Stacey Marquee-Flentje
New Member
Hello,
I need some advice. We have an 8 year old female Sulcata named Ayana. We have 26 acres and during the warmer months she generally wanders around the part of the back yard that is not wooded. This summer, she has taken to the front of the house and has even gone to the street (which is quite busy). Thankfully, my son caught her in time.
After that drama, we constructed a large circular enclosure with a small wading pool with circulating water. For some reason she decided this would be a great time to burrow. We kept our eyes on her to make sure she wasn't in danger of having dirt collapse upon her. She really seemed to enjoy it...until a huge storm started to fill her den with water. We rescued her and hastily erect another "secure" area. Hind site being 20/20, I should have brought her inside and found a way to keep the dogs from getting to tortoise poop.
Unfortunately, this area was not secure enough and she escaped the next afternoon. We scoured the woods surrounding our house, looked every place in which she had nestled down previously, but by day 3 I was pretty freaked. Only then did it occur to me to look on Craig's list. Alas, someone had rescued her (the intersection they identified is directly in front of our house). The post said they would keep her for a couple of days and would then place her up for adoption. OK, again...I freaked. The only avenue of response was a craigslist generated email. I responded, told him my story, offered a reward and waited. I Also posted my own "LOST" add on Craig's list. Many people responded and directed me to the original posting the "finder" had posted. I responded to each one as I had heard nothing in the 24 hours since I had reached out and I had no idea what kind of individual had found her. Many wonderful people began responding to his post letting him know that I was trying to reach him.
I received a call from him telling me that he had kept her a couple days and had then taken her the alligator sanctuary in Athens Michigan. This is a 45 minute drive from our home in Kalamazoo. I was obviously dealing with a very caring person. He said his children had named her "Bobbi" and then said something about being very said. I questioned if he meant his children were sad to see her go. His response was a bit jarring. He said, "No, not the kids...the turtle". I still feel a bit silly that I literally had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't blurt out "TORTOISE".
Anyway, I called the sanctuary and talked to a gentleman (later identified as the owners son). He said the owner wouldn't be back until noon. My response, "No problem, I'll come now, buy a ticket and wander around until he returns. When I got there, I wandered around looking for her. There were 2 sulcatas; one quite larger than her and one with significant pyramiding. It turned out that the dad had gone to a private party to do a presentation of animals
and had taken Ayana with him. I was afraid I was going to be in for a fight in order to get her back. Thankfully, that was not the case. When he arrived I was outside and I spoke with him as he unloaded his van. He was incredibly gracious and said, "great, take her home" and then he said, "she moves slower than other Sulcata's I've seen, but man her shell looks great".
This summer we bought 4 hibiscus trees so we would have bright flowers on the patio is addition to providing the occasional treat of Ayana. I brought a couple of the red hibiscus flowers with me to the sanctuary. I took her out of the container, placed her on the ground and laid down parallel to her. I talked to her a little bit, put the flower in front of her and just watched. It took her a few moments, but she moved toward it, but with her head tilted to the left. I was concerned that she had somehow been injured during the whole ordeal. She slowly grabbed the flower, pulling it into the left side of her shell, where she finally ate it. I then moved so I was face to face with her (still a couple of feet away) and put the second flower on the ground. I think this is when she finally saw me. Her head came out, she looked at me and lunged at the flower, with her neck extended normally. It was gone in an instant. She was on the move and her speed greatly surprised the owner of the sanctuary. The gentleman who found her asked that I just make a donation to the sanctuary in lieu of a reward. A request I was more than happy to agree. I amended my posting on Craig's list, thanking everyone who responded and helped and highly recommended the sanctuary for a field trip.
Well, now that you have my entire story...I have a few questions. First, I never want to repeat this experience again. I found a GPS locator called the whistle that is made to go on a dogs collar, but has also been used on birds of prey and by one owner of a Sulcata, who was also prone to wandering. The owner of the Sulcata had somehow secured holder to the shell so that the actual GPS could be slid in and out for charging. I contacted two different zoos and have received no responses as to whether this is safe.
1. Is it safe to use super glue or some other strong adhesive to secure the mounting bracket to her shell (it weighs 2 ounces at most). If not, is it safe to put a dog collar around the girth of her shell and attach it to that?
2. I have always been told that tortoises really have little use for humans other than for food. Could she really have been depressed, recognized me and had an emotional response?
Thank you for any responses!
Stacey
I need some advice. We have an 8 year old female Sulcata named Ayana. We have 26 acres and during the warmer months she generally wanders around the part of the back yard that is not wooded. This summer, she has taken to the front of the house and has even gone to the street (which is quite busy). Thankfully, my son caught her in time.
After that drama, we constructed a large circular enclosure with a small wading pool with circulating water. For some reason she decided this would be a great time to burrow. We kept our eyes on her to make sure she wasn't in danger of having dirt collapse upon her. She really seemed to enjoy it...until a huge storm started to fill her den with water. We rescued her and hastily erect another "secure" area. Hind site being 20/20, I should have brought her inside and found a way to keep the dogs from getting to tortoise poop.
Unfortunately, this area was not secure enough and she escaped the next afternoon. We scoured the woods surrounding our house, looked every place in which she had nestled down previously, but by day 3 I was pretty freaked. Only then did it occur to me to look on Craig's list. Alas, someone had rescued her (the intersection they identified is directly in front of our house). The post said they would keep her for a couple of days and would then place her up for adoption. OK, again...I freaked. The only avenue of response was a craigslist generated email. I responded, told him my story, offered a reward and waited. I Also posted my own "LOST" add on Craig's list. Many people responded and directed me to the original posting the "finder" had posted. I responded to each one as I had heard nothing in the 24 hours since I had reached out and I had no idea what kind of individual had found her. Many wonderful people began responding to his post letting him know that I was trying to reach him.
I received a call from him telling me that he had kept her a couple days and had then taken her the alligator sanctuary in Athens Michigan. This is a 45 minute drive from our home in Kalamazoo. I was obviously dealing with a very caring person. He said his children had named her "Bobbi" and then said something about being very said. I questioned if he meant his children were sad to see her go. His response was a bit jarring. He said, "No, not the kids...the turtle". I still feel a bit silly that I literally had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't blurt out "TORTOISE".
Anyway, I called the sanctuary and talked to a gentleman (later identified as the owners son). He said the owner wouldn't be back until noon. My response, "No problem, I'll come now, buy a ticket and wander around until he returns. When I got there, I wandered around looking for her. There were 2 sulcatas; one quite larger than her and one with significant pyramiding. It turned out that the dad had gone to a private party to do a presentation of animals
and had taken Ayana with him. I was afraid I was going to be in for a fight in order to get her back. Thankfully, that was not the case. When he arrived I was outside and I spoke with him as he unloaded his van. He was incredibly gracious and said, "great, take her home" and then he said, "she moves slower than other Sulcata's I've seen, but man her shell looks great".
This summer we bought 4 hibiscus trees so we would have bright flowers on the patio is addition to providing the occasional treat of Ayana. I brought a couple of the red hibiscus flowers with me to the sanctuary. I took her out of the container, placed her on the ground and laid down parallel to her. I talked to her a little bit, put the flower in front of her and just watched. It took her a few moments, but she moved toward it, but with her head tilted to the left. I was concerned that she had somehow been injured during the whole ordeal. She slowly grabbed the flower, pulling it into the left side of her shell, where she finally ate it. I then moved so I was face to face with her (still a couple of feet away) and put the second flower on the ground. I think this is when she finally saw me. Her head came out, she looked at me and lunged at the flower, with her neck extended normally. It was gone in an instant. She was on the move and her speed greatly surprised the owner of the sanctuary. The gentleman who found her asked that I just make a donation to the sanctuary in lieu of a reward. A request I was more than happy to agree. I amended my posting on Craig's list, thanking everyone who responded and helped and highly recommended the sanctuary for a field trip.
Well, now that you have my entire story...I have a few questions. First, I never want to repeat this experience again. I found a GPS locator called the whistle that is made to go on a dogs collar, but has also been used on birds of prey and by one owner of a Sulcata, who was also prone to wandering. The owner of the Sulcata had somehow secured holder to the shell so that the actual GPS could be slid in and out for charging. I contacted two different zoos and have received no responses as to whether this is safe.
1. Is it safe to use super glue or some other strong adhesive to secure the mounting bracket to her shell (it weighs 2 ounces at most). If not, is it safe to put a dog collar around the girth of her shell and attach it to that?
2. I have always been told that tortoises really have little use for humans other than for food. Could she really have been depressed, recognized me and had an emotional response?
Thank you for any responses!
Stacey
