Meet Ptolmey!

[devsharkey]

I figured I might introduce Ptolmey while I'm here!

He is a Greek male. The vets tell me about 12 years old! I picked him up from Petsmart (which was a horrible idea, because he had a URI and I took him to the exotic vets the next day) and he's been with me ever since August (he was a birthday present from my momma)!

He's really active! Which is exciting. He's currently in a 50 gallon terrarium, due to our weather being unnaturally weird this season. I take him out every day for a few hours to hang out in the sunshine, and he's all over our yard, and he chases my dogs! It's pretty entertaining.

Still looking for a female for him, and still having a hard time. I figured it's because of the season, and maybe come spring or summer I'll have an easier time locating a female for him.

Anyways, I originally names him Ptolmey because I'm fascinated by Alexander the Great, and Ptolmey was his best General and the same man took over Egypt after Alexander's death. BUT! I came to find out that there was also a philosopher named Ptolmey, as well as Cleopatra of Egypt had a younger brother whom was also named Ptolmey.

THE MORE YOU KNOW~!

 

[kathyth]

That's a very nice looking tort!

 

[ascott]

What a lovely tort....

I had the hair rise on the back of my neck when I looked at the pic with your beautiful dog in the background....please please please, be so careful while allowing the tort and dog to use the same space at the same time---while we love out dogs and love our torts they are just not a good mix with one another, especially the tort is at risk for injury or death by being mistaken for a great looking chew toy...

Also, while contemplating obtaining a second tort (to make a pair) please also keep in mind that a pair of torts is a hard thing to sustain, a pair of torts will usually cause harm to one another by bullying--ramming, biting and mental intimidation ...torts are a solo critter and thrive that way--when a second tort is introduced they are usually seen as competition and/or an object of sexual desire (and torts can be brutal while on the chase)...you may want to be in the position to have two totally separate enclosures in the event they will not live in harmony together in the same enclosure...

I just wanted to share with you in the event you are not familiar with these things,.....

 

[devsharkey]

What a lovely tort....

I had the hair rise on the back of my neck when I looked at the pic with your beautiful dog in the background....please please please, be so careful while allowing the tort and dog to use the same space at the same time---while we love out dogs and love our torts they are just not a good mix with one another, especially the tort is at risk for injury or death by being mistaken for a great looking chew toy...

Also, while contemplating obtaining a second tort (to make a pair) please also keep in mind that a pair of torts is a hard thing to sustain, a pair of torts will usually cause harm to one another by bullying--ramming, biting and mental intimidation ...torts are a solo critter and thrive that way--when a second tort is introduced they are usually seen as competition and/or an object of sexual desire (and torts can be brutal while on the chase)...you may want to be in the position to have two totally separate enclosures in the event they will not live in harmony together in the same enclosure...

I just wanted to share with you in the event you are not familiar with these things,.....

Oh yeah! Izzy and Chad are totally familiar with torts. They grew up with Sulcatas, and once we gave them away, they've both done very well with Ptolmey <3 so no worries.

And I've researched getting him a female, and we've got a huge huge huge back yard! I've build a rather extravagant turtle enclosure on the side of our yard (for when our sulcatas were smaller) so that will be where they stay in the spring through fall, and if things don't work out, I'll just have to build a smaller enclosure within out other one :3

But thank you for the information!

 

[Guggie]

Great looking Greek! How big is he?

 

[mainey34]

He is very good looking

 

[JoesMum]

Speaking as the owner of one of the worst behaved male Greeks on this forum, I can talk from experience. Believe me, they do not share nicely when they become mature.

Greeks are loners in the wild. They roam huge distances, meet up to mate and move on. They don't get lonely and thrive on their own. The males can get very hot under the collar when girls are around and don't settle down.

A new tort must be kept entirely separately for at least six months in quarantine before introduction to others. This is to protect both tortoises. On introduction your tort may well object to sharing and the ensuing fight may mean they can never live together.

If you have plenty of space, i suggest a herd of 3 or more whichhas more chance of working than a pair.

 

[devsharkey]

Speaking as the owner of one of the worst behaved male Greeks on this forum, I can talk from experience. Believe me, they do not share nicely when they become mature.

Greeks are loners in the wild. They roam huge distances, meet up to mate and move on. They don't get lonely and thrive on their own. The males can get very hot under the collar when girls are around and don't settle down.

A new tort must be kept entirely separately for at least six months in quarantine before introduction to others. This is to protect both tortoises. On introduction your tort may well object to sharing and the ensuing fight may mean they can never live together.

If you have plenty of space, i suggest a herd of 3 or more whichhas more chance of working than a pair.

Quarantine for 6 months? Wow! Thanks! The guy up at the reptile shop told me 6 weeks, at most. You've all already helped me more than he did!

And are females okay around each other? I have the room to separate them all if need be, so if I had two females together in a separate place than my male, would they fight? Or are females rather well-tempered around each other? (Man, sounds like high school all over again!)

---

That's a very nice looking tort!

Thank you so much!

---

Great looking Greek! How big is he?

Ptolmey is about 6 1/2 inches. He's fully matured, the vet said.

When I got him from Petsmart, the sales person told me he couldn't be more than two years old, and from I'd learned about the breed I told him he was wrong, but he insisted that all their tortoises were yearlings, if that >:[