ever get asked if your tortoise is real?

SGT Fish

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everytime I take Frank (12" sulcata) somewhere, there is always somebody to loudly state, "OMG is that thing real?" or "thats not real, is it?"

last time was on monday when i was at a pet store local to me with a 21yr old, male sulcata. I knelt down and was petting his head/neck by the door and some lady gave me the "thats not real, is it? and I explained to her that it is in fact a real live animal.

come to think of it, another lady did the same thing while my 6yr girl was carrying her adult bearded dragon around petsmart
 

teresaf

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I get it all the time! and its funny we're both from Ohio. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Not many wild ones around here so people think their decorations? Lol
 

Tidgy's Dad

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When we first saw Tidgy's sister at the house of a local family and the children were using it as a toy car and twisting it's legs in opposite directions, wifey said "Is that a real tortoise ?"
"Don't be silly", I replied,"It's a rubber toy.".
Later the kids had abandoned it on the floor and wifey said, "It moved!"
"You're imagining things!" I laughed and then the poor tortoise twitched.
Later we saw Tidgy wandering past the doorway and I rescues her as the mother came strolling along oblivious to her presence.
I took Tidgy home, but was unable to find the first one which died later that week.
Still many people come to our house and when she's walking and stretching in her enclosure ask "Is she a real animal or a toy ?".
It's not just Ohio.
 

Levi the Leopard

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I get asked that question on a regular basis because of my job. I usually reply, "No.

I was going to say the same thing!

Although on a much smaller scale than Tom, I also worked with animals around the public and was asked this (along with other crazy things) so often that I started to journal them! haha Just for proof that these things were asked and I wasn't making it up.

I enjoyed answering them with things like, "no, it's the new battery operated ...blah blah animal 2000"
Or another favorite, "What animal?"

Things like that LOL
 

dmmj

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never been asked that but I hope I do gwt asked it. that way I can look at them and say

you see it too?
 

dmmj

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All the time. But then again I do kinda mess with them by also having a tort statue in the yard. But they also ask if that one is real too.:confused:
you like to play mind games don't you?
 

wellington

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you like to play mind games don't you?
LOL. Sometimes I do :D. It's amazing how so many have no clue what a tortoise is. The statue is so obviously fake, the real torts so obviously not, yet so many don't get it. I have to be nice about it though, they live in my neighborhood
 

MPRC

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I haven't ventured out with the torts much, but my 5ft iguana used to ride on my dash or up in my rear window and people would flip out. Apparently no one in Washington expects to see a giant lizard looking back at them. I got asked constantly if he was real, if he was an alligator, if he was legal to own, etc.
The ladies at the bank were the most terrified by him (even though that were behind glass.)
The girl at the drive thru cafe where I would get coffee on the way to the vet's office where I worked started saving the badly bruised ends of the bananas from the smoothies and she would feed him pieces if there was no one in line behind me.

p671503657-4.jpg
 

Big Charlie

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I haven't ventured out with the torts much, but my 5ft iguana used to ride on my dash or up in my rear window and people would flip out. Apparently no one in Washington expects to see a giant lizard looking back at them. I got asked constantly if he was real, if he was an alligator, if he was legal to own, etc.
The ladies at the bank were the most terrified by him (even though that were behind glass.)
The girl at the drive thru cafe where I would get coffee on the way to the vet's office where I worked started saving the badly bruised ends of the bananas from the smoothies and she would feed him pieces if there was no one in line behind me.

p671503657-4.jpg
lol, today we were in a pet store and the largest iguana I've ever seen was sitting on the floor. My husband kept saying, "that's not real, is it?" It turned out the iguana was 23 years old.
 

pepsiandjac

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I.m always getting asked "What do they do" and "why do you have them,they don't do anything"
 

Yvonne G

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When people first spy my two Aldabran tortoises, the tortoises are usually just sitting in the sun. That 'is that real' question always pops up. Then, "OMG!!!"
 

Big Charlie

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When people first spy my two Aldabran tortoises, the tortoises are usually just sitting in the sun. That 'is that real' question always pops up. Then, "OMG!!!"
I'd love to see them. I bet they are fantastic.
 

Megg

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I don't really take my little redfoot with me anywhere, but I carry my beardies around sometimes, especially my silkback male since he's soft and snuggly. I often get asked if he's real, even when he's climbing up my shoulder and moving around. He's not an animatron, so yeah, he's real.
 
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