brokerheather
New Member
So, it's been requested that I share more about my BIG girl. She's really insanely huge and I haven't fully adjusted to that yet. My dear elderly friend Doris is 85 and just had to go into a nursing home, unfortunately. I befriended her about a year ago after finding out she had parrots, dogs, was into art and had a sulcata. She also had a pig, but the pig has since gone to a sanctuary. I didn't even meet "Sammy" the sulcata, which I assumed was male for quite a while. I would come over in the late afternoons and he was often in his burrow, which didn't appear that large, per se.
Doris was not able to return to her home, so I had to sell it (I'm a broker) and it's in a very good area with lots of tear downs and rebuilding in Phoenix (Arcadia). So, I got an agent investor to buy it and give us 45 days back to get out of the house. It was a saga... I'll share.. since I was asked. So, the lady known as the "crazy neighbor lady" had previously been helping out Doris and assisted in feeding Sammy from time to time. Sammy was in a rather small, dirt enclosure with no heat source. Sammy, we have since found out, is a female. She was purchased in 2008 for $1300 (super overpriced, I know) and was something like 17" at the time according to Doris' note. She was born in 2001. We thought Goliath was a more fitting name, until this info was uncovered and upon further examination I verified she is a girl! Mathilda the Mighty it is. Mathilda is not only the name of a tank, but also means "mighty in battle". Tilly for short. She is 24" long, we haven't weighed her yet... so it's a guess. Although, I can say that 4 men with a huge thick double beach towel huff and puff carrying her. That said my friends who lift 50 pound boxes of clay around guesstimated 170.
So, back to crazy lady, crazy lady LOVES Sammy/Tilly (who she calls Elvis, btw), almost a little too much. We figured we had to block her out of her enclosure during the daytime, so that we could rangle the people together to move her the 20 minutes to my house. I saw her out and got excited. I called crazy lady and said she's out, I'm blocking her out of her burrow so we can move her. Next thing I know crazy lady is crying... She proceeds to call the Humane Society the next day and meet us at the door getting into it with my friend, we were there to move Doris' macaw and cockatoo to new homes two hours away. She had a key and had unblocked the burrow, in the meantime. She proceeds to use all sorts of interesting words with my friend, as we proceed to load up the two birds. A notice is on the door from the Humane Society (I do dog rescue, irony), so I call and talk to an officer that had been in the house and he confirms that the birds are being taken care of daily and the tortoise looked fine.
A couple weeks go by of me stopping by every couple of days (and Doris' daughter changing the locks and telling crazy lady to **** off) to check on and water/feed Sammy. At this time I make the decision that I'm going to keep her. Prior to that I had been looking for a home where she wouldn't be bred. Crazy lady was even offered prior to her episode, but has a rock yard and wasn't in a position to take her. My yard is a mess... I've been in my house 1.5 years and it needs demolition of some rocks, plastic liner and leveling, then irrigation system installed prior to seeding for grass, weeds, mulberry tree, orange jubilee and hibiscus.
Crazy lady starts talking to my boyfriend and apologizes... I explain how we both used to have sulcatas and we have read a lot and know a lot and are really excited about this. My sulcata was 60 pounds when I was in a position where rehoming him was best for him (lost my house to divorce, new place was just dirt, etc). She calms down and is cool, her name is Gail.
The house next to Doris' is under construction, plus there's chainlink fencing. LOTS of exposure. Next thing I know I see what appears to be a larger burrow opening. Then a round hole... it's suspicious. I call Gail, she goes over and says that there are more holes than there were at 2pm that day. I run out the door, calling the cops. I bring my wool hat, laptop, camp chair (heat is off, house is 55 degrees) and a spot light. Gail and her husband have a huge two light shop light shinning into the backyard. There are more holes, not in logical spots... but, someone is trying to steal this tort! Oh no, NOT happening. I sit there for 2.5 hours, guarding the burrow. Gail and her husband agree on shifts. We just have to get through the night, I will do an emergency move the next day. I had JUST found a temp home for her during my construction and irrigation installation, which is a mile down the street at a lady's house. The cop comes and he says in 19 years he's never had a tortoise call. He thinks I'm nuts at first, but as I show him these holes (post hole digger, totally round holes) he sees that are manmade. He agrees to patrol the area closely that night. I go home and safely end up moving her the next day. She literally shakes my Sante Fe SUV as I sit at the light. Yep, shakes it moving around.
She is moved, we build a temp heated home with pallets and it's all good. For a while.
Then a couple weeks in I get a weird text from the lady who has her that makes me panic and for good reason... the lady is in Chicago I know. We jump in the car only to find Mathilda in the neighbors front yard, with a poor 16 year old housesitter trying to lure her with a strawberry. We later discover that the neighbor across the street is an elderly lady with dementia. Whenever she gets out, she runs across the street and opens the gate. The back gate was locked, but they use this front one all the time, so they didn't want to lock it. It was behind a trailer and the lady usually works from home, so in a pinch I made it work... needless to say, it was another emergency move, this time to my yard!
I decided even though the lady said we could start locking the front fence I just was too freaked out... in addition to thinking we need to see where exactly her preference to be in the yard is... as I'm planning her enclosure, pond and all that now and spending serious money on irrigation, etc.
So, it's been less than a week. She's already being a good girl and putting herself to bed! She wasn't doing that at the temp house. The dogs (mostly pugs, little guys) are adjusting. I'm building them a poop/pee run off the dog door, so the tort has the run of the 2700 sq ft yard. Before you say that's not enough space... it's about 5 times or more what she has had for 15 years and well, that's just all I have...
So, saga continues... as I have to figure out how to contain her for 2 days of demolition and probably the same in irrigation install on my 200 sq ft patio? Then I have to split the yard or just say screw it and seed like crazy... and hope grass can come up. I'll be feeding her clippings and optunia, etc to hope help the grass have a chance during that time. She is quite the character already and let's us pet her head. She's REALLY dry, so thinking we need to coconut oil her? Also, need to get my herp vet out to check her out!
I am hoping tortoise ownership gets a lot more chill from here! I don't have a ton of pics yet... so bare with me. This one of the cat was when she was at the temp house, it's so cute.
Doris was not able to return to her home, so I had to sell it (I'm a broker) and it's in a very good area with lots of tear downs and rebuilding in Phoenix (Arcadia). So, I got an agent investor to buy it and give us 45 days back to get out of the house. It was a saga... I'll share.. since I was asked. So, the lady known as the "crazy neighbor lady" had previously been helping out Doris and assisted in feeding Sammy from time to time. Sammy was in a rather small, dirt enclosure with no heat source. Sammy, we have since found out, is a female. She was purchased in 2008 for $1300 (super overpriced, I know) and was something like 17" at the time according to Doris' note. She was born in 2001. We thought Goliath was a more fitting name, until this info was uncovered and upon further examination I verified she is a girl! Mathilda the Mighty it is. Mathilda is not only the name of a tank, but also means "mighty in battle". Tilly for short. She is 24" long, we haven't weighed her yet... so it's a guess. Although, I can say that 4 men with a huge thick double beach towel huff and puff carrying her. That said my friends who lift 50 pound boxes of clay around guesstimated 170.
So, back to crazy lady, crazy lady LOVES Sammy/Tilly (who she calls Elvis, btw), almost a little too much. We figured we had to block her out of her enclosure during the daytime, so that we could rangle the people together to move her the 20 minutes to my house. I saw her out and got excited. I called crazy lady and said she's out, I'm blocking her out of her burrow so we can move her. Next thing I know crazy lady is crying... She proceeds to call the Humane Society the next day and meet us at the door getting into it with my friend, we were there to move Doris' macaw and cockatoo to new homes two hours away. She had a key and had unblocked the burrow, in the meantime. She proceeds to use all sorts of interesting words with my friend, as we proceed to load up the two birds. A notice is on the door from the Humane Society (I do dog rescue, irony), so I call and talk to an officer that had been in the house and he confirms that the birds are being taken care of daily and the tortoise looked fine.
A couple weeks go by of me stopping by every couple of days (and Doris' daughter changing the locks and telling crazy lady to **** off) to check on and water/feed Sammy. At this time I make the decision that I'm going to keep her. Prior to that I had been looking for a home where she wouldn't be bred. Crazy lady was even offered prior to her episode, but has a rock yard and wasn't in a position to take her. My yard is a mess... I've been in my house 1.5 years and it needs demolition of some rocks, plastic liner and leveling, then irrigation system installed prior to seeding for grass, weeds, mulberry tree, orange jubilee and hibiscus.
Crazy lady starts talking to my boyfriend and apologizes... I explain how we both used to have sulcatas and we have read a lot and know a lot and are really excited about this. My sulcata was 60 pounds when I was in a position where rehoming him was best for him (lost my house to divorce, new place was just dirt, etc). She calms down and is cool, her name is Gail.
The house next to Doris' is under construction, plus there's chainlink fencing. LOTS of exposure. Next thing I know I see what appears to be a larger burrow opening. Then a round hole... it's suspicious. I call Gail, she goes over and says that there are more holes than there were at 2pm that day. I run out the door, calling the cops. I bring my wool hat, laptop, camp chair (heat is off, house is 55 degrees) and a spot light. Gail and her husband have a huge two light shop light shinning into the backyard. There are more holes, not in logical spots... but, someone is trying to steal this tort! Oh no, NOT happening. I sit there for 2.5 hours, guarding the burrow. Gail and her husband agree on shifts. We just have to get through the night, I will do an emergency move the next day. I had JUST found a temp home for her during my construction and irrigation installation, which is a mile down the street at a lady's house. The cop comes and he says in 19 years he's never had a tortoise call. He thinks I'm nuts at first, but as I show him these holes (post hole digger, totally round holes) he sees that are manmade. He agrees to patrol the area closely that night. I go home and safely end up moving her the next day. She literally shakes my Sante Fe SUV as I sit at the light. Yep, shakes it moving around.
She is moved, we build a temp heated home with pallets and it's all good. For a while.
Then a couple weeks in I get a weird text from the lady who has her that makes me panic and for good reason... the lady is in Chicago I know. We jump in the car only to find Mathilda in the neighbors front yard, with a poor 16 year old housesitter trying to lure her with a strawberry. We later discover that the neighbor across the street is an elderly lady with dementia. Whenever she gets out, she runs across the street and opens the gate. The back gate was locked, but they use this front one all the time, so they didn't want to lock it. It was behind a trailer and the lady usually works from home, so in a pinch I made it work... needless to say, it was another emergency move, this time to my yard!
I decided even though the lady said we could start locking the front fence I just was too freaked out... in addition to thinking we need to see where exactly her preference to be in the yard is... as I'm planning her enclosure, pond and all that now and spending serious money on irrigation, etc.
So, it's been less than a week. She's already being a good girl and putting herself to bed! She wasn't doing that at the temp house. The dogs (mostly pugs, little guys) are adjusting. I'm building them a poop/pee run off the dog door, so the tort has the run of the 2700 sq ft yard. Before you say that's not enough space... it's about 5 times or more what she has had for 15 years and well, that's just all I have...
So, saga continues... as I have to figure out how to contain her for 2 days of demolition and probably the same in irrigation install on my 200 sq ft patio? Then I have to split the yard or just say screw it and seed like crazy... and hope grass can come up. I'll be feeding her clippings and optunia, etc to hope help the grass have a chance during that time. She is quite the character already and let's us pet her head. She's REALLY dry, so thinking we need to coconut oil her? Also, need to get my herp vet out to check her out!
I am hoping tortoise ownership gets a lot more chill from here! I don't have a ton of pics yet... so bare with me. This one of the cat was when she was at the temp house, it's so cute.
