Last year I took in two sulcatas from the Clovis SPCA. One was a juvenile and the other was a hatchling. And, darn it! I didn't take pictures of them. Well, anyway - the SPCA asked me to hang onto them for a bit as they were waiting to see what happened with the original owner, who had been arrested on a drug charge. It turned out that she was going to have to be incarcerated, so I was given permission to adopt out the tortoises.
I have a guy come over once a month to knock down webs and take care of bugs. He has a large sulcata of his own, so he understands about poisons and tortoises. When he saw the little hatchling sitting primly in her little habitat he asked if he could adopt her. Since he has his own sulcata, which he adopted from me a few years ago, and I had done a physical inspection of his yard, I knew that he would take good care of the hatchling and I let him take her home. If memory served, that was in September '14. And the tortoise was a very tiny hatchling with only a very tiny bit of growth.
My bug guy called me last week to see if I could watch his two sulcatas for 2 weeks while he went to Virginia for Thanksgiving. I don't have any rescues in the back yard right now, so I told him I would. I'm so disappointed. The big sulcata looks great and weighs about 80lbs, but the baby, now a yearling, is living in a cardboard box with a tiny Zoo Med heat pad and a terry towel.
This is how she's set up now, and I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and send it all home with him when he picks them up in a couple weeks, and even this is too small, but as you can see, it's slightly longer than my washing machine is wide:
On the phone I asked if he would please bring the young one over in her existing habitat because it makes it easier on both the tortoise and me. He told me that since it turned cold and he had to bring her in the house, he only had her in a box. You can believe he's going to get an earful when he comes to pick them up. I can't believe he expects to have that tortoise live in a box all winter.
I have a guy come over once a month to knock down webs and take care of bugs. He has a large sulcata of his own, so he understands about poisons and tortoises. When he saw the little hatchling sitting primly in her little habitat he asked if he could adopt her. Since he has his own sulcata, which he adopted from me a few years ago, and I had done a physical inspection of his yard, I knew that he would take good care of the hatchling and I let him take her home. If memory served, that was in September '14. And the tortoise was a very tiny hatchling with only a very tiny bit of growth.
My bug guy called me last week to see if I could watch his two sulcatas for 2 weeks while he went to Virginia for Thanksgiving. I don't have any rescues in the back yard right now, so I told him I would. I'm so disappointed. The big sulcata looks great and weighs about 80lbs, but the baby, now a yearling, is living in a cardboard box with a tiny Zoo Med heat pad and a terry towel.
This is how she's set up now, and I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and send it all home with him when he picks them up in a couple weeks, and even this is too small, but as you can see, it's slightly longer than my washing machine is wide:
On the phone I asked if he would please bring the young one over in her existing habitat because it makes it easier on both the tortoise and me. He told me that since it turned cold and he had to bring her in the house, he only had her in a box. You can believe he's going to get an earful when he comes to pick them up. I can't believe he expects to have that tortoise live in a box all winter.
