Human nature and behavior fascinates me. The internet and the phenomena that has come with it has been banquet of human personality oddities over the years.
New owner of large sulcatas
- Thread starter Phil B
- Start date
Honestly don't remember a time in my 10 years here that I felt you were over the top, I wouldn't have the knowledge and now hatching my own without all the help and private messages from you.
Like I said, sometimes its just the delivery of the words, if we push people away, they won't listen and ultimately end up on some of these facebook groups that I try to recruit people away from.
BajatheChickenMan
Active Member
You are one of the few that choose your words with some tact when in explaining things in my experience here.
Oh man... There is a list of people who would vocally disagree with you, but thank you. I've always admired the eloquence of @Yvonne G and she has served as a prime example of how to do better over the years...
What I'm trying to say is that our community does better at our goal of helping people and their tortoises if we smooth out our rough edges and work together. I had some pretty rough edges early on, and others still do. The "conversation" feature of this forum is a way to privately address our concerns and make the forum better and more effective. WIth the human melting pot of behavior and personalities on any public site, the outcome is never certain, but people can't improve if they aren't made aware of the problem. In the past, people have made me aware of my faults, and my reaction to that criticism was to try and improve my delivery.
BajatheChickenMan
Active Member
I couldn't agree more. Communications can always be improved upon. And with an evolving hobby like this it's definitely important to keep an open mind and listen to others. What first brought me to this site was information from a decade ago that should now be completely disregarded. If I hadn't read through your updated care guide and the discussion following it I would've started out with some bad info and wasted money. But If someone jumped down my throat soon as I got here, I wouldn't want to stick around or hear what others had to say. It's all bout the delivery and how it comes across to others.
Boy I do lol. I joined in 2011. Those early days had quite a few arguments and over the top posts. I'm also one that have gone over the top of as I look at it, too the point quickly. I am not one to kiss butt! I'm also not one to ignore the wrong. But keep in mind too, there is really only a large handful of members that answer most of the posts. A lot of members from that handful have done it for years. Sometimes, it's really drilling the nerve not only to keep repeating things that has been posted hundreds of times, but then when a newbie wants to buck back, it can be your last nerve you're trying to to save. Just saying, there is usually a reason.
I for sure would disagree if talking about the past years when I first joined. But you have improved a lot since. It helps too that certain members left.
Desert tortoises have an extremely high rate of mycoplasma infection. If I recall, some populations have around an 80% infection rate. Do not let the desert tortoise ever have any physical contact with the Sulcatas. Not even for a minute. Don't let them share a fence line. Keep separate food and water bowls, don't move uneaten food between enclosures. Consider having separate shoes to walk into each pen.
I totally get that many people here volunteer their time, significant time and effort, to guide people that may not have the resources, intellect, time, caring, environment, home life, etc. to do the right thing for the tortoise. When you ignore people that have spent the time to do the science, record data, especially on the professional level, you are not doing right by your tortoise.
I did not know before a couple years ago that I am a tortoise person. Before that I have been a fish person fresh and saltwater all my life. Our tortoises (and saltwater fish and koi/goldfish) are the perfect, I mean absolutely perfect pet for us at this time in our lives. Everything surrounding our sulcatas is a complete joy.
So much so that it pains me to read all of the posts of problems because people won't listen to sound advise from knowledgeable people.
I guess when it comes to an approachable tone, if you are on the forum often giving sound advise you may/would get jaded at the 6 month mark. So much so that you actively kill the excitement and joy of having an animal like this for new members or people that need genuine help. If you always give advise from an "I'm still excited about this" and "this is pure joy" perspective it will always be received well. For some people, my wife and I included, these animals are a constant reason to smile and enjoy every day. Work is hard and fun time should be fun time. Every person commenting on something or communicating here should attempt not to detract from other people's enjoyment or fun time.
For people that can't do what's necessary because they are a bum, yeah... that pisses me off.
- I can't pay for a vet
- I can't buy the right food right now
- I can't get a water dish or heat my tortoise until next week so it has to stay in a coke box... WTF?
- That doesn't work with my schedule
- I live in my car, how do I heat my tortoise, etc.
F those people. Losers.
I did not know before a couple years ago that I am a tortoise person. Before that I have been a fish person fresh and saltwater all my life. Our tortoises (and saltwater fish and koi/goldfish) are the perfect, I mean absolutely perfect pet for us at this time in our lives. Everything surrounding our sulcatas is a complete joy.
So much so that it pains me to read all of the posts of problems because people won't listen to sound advise from knowledgeable people.
I guess when it comes to an approachable tone, if you are on the forum often giving sound advise you may/would get jaded at the 6 month mark. So much so that you actively kill the excitement and joy of having an animal like this for new members or people that need genuine help. If you always give advise from an "I'm still excited about this" and "this is pure joy" perspective it will always be received well. For some people, my wife and I included, these animals are a constant reason to smile and enjoy every day. Work is hard and fun time should be fun time. Every person commenting on something or communicating here should attempt not to detract from other people's enjoyment or fun time.
For people that can't do what's necessary because they are a bum, yeah... that pisses me off.
- I can't pay for a vet
- I can't buy the right food right now
- I can't get a water dish or heat my tortoise until next week so it has to stay in a coke box... WTF?
- That doesn't work with my schedule
- I live in my car, how do I heat my tortoise, etc.
F those people. Losers.
Last edited:
@Phil B My intentions were not to deter you from this forum. My experience with people that feed hay and do not yet understand how much a large Sulcata can eat in a day or week leads to bad results. Housing 1 large Sulcata is a challenge and 2 is a little more. I as well have have 2 Sulcatas and Desert Tortoises, which as mentioned by @dd33 brings even more challenges. @Tom 2 sided night box is a great DIY project that you will get great results from. There are some excellent opinions on seed mixes as well, to plant for a enclosure that supports natural grazing. Housing these beautiful creatures is a passion of mine and learning how to express that is part of the journey. Hope you stick around and become another great member on the forum.
@BajatheChickenMan Hope there is no hard feelings. I am here to learn and that does not exclude from my own post.
My family took in a Large sulcata (60+lbs) that had a carapace so badly deformed he could not get his tail out. This meant his tail was always in the way when passing any waste (feces, urates), and would essentially fill up the cavity on the rear of the tortoises carapace and plastron. The first day I saw him his "rear end" was full of maggot's and feces and needed to be dug out by hand after flipping him over. Since using any kind of implement to assist this could cause injury to him, it was done by hand by me for almost 2 years until the day he died. To try and provide comfort to this tort was an enormous challenge. I am in no way saying this and @Phil B have any thing to do with each other, it is only 1 of my experiences with a poorly taken care of Sulcata. You may think that this is some crazy story that must be a rarity and just some sort of terrible care..... This Tortoise came from an employee of a major city's zoo's and was part of the reptile program. The tort was more than the person could handle.
My family took in a Large sulcata (60+lbs) that had a carapace so badly deformed he could not get his tail out. This meant his tail was always in the way when passing any waste (feces, urates), and would essentially fill up the cavity on the rear of the tortoises carapace and plastron. The first day I saw him his "rear end" was full of maggot's and feces and needed to be dug out by hand after flipping him over. Since using any kind of implement to assist this could cause injury to him, it was done by hand by me for almost 2 years until the day he died. To try and provide comfort to this tort was an enormous challenge. I am in no way saying this and @Phil B have any thing to do with each other, it is only 1 of my experiences with a poorly taken care of Sulcata. You may think that this is some crazy story that must be a rarity and just some sort of terrible care..... This Tortoise came from an employee of a major city's zoo's and was part of the reptile program. The tort was more than the person could handle.
