What were your "beginner mistakes"?

KaijuEmily

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Mar 5, 2016
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Oregon Coast
My first turtle was given to me by my cousin when i was really little. We started out feeding him pellet food, but eventually, i learned better. Unfortunately, i was always taking him outside to hang out on the lawn, and one day , he vanished!
 

Gaby-PR

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Apr 2, 2016
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With my turtle:
Using gravel on the tank. Sometimes he tried to eat it and the tank always got extremely dirty. Now the bottom is bare, the turtle is safe and the tank is super clear.
With tortoises:
Changing the substrate for something that doesn't help with their humid enviroment.
 

Tipsy_tortoise

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May 10, 2016
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When I first got my sully he was 1 month old and I bought the reptile water bowl at the pet store. I found him flipped over twice with his head almost underwater before I researched on here and read baby torts drown to death in those water bowls! I am extremely lucky bogie didn't drown. I'm so thankful for the tortoise forum!!!

I've had nightmares about this. It didnt even cross my mind that my hermanns could flip over and drown in that dish. My box turtles flip themselves all the time but they can right themselves fairly easy. As soon as I got on here I quickly realized my mistake and switched it out for a very shallow bowl.
 

KaitlinKeefe_

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sand :mad: caused impaction but luckily with the help of this site i helped my tort without having to bring him to the vet
 

glendalk

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Jul 3, 2016
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Illinois
I gave him minimum attention. I did what the pet store said I had to and that was it. Now I spend much more time giving a variety of veggies/greens, soak him, attend to temp and humidity needs, shell health, lots of sun and outdoor time, substrate work... I also have learned to not get my undies in a bunch when someone disagrees with my choices. I take the info they have to offer, research and then do what works best for Sheldon and I.
 

mctlong

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Mine was buying a tortoise from Petco. I was naive and did not know that they sell wild caught Russians. I know better now. It's been over 9 years and I still feel guilty for supporting the system that took my Indy from his home, crammed him in a box, and shipped him to my local Petco. It must have been a horrible experience for him. He seems content now, but nothing I can give him can replace his life in the wild.
 

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Ellen & Toby

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Jun 29, 2016
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Cheshire, UK
Not doing my research before I got him! The breeder gave me all the wrong information :( fortunately for Toby I am a bit of a perfectionist and want to learn as much as I can so that I can give him the best care. So after a couple of days of hard research and trying to muddle through conflicting info I realised I had to change things. Wish I had discovered TFO sooner.
 

jUMPSu1t

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Nov 11, 2018
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Los Angeles
Lost my torts a lot in my backyard... ended up making tape-on arrow beacons on their shells to find them... one fell off anyways.
 

drew54

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I made a fatal mistake in my first sully hatchling. [emoji22] I had done research for about a year Behr getting him. I found this forum and followed the advice and set my enclosure up as recommended by the forum and ordered from a recommended breeder from the forum. I had the little dude two weeks and he was thriving until I changed the substrate out because I used coco coir and kept it swampy. The little dude didn't mind it, but I had read on here about how to keep it a lot cleaner.

I had bought more coco coir and orchid bark. I swapped the swampy out for the dry coir and made it damp and not swampy. I put the bark over it and misted it.

I didn't realize I had the prove to the Che in the damp coir and under the bark. The temps got too hot over night. I also read on here when I was trying to find the temp range for soaking that the water should be hot.

I found many different answers from different people say it should be warm and then others said it should be hot and so on.

I was overwhelmed because some of this info had been from some well known members on here. Anyway, I got confused and went with hot approach and needless to say I cooked my tiny dude. [emoji17]

I corrected the temps the very next morning and all that was good. I just didn't realize until after he died and I did more research strictly on soaks that the soaks were too hot also.

I've since them corrected all my mistakes and I've been doing things right for my new little tort ever since. The members of this forum have helped me tremendously with their knowledge and experiences.

My advice to a new owner now is always tailor your care to your tort and forget all the conflicting info and stick with the care sheets on here.
 

pepsiandjac

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Swansea UK
I think my worst mistake was over feeding my first Greek tortoise,
and not sticking to 1 species would be another.
 

orv

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Sixty plus years ago, when I first got Tommy, our adult California Desert Tortoise, my dad and I drilled a hole in the scute just above his left rear leg and restrained him with about 20 feet of closeline. I remember his straining against it to this day. I picture him doing this and am shamed by guilt. How did we not know the cruelty of this? Tommy passed away during brumation the winter of 2013. He survived more than sixty years in my parent's back yard . . . most of it unrestrained. I'm so grateful that our husbandry skills have evolved to where they are today: not perfect . . . but far better. His spouse, along with their son, now aged 34, along with two juvinile female rescue tortoises live in a natural setting in our yard today. We reside on the southern rim of their natural environment here in Aguanga, California.
 

drew54

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Drilling into the carapce for many things was very common practice. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself as I'm sure you have more than made up for that incident and many of its time and time again. You seem to have a true love for animals and your efforts to make things better than they were back then says many wonderful things about you and your husbandry to your animals. Forgive yourself Orv as with every negative situation comes moor positives
 
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orv

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Drilling into the carapce for many things was very common practice. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself as I'm sure you have more than made up for that incident and many of its time and time again. You seem to have a true love for animals and your efforts to make things better than they were back then says many wonderful things about you and your husbandry to your animals. Forgive yourself Orv as with every negative situation comes moor positives
Thank you for your kind words, Drew.
(The attached picture was taken a few years ago. The plantings are far more mature now. Pictured is Tommy Jr., the 34 year old son of the original Tommy. His mother is Tammy. How Tommy, senior and Tammy arrived in our care may be found in one of my earlier posts from, I think it was 2014).20180510_143432.jpeg
 

drew54

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Thank you for your kind words, Drew.
(The attached picture was taken a few years ago. The plantings are far more mature now. Pictured is Tommy Jr., the 34 year old son of the original Tommy. His mother is Tammy. How Tommy, senior and Tammy arrived in our care may be found in one of my earlier posts from, I think it was 2014).View attachment 257833
That's looks beautiful and he is a good looking tort! I will definitely look that up and give it a good read. Do you have pics of your others?
 

vladimir

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I didn't realize I had the prove to the Che in the damp coir and under the bark. The temps got too hot over night. I also read on here when I was trying to find the temp range for soaking that the water should be hot.

I found many different answers from different people say it should be warm and then others said it should be hot and so on.

I was overwhelmed because some of this info had been from some well known members on here. Anyway, I got confused and went with hot approach and needless to say I cooked my tiny dude. [emoji17]

@drew54 how hot was the water you were using? I remember your thread, I didn't realize soaking was an issue also
 

drew54

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Indiana
@drew54 how hot was the water you were using? I remember your thread, I didn't realize soaking was an issue also

I didn't realize it either until after he passed and I poured through this forum for every possibility and looking at the care sheets a million times over. I finally came across a more recent post about soaking. Tom had recommended that the soaks be 90-95 I believe. I was keeping the soak water around 105-110 per several members recommendation. I also realized that those threads that recommended such a high soaking temp were really really old but I also found similar info on different websites that also suggested high soak temps.

Now I know better and I believe I'm doing everything I can to keep it as the care sheets recommend. I'm also thinking about doing a thread on her shell smoothing out with high humidity. It's really amazing to see the great efforts of others at work.
 

MichaelL

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Feeding mainly romaine because that's all they wanted.
 
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