introductions

[bikerchicspain]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Bikerchicspain, Welcome to the forum.

Please join twitter.com We need more reptile people on
there

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Welcome to the forum, Bikerchicspain! Good luck with your rehabbing the sick Greek.

Yvonne

Please join twitter.com We need more reptile folk on it.

 

[Madortoise]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hello there. I'm new. My hubby and I have a desert tortoise about 3 y.o. not sure if it's a boy or girl yet therefore we cannot agree on the name for the tortoise. When can we tell its gender, can someone tell me?

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hello there. I'm new. My hubby and I have a desert tortoise about 3 y.o. not sure if it's a boy or girl yet therefore we cannot agree on the name for the tortoise. When can we tell its gender, can someone tell me?

Hi Madortoise: Welcome to the forum! Lots of desert tortoise-keepers here and we'd love to see pictures of your little guy/gal! You won't be able to tell his sex until he gets to be about 10" from front to back. Sometimes males will "show" their gender before that. Desert tortoises are kinda' hard to tell until they get to be almost grown. I have one up for adoption that is about 6" front to back, is captive bred and 5 years old. Its still unclear what sex he is, but I'm leaning towards male, as males are much more common than females.

Where are you located?


Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Madtortoise, welcome to the forum.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Molly: Welcome to the forum. Am I to understand that Ringo is a star tortoise? Cute name.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Molly welcome to the forum.

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MONSTERHOUSE has posted in the for Sale forum in April 2009. He just posted today in Chinese (I believe) and it states "Hello!!!"

So Welcome to the forum Monsterhouse. ( 欢迎到论坛。)

 

[mgallas]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Welcome to TortoiseForum.org. We strive to be the leader in tortoise (and turtle) discussions on the web, covering all topics as they are related to everything from the Cryptodira suborder (thats a fancy way of saying tortoises). Our forums allow for in-depth and specific discussions which can be read by tortoise enthusiasts worldwide!

Register Now (it's free!)

I am Josh. I am the site admin/moderator/what-have-you. I love learning about tortoises and currently care for 2 desert tortoise hatchlings.
Please use this space to introduce yourself (and your tortoises).

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My name is Mike I live in So. Cal. I have been keeping tortoises and other herps. for many years but tortoises are the fav. I have 2 Cherry heads 5 Colombian pumkin heads (orange phase Red foot) and 2 Golden Greeks. I am new to this forum but happy to help and learn.

 

[Candy]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Welcome to the forum Mike.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Mike: Welcome to the forum! I've never heard the orange headed redfoot referred to as "pumpkin head". Learn somthing new every day!

Yvonne

 

[aznewmom]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi.... I hope I'm posting this in the right place.
My daughter has a new tortoise and we are not even sure just what it is.
Some neighbor kids nearly stepped on the poor thing as it was cruising down the sidewalk across the street from us. They know that we are the crazy animal people here -- LOL -- and brought it over to us. The boys went home and asked their parents if they could have it, and the answers were all "No". So, we gave it a home.....for now. My DD is already in love w/"Rico". I still think that we need to hit a few more doors on the street to make sure it doesn't belong to anyone. (So far, not the neighbor boys' animal, nor does it belong to the neighbors right across the street.)

OK all that said, we would love to keep he/she.
It is obviously very young, as it is quite small.
Where should I post a photo of it to see what kind it is and how to take care of it in the best fashion?
We are in Tucson, so my guess is it is some type of desert tortoise. Now that I've joined and said, "Hi", where is the best place to get some beginner answers on your forums?

Thanks!!!
I'm glad to be here and hope to learn/share a lot.
Cheers,
Stacy

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Stacy: Welcome to the forum!

As for an i.d. on your new tortoise, we would have to see a picture. The only "native" tortoise you would find in AZ would be a desert tortoise, however you can't go by "native." There are many escaped pets that had originally been bought in a pet store. So he could be anything. And there are different ways to take care of the different types of tortoises, and different diets. So take some pictures and post them under the "general tortoise" thread. We'll be very glad to help you find the correct care for your little guy.

Yvonne

 

[Crazy1]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Stacy welcome to the forum. If you have a specific question it is best posted in the species specific forum. Photos can go either in the photo section (to identify it) or in the species specifc section, after you know what it is, or the photo section your choice.

 

[aznewmom]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Thanks Yvonne and Robyn.
I hope to post a photo soon.
I tried yesterday, but I guess the file is much too big.
I put one as my avatar, since your site automatically resized it for me.
I'm on my Mac and do not know how to do that on here yet. I will have to steal my PC BACK from the kids today and try to resize the photo there.
Cheers,
Stacy

 

[jenandkev]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Welcome to TortoiseForum.org. We strive to be the leader in tortoise (and turtle) discussions on the web, covering all topics as they are related to everything from the Cryptodira suborder (thats a fancy way of saying tortoises). Our forums allow for in-depth and specific discussions which can be read by tortoise enthusiasts worldwide!

Register Now (it's free!)

I am Josh. I am the site admin/moderator/what-have-you. I love learning about tortoises and currently care for 2 desert tortoise hatchlings.
Please use this space to introduce yourself (and your tortoises).

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Hello everyone,

I was told by a a very kind man who owns a petstore that you may be able to help me. My husband, kids, and I owned a greek tortoise whom we all adored tremendously. Melman would live indoors with us during the winter months and outdoors in her pen we made for her in the summer months. We were cautious about the plants we used in the pen and cautious about the vegetables we fed her from the store (always making sure they were grown organnically.) Tonight, however, we came home to find her very dead. I need to know how she died and if any of you could help me understand what happened. Melman was very swollen. Her neck and extremeties were three times the normal size and her tongue was so swollen that it overflowed her mouth. It appeared that her insides also swelled as it appeared her intestines were protruding outside of her anus. I apologize for the graphic nature of the description but feel the more descriptive I can be the better the answer we will get. She had not been acting any differently and we feel that she may have had an allergic reaction we just don't know to what. We have a box turle we recently rescued from the middle of the road and he is just fine and lives in the same pen as Melman.

Please help us with this. I am feeling horribly guilty that we let Melman down and we did not protect her. I need to know what happened to her and I need to know whether this was my fault.

Thank you for taking the time and I hope you will be able to help me with this.

Sincerely

Jen

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Jen: I'm sorry to have to offer you a welcome to the forum under such sad circumstances. Its never easy to lose a love pet. But the only way for you to know for sure how Melman died is to have a necropsy performed. If its not too late, you just place the body inside a baggie with a moist, not wet, paper towel and place it in the refrigerator, not the freezer, until such a time as you can take it to the lab.

Sometimes swelling happens because of kidney failure. However, not knowing how long Melman was dead before you saw her, the swelling might just be all the gases left inside her as the body starts to decompose.

I'm so very sorry that you lost Melman. It sounds like she had a pretty good life there with you.

Yvonne

 

[aznewmom]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Welcome Jen.
I'm so sorry to hear about your Melman. That is very sad.
I am new to torts and to this forum. So far it seems to be a very nice and helpful place.
It is always sad to lose any family pet and I hope you get some answers as to how she died.

 

[Isa]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Jen,
Welcome to the forum and I am sooo sorry to hear about your little girl .

 

[spring pace]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Welcome to TortoiseForum.org. We strive to be the leader in tortoise (and turtle) discussions on the web, covering all topics as they are related to everything from the Cryptodira suborder (thats a fancy way of saying tortoises). Our forums allow for in-depth and specific discussions which can be read by tortoise enthusiasts worldwide!

Register Now (it's free!)
hi, maggie invited me to join, so here i am. my name is spring and i have a single adult male sulcata named galileo. we live in southern california, a little town called topanga in the santa monica mountains. galileo is 6 years old, 26#s and hes been w/ me for a little over 4 years now. itll be great getting to know you all. smiles, spring
I am Josh. I am the site admin/moderator/what-have-you. I love learning about tortoises and currently care for 2 desert tortoise hatchlings.
Please use this space to introduce yourself (and your tortoises).

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ok, made my first mistake, stepped on joshs post. sorry about that, ill get used to the format after about a dozen mistakes. smiles, spring

 

[aznewmom]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Spring!
I'm Stacy and have only been here about a week myself. I've learned a lot so far and everyone has been very helpful.
Galileo is a cool name. I'm originally from SoCal myself......Seal Beach. I'm now in Tucson, AZ. We found a tort nearly two weeks ago now (long story -- posted here somewhere), and now know that it's a Desert Tortoise. My DD is in love and named him "Rico".
Good to see you here.
Cheers,
Stacy

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Welcome to TortoiseForum.org !

Hi Spring: Welcome to the forum!!



I had trouble with the format here when I first gravitated from YAHOOgroups too, but once you get the hang of it you'll like it way better! Good to see you here.

Yvonne

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Thanks to Gulf Coast for teaching me how to do the graphics. Can't wait until I see the next birthday person!!