Vegas_Leopard said:I just read your situation and it's much more different than my despise for people who buy a tortoise. You found a Sulcata, which to me is a rare encounter for anyone. You never chose to go and just buy one and I commend your willing efforts to provide the best that you can for charge. We all start somewhere and I know I have. This forum a long with the many more experienced members (not including me) will guide you to the raise your "gift" from Mother Nature in the absolute best way possible. This forum has the knowledge and you've got the tools. I wish you the best of luck with charge!
Thanks. The whole pet "Industry" is built around impulse purchases. We on this forum would, of course, research all care aspects for a prospective pet, as well as finding a reputable breeder.
But you just can't deny those baby torts, or puppies or kittens are so damn cute! My wife and I just 2 weeks ago spent the day touring reptile specialty pet stores, we hit 6 and a big box pet store. They all were full of Sulcata hatchlings, as well as baby everything else. I shudder to think of how many(few) will reach maturity.
I will publicly state here that I was part of this problem when I was a child. I liked reptiles, and my Dad would take me to pet stores, and we bought quite a few "chameleons" which I think were "anoles", inexpensive lizards that sold for just a couple of bucks. The pet store sold us a small cage and a tub of mealworms, maybe a book on lizards. Unfortunately, most of the poor anoles were short lived, and now I know that I was probably the cause, though I did not realize it at the time.
The stores that sold those pets did not ask if you knew what care would be required, other than to sell more supplies or feed. So should we blame the sellers or the buyers?
I hope that you can know we won't be able to fix this problem. What I hope for, is that out of those many impulse purchases that a certain percentage will find a place of knowledge such as this, and become ambassadors for proper care.
BTW, my tort has no name yet. "charge" was used as a noun, perhaps incorrectly. We have been too frightened to name the little one until we feel confident he will survive. We have, in the past, trapped, tested, inoculated, spay/neutered, and released quite a few feral cats that were born in our back yard. We did the same thing back then, referred to the kittens by traits or color, because the bond created with naming the youngins' made it so much more painful when they disappeared or met their demise in the street.
We do, in fact, feel confident now that our sully will have the best life possible, and can choose a name for him/her. My wife suggested "Lucky", for obvious reasons, but no consensus has been reached. Perhaps we will start a thread, as others have, about naming our tort. Dave
