Tuni - our Tunisian Spurred Tortoise

[Tammy Arfaoui]

Went to Tunisia to get married and I told my husband I always wanted a tortoise. I have owned many exotic pets, but never a tortoise.

I really wanted a Sulcata, but the Medina had these little tortoises that were so adorable, so my husband bought me one and I made it back to the states with him... No questions asked, although I am still not sure if I had the right to bring him home with me or I just got very lucky that no security checkpoint noticed him specifically.

Regardless, I am thrilled to be a new Tortoise mommy. And I just today realized that he is the Tunisian Spurred Tortoise, as evidenced by his obvious yellow spot on his head and the area he was purchased.

He loves cactus and dark greens, and digging.

If anyone else out here has a Tunisian and wants to share with me their experience on diet and habitat, I would be grateful.

Thanks

 

[naturalman91]

pictures! and wow did you just carry him with you or something?

 

[Tammy Arfaoui]

I was sly, I had his straw purse inside my larger purse while on plane and in the airport so I could tend to him (three flights) but when I went through security I tucked his bag into my carry on for a moment, amongst all the other "junk" a woman brings, I guess it never set off any curiosity. Once through check point I immediately removed him from carry on an back onto my person.

What I didn't expect was getting profiled in Atlanta, that meant a fourth security checkpoint and this time, they removed EVERYTHING from ALL my bags asked me what everything was for, even my OTC ibuprofen etc, I thought sure Tuni was a goner ... But when I realize what was happening I put a hairbrush and some other non consumables into his straw purse and THANKFULLY, the agent looked inside briefly, saw the hair brush and moved right past it to the next case.

I was SO relieved Tuni would definitely be a part of our family !

 

[Tammy Arfaoui]

Here is a link to a nice pic of my Tuni
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=513972055397656&substory_index=1&id=100003545972584

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello and welcome to the TFO from AZ, USA . You were lucky ! Have a great tort day


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[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum!

(Incidentally, The Forum doesn't condone illegal activities nor do we allow talking about them.)

 

[Blakem]

Welcome, welcome, welcome


———-------------------------

Here's some great plant identification websites I use.

http://www.tlady.clara.net/TortGuide/diet.htm#plantlist

http://africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm

http://m.thetortoisetable.org.uk/m/plants_19.asp

 

[bouaboua]

Hello, Hello, Hello! ! ! ! !

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome! ! ! ! !

Picture, Picture, Picture.......

 

[leigti]

The Tortoise trust website has some information.

 

[Tammy Arfaoui]

Thank you ALL glad to be here.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome. Just to be clear, yes what you did was not legal. (as a Mod, I must remind folks that TFO does not approve of doing anyting illegal) okay now that comment has been made. Congrats on your marriage, too!

 

[Maverick]

I think it's comical that there seemed to be some displeasure with being "profiled", when you were in fact sumugleing. Just an observation.

 

[Teacup]

I'm sorry but what you did was wrong. Not only was it illegal to smuggle your tortoise into the country but this kind of attitude (it's cute so I will bring it home with me) has contributed to the destruction of many an ecosystem. This is not to say that I believe your tortoise to be any threat to the US specifically but I don't understand how people here apparently have no issue with you committing a highly illegal and manipulate act. You say you don't know whether it was legal to bring him and yet you went to great pains to keep him hidden.

I hope you will not do something like this again.

 

[JoesMum]

I'm sorry but what you did was wrong. Not only was it illegal to smuggle your tortoise into the country but this kind of attitude (it's cute so I will bring it home with me) has contributed to the destruction of many an ecosystem. This is not to say that I believe your tortoise to be any threat to the US specifically but I don't understand how people here apparently have no issue with you committing a highly illegal and manipulate act. You say you don't know whether it was legal to bring him and yet you went to great pains to keep him hidden.

I hope you will not do something like this again.

I have to agree with you. I just couldn't think how to type what I wanted to say.

 

[Tammy Arfaoui]

Well thanks for painting me all evil. To be honest I asked the person selling the tortoises to the tourists if they knew if I could take on plane, and they said 1 or 2 yes, but no more than that. I said, 'really, do I have to notify airlines?' He said it would be no problem. Wow - upset an eco-system?? These little guys were going to dehydrate in the heat of the Medina and did not look properly cared for. I felt I was on more of a rescue mission than a smuggling operation.

So I really didn't believe there was a problem, just once he was in my possession I didn't want him unnecessarily abandoned either, so I took precautions so no other passengers would freak out... omg... she has a tortoise on the plane....

I swear on the life of Tuni that I did not know that what I was doing was 'illegal' ... and now that I know, I would not condone or suggest to anyone that it ever be done again. I didn't know I would find soap boxes in a Tort forum, but to be safe, Tuni and I will just take our questions and concerns elsewhere.

You all have a wonderful day!

 

[naturalman91]

I'm sorry but what you did was wrong. Not only was it illegal to smuggle your tortoise into the country but this kind of attitude (it's cute so I will bring it home with me) has contributed to the destruction of many an ecosystem. This is not to say that I believe your tortoise to be any threat to the US specifically but I don't understand how people here apparently have no issue with you committing a highly illegal and manipulate act. You say you don't know whether it was legal to bring him and yet you went to great pains to keep him hidden.

I hope you will not do something like this again.

i personally think there is a better way of saying that without coming off so uh what's the word i'm looking for smug i guess i would say yes it was wrong but this was a new member and from the sounds of it they won't be coming this is tortoise forum it lets leave it to the tortoises and turtles not judging others it's comments like that that make new members want to never come back and older members not even want to chime in we're here to provide info not judgement.

 

[leigti]

Hello Tammy, I'm sorry that you want to leave the forum. Please reconsider if only for the amount of very good information that is on this forum. I have done a ton of research, and continue to do research on the Internet and I have not found any place better. The information given here is very good. There is a lot of very very bad information out there and waiting through it is very time-consuming and confusing. No matter what you think of the personalities on this forum, the information provided is excellent. But like any other forum people have their opinions and we don't all agree with each other or the way that these opinions are expressed. So my recommendation is to hang in there, take the information that is helpful for you and your Tortoise, and ignore the rest. Do it for the Tortoise sake if nothing else. He is a gorgeous little Tortoise by the way.

 

[lismar79]

I also did a forum no no & got my russian from pet smart. Others may not agree but I would not have changed it. Felt like I was saving her too & she has the best care possible because of what I have learned here. I hope you come back & see that even if we all disagree from time to time we all still want what is very best for our torts. Congrats too on the marriage

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Come on yes as a TFO member we should tell that bring in that tort was bad and wrong but let's slow down now and do what we do best take care of the torts well being . And help care for it ! Sorry but that's my thought .


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[JoesMum]

I cannot condone what this member did and I am afraid that she came over as proud of her smuggling. These rules are there to protect the ecosystems of the country that the creature comes from and the one it is going to.

However, annoyed as I am, this creature now needs care and I support giving that. Just don't expect me to approve of what she did in the first place. I am happy to give care advice, after all this is a cousin of Joe's, a species I am familar with.