Oh know, Lots of posts by cruel **** heads. Diseases. Oh wow. Stop being mean to the tortoises! They are special.
It most certainly does help. I am beyond grateful for everyone's generosity in sharing their experiences and wisdom; it has helped me tremendously in learning to properly care for my surprise Sulcata.We can only do so much. Hopefully the Forum helps.
This post right here is our goal, and it also serves as my "payment" for trying to help. My reward is knowing that you will have a good tortoise keeping experiences and that your tortoise will live a long healthy happy life. Thank you for posting this!It most certainly does help. I am beyond grateful for everyone's generosity in sharing their experiences and wisdom; it has helped me tremendously in learning to properly care for my surprise Sulcata.
AmenThis post right here is our goal, and it also serves as my "payment" for trying to help. My reward is knowing that you will have a good tortoise keeping experiences and that your tortoise will live a long healthy happy life. Thank you for posting this!
If I ever run into you and/or others from TFO, I will gladly buy you a beer/meal/whatever you like. I am a cat person. I have researched the best way to take care of my cats and do everything I can to keep them healthy and enriched. Once I learned I'd been doing something incorrectly, I felt I had no other choice but to correct those things IMMEDIATELY - I am responsible for them, I love them, and I could not keep doing something that could be harming them.This post right here is our goal, and it also serves as my "payment" for trying to help. My reward is knowing that you will have a good tortoise keeping experiences and that your tortoise will live a long healthy happy life. Thank you for posting this!
Simon is a big boy! But his.. interests?.. jibe with my two kitties', LOL. Both he and Simon are beautiful! I have a couple tuxedo kitties - Jackson and Pepper. They are a couple of characters.Me too...
This is Simon...a 30 pound Maine Coon/Norwedgian Forest Cat...he's tall tooView attachment 347210
and Smokey looking at the skunks...View attachment 347211
tee hee
Aw, Maggie, thanks... you shouldn't have. LOL. ;-)this is what I found when I was looking for a special photo for you...my 'guest toilet'View attachment 347212
I was also posting on another thread...and posting the toilet here was a mistake...I was looking for a tux photo of Simon...sorryAw, Maggie, thanks... you shouldn't have. LOL. ;-)
My Pepper is a short-haired version of Simon - same coloring. I wish I had pics of my guys on this computer! Jackson has more black, just has the white chest/belly and paws. And Jackson's fur length is similar to Simon's. No skunks for them to look at where I live, but plenty of quail, bunnies, and the occasional roadrunner in both our front and back yards. The roadrunner gave me pause a few months ago - it seemed to have a little too much interest in Leo - so we chased him away. Leo has grown considerably since then.This is Simon...the tuxedo king!!! he loves belly rubs View attachment 347213
this is what smokey was looking at out the bedroom window...View attachment 347214
No worries, I literally laughed out loud! I'm still smiling. I'm easily amused, maybe.I was also posting on another thread...and posting the toilet here was a mistake...I was looking for a tux photo of Simon...sorry
Stay with us and share your experiences and what you learn along the way and you'll be here just like the rest of us trying to help others.If I ever run into you and/or others from TFO, I will gladly buy you a beer/meal/whatever you like. I am a cat person. I have researched the best way to take care of my cats and do everything I can to keep them healthy and enriched. Once I learned I'd been doing something incorrectly, I felt I had no other choice but to correct those things IMMEDIATELY - I am responsible for them, I love them, and I could not keep doing something that could be harming them.
It's the same thing with Leo. I didn't know the right way to do things at first, but once I found this site and dug into your care sheets and the threads, I had no option but to correct what I'd been doing wrong IMMEDIATELY. Although Leo had quite a bit of pyramiding already when he showed up on our porch, he has doubled in size (and seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt now) and his new growth is coming in more smoothly. He's a strong, feisty little guy, and both my husband and I are so happy he's in our lives... though neither of us ever expected to be tortoise guardians, LOL.
An acquaintance had a Sulcata that she had to give up when she moved into an apartment, but she tells people how inexpensive and "easy" tortoises are, and how she'd often forget about him in her backyard because they don't need anything except food. She fed him exclusively fruits and greens that the grocery store was getting ready to discard. Never soaked him, never even knew that was a thing. Never looked into any proper husbandry for the species at all. I don't know how the little guy managed the temperature extremes, living exclusively outside - the high here was 115 yesterday, which happens a handful of times each year, and it gets into the 20s sometimes in winter... but no heated night box, and he was not an adult when she had him. Her tortoise met with an accident in the backyard of the person he was given to - got tangled up in some kind of rope and was deceased by the time anyone noticed. :-(
TL;DR: I owe you and others here many beers. Because of you, my Leo will be with us for a very long time (I hope). Thank you.
I plan on sticking around; I'm here for the duration! One day I need to post a proper intro. I tend to be a little wordy (understatement of the year, obviously) so it'll wait until I have time. This site - and its members - are incredible, and the best source of info I could ever hope to find for my shelled friend. I've directed a fair number of tortoise folks on other forums/Reddit to TFO, and I'll continue to do so and to offer advice (if I'm confident that it's correct).Stay with us and share your experiences and what you learn along the way and you'll be here just like the rest of us trying to help others.
I had a feeling you posted the toilet on the wrong thread. I was going to say something, but I thought it was too funny 😁I was also posting on another thread...and posting the toilet here was a mistake...I was looking for a tux photo of Simon...sorry
I am always glad I can make someone laugh...even if it's by accident!I had a feeling you posted the toilet on the wrong thread. I was going to say something, but I thought it was too funny 😁
Am I the only one that reads this, you want people to take classes ? We don’t make people take classes to have children !! I love my Mali, I enjoy keeping up for her. I raised my daughter, one day at a time 😂, by the seat of my pants. Although I had great parents, so I did have lessons.If I ever run into you and/or others from TFO, I will gladly buy you a beer/meal/whatever you like. I am a cat person. I have researched the best way to take care of my cats and do everything I can to keep them healthy and enriched. Once I learned I'd been doing something incorrectly, I felt I had no other choice but to correct those things IMMEDIATELY - I am responsible for them, I love them, and I could not keep doing something that could be harming them.
It's the same thing with Leo. I didn't know the right way to do things at first, but once I found this site and dug into your care sheets and the threads, I had no option but to correct what I'd been doing wrong IMMEDIATELY. Although Leo had quite a bit of pyramiding already when he showed up on our porch, he has doubled in size (and seems to be in the middle of a growth spurt now) and his new growth is coming in more smoothly. He's a strong, feisty little guy, and both my husband and I are so happy he's in our lives... though neither of us ever expected to be tortoise guardians, LOL.
An acquaintance had a Sulcata that she had to give up when she moved into an apartment, but she tells people how inexpensive and "easy" tortoises are, and how she'd often forget about him in her backyard because they don't need anything except food. She fed him exclusively fruits and greens that the grocery store was getting ready to discard. Never soaked him, never even knew that was a thing. Never looked into any proper husbandry for the species at all. I don't know how the little guy managed the temperature extremes, living exclusively outside - the high here was 115 yesterday, which happens a handful of times each year, and it gets into the 20s sometimes in winter... but no heated night box, and he was not an adult when she had him. Her tortoise met with an accident in the backyard of the person he was given to - got tangled up in some kind of rope and was deceased by the time anyone noticed. :-(
TL;DR: I owe you and others here many beers. Because of you, my Leo will be with us for a very long time (I hope). Thank you.