Christmas Eve Day Torts and Roos

[Maggie Cummings]

Maggie,

No disrespect taken. This pic was taken just to show some of my critters and not intended to teach a lesson to anyone. For the sake of new tortoise owners, let's just say this was a photo opportunity for a couple of torts that needed some sunshine after being locked up indoors during the recent incliment weather and is in NO WAY a recommendation by a veterinarian or any tortoise keeper to mix species or for that matter to mix members of the same species of innapropriate sizes. That said, all the subjects in the picture are checked for worms and other parasites on a regular interval and treated as needed and I have every confidence that they are healthy and disease free or this pic would not have been taken and shared.....I'm hope this goes for all the other mixed species pics I've seen on this forum also.

BTW, enjoyed your story Millie and Gertie's Excellent Adventure....very cute story line and pictures.

Yep, I gotcha...you specifically went looking for something like that?

 

[turtletania]

Thanks Todd.... been collecting for 35 years. Those pics are only some, the best groups..... cos they are all over my house - walls, floors, every surface!!!!!

 

[Tom]

We've got a lot of the same animals. Red Roo, Emu, sulcata, leopard tort, lots of dogs. The current one is my third roo. He's pretty feisty.

 

[exoticsdr]

Maggie,

No disrespect taken. This pic was taken just to show some of my critters and not intended to teach a lesson to anyone. For the sake of new tortoise owners, let's just say this was a photo opportunity for a couple of torts that needed some sunshine after being locked up indoors during the recent incliment weather and is in NO WAY a recommendation by a veterinarian or any tortoise keeper to mix species or for that matter to mix members of the same species of innapropriate sizes. That said, all the subjects in the picture are checked for worms and other parasites on a regular interval and treated as needed and I have every confidence that they are healthy and disease free or this pic would not have been taken and shared.....I'm hope this goes for all the other mixed species pics I've seen on this forum also.

BTW, enjoyed your story Millie and Gertie's Excellent Adventure....very cute story line and pictures.

Yep, I gotcha...you specifically went looking for something like that?

Looking? Absolutely, (I figured I had broken some cardinal rule on TFO and wanted to see how many other's have stepped on the same landmine) but definitey not expecting to find anything...considering how strongly your convictions came through in your post about my mixing of species. I realize, as others should, photo opportunities arise and are taken, shared and enjoyed by others because of an interest in these spectacular animals......here's another example, recently a photo was posted with some radiated torts and plowshares in a tub, lots of water, fresh poo and very cute hatchlings..no mixing species comments, From a strict tortoise keeping viewpoint, BAD picture and definitely not recommended, From a tortoise lovers viewpoint, HOMERUN!!, I want them, and lots of 'em, thanks for sharing. In the future, I will be much more careful in my posting of pics to make sure to make them more appropriate for both keepers and lovers.

We've got a lot of the same animals. Red Roo, Emu, sulcata, leopard tort, lots of dogs. The current one is my third roo. He's pretty feisty.

Dang Tom, sounds like we are cut from the same cloth. My male roo can be a real turd at times, I try not to encourage any aggression and he can be such a good boy...the girls are both very sweet and they all were so much fun to bottle raise.

 

[Yvonne G]

We usually DO mention the mixing species thing, however those pictures, if memory serves correctly, were posted by someone in a foreign county...maybe Hong Kong? I can't remember. But at any rate, we have a hard time getting through to those folks because their illegal tortoises are so easy for them to get. They just don't seem to take husbandry seriously, especially pointers from us.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I am sorry this has blown up into something I didn't intend. Your pictures looked like those animals definitely lived together, mine were a fantasy world, a made up story for entertainment.
In your case, I felt I explained very carefully my feelings on keeping mixed species together and giving advice to newbies on the subject. I explained to you about crossing pathogens etc. I am a kind of old fashioned tort keeper and I was taught you shouldn't mix species and just why and so I try to pass that on to new keepers.
You obviously didn't break any kind of a TFO rule as nobody but me has commented on the subject. As for the radiateds and plowshares, I don't have any interest in those kind of tortoises and didn't even see the picture.
I will continue to try and teach newbies not to keep mixed species together, you can post any kind of picture you want, TFO members will continue to ignore me and chelonia will continue to die.

 

[laura808]

I have wanted to become a veterinarian from the age of four! Hopefully I will attend Purdue University in 5 years (so long from now!!!) and go to their vet school or major in animal sciences. Which college did you go to?

 

[exoticsdr]

Laura,

Attended Vet School at Iowa State Some free advice: apply to as many schools as you possibly can afford to apply to. Make sure you find out what the pre-reqs are for each school you are going to apply to (if you don't have them done, don't waste your money), volunteer at a vet clinic or clinics as often as you can, during your undergrad schooling, try to find a professor that is doing research and see if you can volunteer to help out, get really good grades, competition is stiff to get into school (my class: I think average GPA was 3.67 or so, 1800 applications for 100 positions, 60 female applicants accepted, 34 young gentlemen and 6 old farts of which I was fifth oldest at the ripe old age of 34.) Also, if and when you get in...competition is over (though the young students had a hard time with this concept)....study hard, DON'T STRESS OUT, have fun. "A" students make the best researchers, "B" students make the best veterinarians and "C" students make the most money.