Holy cow...read this...

Sa Ga

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Messages
653
Location (City and/or State)
MN
Lol. It was honestly a question! I know so little about poop habits of torts (and she's not a hatchling anyway).

And as far as anthropomorphizing....
who just dressed their tort in a sparkly crown and crepe ribbons for her virtual party because I KNOW she wanted to be all pretty for Curtis??? ? I'm ALL for anthropomorphizing as long as it doesn't result in harm to anyone!
 
Last edited:

Sa Ga

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Messages
653
Location (City and/or State)
MN
Your not alone. A lot of newbies on here dont like my comments. They post a pic and I won't just say how cute the tort is if I see something wrong. I'm about saving the tort from danger, illness or death more than how cute it is. I have never been one to sugar coat either.
One just has to be careful to advise without alienating those you want to have listen!

Myself being someone who needs to step back and chill sometimes, I think that is one thing I really admire about member Zeropilot. In all the posts I've read on this forum, he is always so sincerely encouraging and welcoming, without diluting the importance of his advice. That is really imperative for a forum like this, to get people to see this as a reliable and approachable resource.
 

Sa Ga

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Messages
653
Location (City and/or State)
MN
Not mad at anybody. Just over reacted to hostile insults and stupidity. I've been so good on the sites that I'm on, trying to be nice and change my reputation...But they pulled my chain, and heaven knows that's easy to do to me...so I tried to be adult about it and left. I have disagreed with experienced keepers publicly here, but we state our sides and move on, no name calling or insults. Oh...I was told I was "quibbling over semantics"...HA
Mags, just so you know, you're ? and we all appreciate your experience and information! ?
 

TracyE

New Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2019
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach
This sounds like the usual FB hogwash. Its wrong, and there are thousand upon thousands of living tortoises all over the globe to disprove it. I've been reading that "gut transition time" non-sense since the early 90s. It sounds so legit and scary... except that its totally made up and wrong. Then there is the FACT that many of us have raised dozens, hundreds or thousands of babies with daily soaks for a decade now, and ALL of them thrive, grow and exude health and vigor.

Sorry. You can't just make statements when a preponderance of obvious evidence clearly refutes it.
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
http://ojaisulcataproject.org/ is the source of the “non soaking” article. BTW I am a soaker.☺ ??
That is my friend Dave. We've discussed his erroneous info many times here. He was in failing health the last time I talked to him a few years back. Taking down that website was not his priority, even though he acquiesced on the info to me on the phone.
 

Maggie3fan

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
8,046
Location (City and/or State)
PacificNorthWest
That is my friend Dave. We've discussed his erroneous info many times here. He was in failing health the last time I talked to him a few years back. Taking down that website was not his priority, even though he acquiesced on the info to me on the phone.
That's very interesting Tom...Just a week ago I came across an article on-line about a black man in Africa saving Sulcata calling them "turtles" I really enjoyed the article, so I sent it to Y and she said you knew the guy. You know a lot of people...good article too...
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
That's very interesting Tom...Just a week ago I came across an article on-line about a black man in Africa saving Sulcata calling them "turtles" I really enjoyed the article, so I sent it to Y and she said you knew the guy. You know a lot of people...good article too...
Yes. That is Tomas. We've talked about him and his contributions to Sulcata info many times over the years. He's really the only person I've met that has ANY first hand knowledge of wild Sulcatas, and breeding and raising Sulcatas in their natural range. He's encountered the same problems with things being too dry for babies over there, that we encounter here. Just like our beloved CA desert tortoises. People are killing them with dryness.
 

Maggie3fan

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
8,046
Location (City and/or State)
PacificNorthWest
Yes. That is Tomas. We've talked about him and his contributions to Sulcata info many times over the years. He's really the only person I've met that has ANY first hand knowledge of wild Sulcatas, and breeding and raising Sulcatas in their natural range. He's encountered the same problems with things being too dry for babies over there, that we encounter here. Just like our beloved CA desert tortoises. People are killing them with dryness.

You sure have blossomed over the years since you've joined here...and the bad part is that you seem to be having a damn good time at it, and learning an awful lot about tortoises...
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,264
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
You sure have blossomed over the years since you've joined here...and the bad part is that you seem to be having a damn good time at it, and learning an awful lot about tortoises...
Yep. That's me. A pretty flower... All blossomed up... :p

You've been there since the beginning with me. You were one of the first and most challenging people to convince about all this humidity and hydration stuff early on.
 

DesertGirl

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2017
Messages
366
Location (City and/or State)
Fabulous Las Vegas, NV
Hhhhhm, can’t wait to see @Tom ’s @Yvonne G @Markw84 @Kapidolo Farms & others thoughts. Like @EllieMay asked, what’s the source of the posted info?

Best to stick with @tom’s proven research on 1000’s of soaked tortoises. The last time we saw such a scientific article, the reported “research” was conducted on two sets of 40 torts (or so).

I’ll stick with Tom’s soaking advice ?
Man, I was thinking the same thing!
 

AllieKat1997

Active Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Messages
103
Location (City and/or State)
Missouri
I don’t own a sulcata so I can’t say too much but I soaked my Golden Greek every two days when he was a baby for about 7 months to avoid dehydration in hatchlings (so not daily) I can only recall him pooping in his soaking bowl twice in that entire span. Perhaps it is more common for Sulcata to poop in soaking pans than it is other species but very interesting nonetheless. I never even heard soaking could possibly prevent pyramiding.
 

Brendaf

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Messages
15
Location (City and/or State)
Mesa Az
Soaking sounds like a 'forced' thing the way that FB original poster worded their concern. I set tortoises in shallow water that they can walk out of, i do this near daily. Baby tortoises are a bit dumb, they can dehydrate sitting inches away from a shallow dish of water. They will sit and drink or walk out of the water as they see fit to. The water is enclosure warm, most shallow water trays are placed to be kept warm by the RHP in the enclosure. That in itself will encourage them to sit in the water.

I would venture a guess that the FB OP drown a few little guys and so found an emotional depth to hate soaking. As far as what happens in nature, that is alway the argument of people who don't understand deep time. I can assure you all that sometime in the history of sulcatas being sulcatas they sat in rain accumulation ponds with high frequency for long periods of time.
And here I thought I was strange, my baby did not like its soak so I would often pop it ins it's water sacuser , it would still gets its soak but soon it started getting in its water. All on its own....
But I still soak it and its starting to be ok with it.
 

Brendaf

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Messages
15
Location (City and/or State)
Mesa Az
Your not alone. A lot of newbies on here dont like my comments. They post a pic and I won't just say how cute the tort is if I see something wrong. I'm about saving the tort from danger, illness or death more than how cute it is. I have never been one to sugar coat either.
As a newbie I did not come here to get sugar coated crap I came to save the life of three little hatchlings that were being raised in a dry 10 gal. Tank with news paper on the bottom and light bulbs for heat.
Two are doin good in homes with the "Tom" set up now and I am keeping the last guy. He has been much slower at improving
 
Top