

cmosuna

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I hope all you responsible breeders did see where I said "There are some fantastic breeders and storefronts out there". But come on Romaine lettuce and strawberries? Even if you were recommending the "dry method" it would have been better advice than that. They just kept saying to me how they bought them from a lady who had huge ones in her backyard and followed her directions... but I know each of you especially ones that replied here are passionate about care and furthering knowledge. As far as furthering education I do what I can through my web page. I do talks at local pet stores and some of my reaches cone along. Sometimes to kids at schools. Really anything I can. There are some awesome people here that do that and so much more as well and its why I like this group so much
 
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