Why do people breed Sulcata's

[Yvonne G]

People breed Sulcatas for me.

Hi Cyclura28:

to the forum!

When you get a chance, we'd love for you to go to the introduction section and tell us a bit about yourself and your tortoise. And pictures, of course...we LOVE pictures!

 

[moswen]

i haven't even read even the first page of the replies on this twelve page thread, but i did want to state (if it hasn't been stated yet), that what you're complaining about isn't an over-production of sulcatas, you're complaining about uninoformed people keeping sulcatas in bad conditions. this could happen to any animal in the world-- it just usually happens with sulcatas because not as many people understand how truly big they will get. if red foots or russians grew over 2 feet the same thing would be happening to them... obviously.

however in my humble opinion, people breed sulcatas because people buy sulcatas! if no one bought that particular animal, i believe that no one would breed it.

i am going to say that i agree with your rant-- i really do wonder where people have been living that they don't understand BY NOW that you should research ANY breed of animal and take time to make an INFORMED decision on the animal you are keeping. and that goes for ANY ANIMAL, reptile or mammal!

also, i'm going to say that there are a lot of people out there that don't actually care about animals, they just want money. and sullies are one of the cheapest tortoises on the market, and because of this, someone buys a breeding trio, resulting in hundreds of babies, and sells them. resulting in hundreds/thousands of dollars. they don't care where they go.

now, i am not saying that EVERYONE who has ever bred a sully doesn't care. that's just usually the ones that we see abused, poorly kept, sad little torties that need love. most buyers were un informed or MISinformed. i believe terry's donna tello was pushed off on her son as "won't get much bigger than this." that's where we see these guys needing new homes and kept in cages too small.

i'm sorry you don't agree with breeding sulcatas. some people would say don't breed one single more dog because there are abused ones in the world... but that's a whole nother topic...

i personally am looking very forward to having three huge sulcatas in my huge garden in my back yard one day... i'm glad my breeder bred them because i wanted them as babies, and i want to watch them grow up!

i'm going to end this ESSAY (LOL) with a statement:

it's up to us to inform!! i'm glad you went in there and corrected their living conditions. it's sad that a pet store doesn't know how to properly keep an animal that they are selling. however, thanks to you they can hopefully become educated and in turn properly educate their potential buyers... HOPEFULLY!

 

[-EJ]

As usual... much of this information is taken out of context. For this to be a viable thread you would have to know how many were produced to how many that were abused or orphaned to get a proper perspective of the situation.

 

[moswen]

Seriously. I am anti idiocy. And it runs rampant in the reptile world.

I will have a sulcata when I have the space. Would I buy one now living in an apartment? NO. But that is the most common excuse when people dump these animals. As if its a surprise that they grew so large.

I don't see sulcata without pyramiding. I'm in WI and I have yet to meet another keeper at an expo, or online that has a smooth CB sully.

Go ahead. Post your KS add. I would LOVE to see pictures of these hundreds upon hundreds of smoothly domed adult sulcatas. Please, post the results where everyone can see them.

meg, how many adult leopards do you see with smooth shells today? you don't see any 12 plus inch sulcatas with smooth shells because only in the last ten years has it become apparent how to properly keep these little guys... WITH humidity. you'll start seeing more "pretty" adult sullies in ten years or so. have a little faith in sulcata owners... we're not all bad!

 

[-EJ]

Meg... I'm sorry but you seem to fit the class well. First have you given a little thought to your comment? Second... how long have you been keeping reptiles?

As usual... much of this information is taken out of context. For this to be a viable thread you would have to know how many were produced to how many that were abused or orphaned to get a proper perspective of the situation.

 

[dannomite]

First of all to everyone I dont have much to offer to this debate but I have to admit I had an amazing 30 mins reading this Thread!...I don't have TV at home so I get a lot of my daily drama from tortoiseforum.org (just a joke no harm intended)! The one thing I can say to the argument that there is so many older tortoises that are pyramided and deformed is thank god we now have the internet. Lets not forget that this technology and the access to information is a relatively new thing for this world. I understand the argument that there is a lot of deformed adult sulcatas, but don't you think that nowadays with this powerful tool we use every day that we may see a lot of nice healthy Adult Sulcatas as our little ones grow and reach maturity? It is ignorant to buy a pet that you have no knowledge of, but I seriously do not know many people who don't "Google" something before they make a decision. If people Google sulcata, then decide to get one then in the future its too big and they claim they didn't know...that to me is just a lie....how could you not know?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sulcata

I know that kind of strays away from the topic of breeding sulcatas....but I just think the argument of all the pyramiding and deformed adult sulcatas is because that was a different time, with much less access to information. I am convinced that the majority of Sulcatas being raised now will be raised in better conditions because there is so much info now. Am I delusional? Or does that sound valid?

Worst case scenario we can just eat them all right? I mean we'll have a food shortage eventually (relax im kidding!)

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Wow, that's a really good point, and a thoughtful post.

I hope you are right.

 

[Candy]

Actually Dan we bought a Sulcata and then went home and googled it. We bought it because the 18 year old guy at the pet store liked them. He thought they were the most interesting tortoise because they're fun. When we got home I googled it and the next day we went back and exchanged it for Dale. I think it just scared me too much. Actually now that I think back about it we could have raised a Sulcata we do have the backyard for one, but we love Dale.

 

[dannomite]

Actually Dan we bought a Sulcata and then went home and googled it. We bought it because the 18 year old guy at the pet store liked them. He thought they were the most interesting tortoise because they're fun. When we got home I googled it and the next day we went back and exchanged it for Dale. I think it just scared me too much. Actually now that I think back about it we could have raised a Sulcata we do have the backyard for one, but we love Dale.

I like that though....you bought the Sulcata, learned more about it and decided it wasn't for you. The fact that you brought it back to the store should have told that 18year old and other employees that they should know more about the animals they sell before they recommend them to people...or at least let people know how big they get!

When I bought Nova, they didn't have any Sulcatas at all. I read about it for a couple weeks before I bought one and I had to go into the store and order one in. Even then the girl who was ordering for me tried to convince me not to and she told me over and over again how big and messy they will get. That is a great employee in my opinion!

 

[Candy]

I forgot to say in my other post Dan that I bought the Sulcata, but never took it home because it was Christmas time and they said that they would hold it for me until Christmas Eve. The 18 year old didn't understand when we went back he thought we were crazy to take Dale instead of the Sulcata. That's because he was only 18 I think.

 

[Tom]

First of all to everyone I dont have much to offer to this debate but I have to admit I had an amazing 30 mins reading this Thread!...I don't have TV at home so I get a lot of my daily drama from tortoiseforum.org (just a joke no harm intended)! The one thing I can say to the argument that there is so many older tortoises that are pyramided and deformed is thank god we now have the internet. Lets not forget that this technology and the access to information is a relatively new thing for this world. I understand the argument that there is a lot of deformed adult sulcatas, but don't you think that nowadays with this powerful tool we use every day that we may see a lot of nice healthy Adult Sulcatas as our little ones grow and reach maturity? It is ignorant to buy a pet that you have no knowledge of, but I seriously do not know many people who don't "Google" something before they make a decision. If people Google sulcata, then decide to get one then in the future its too big and they claim they didn't know...that to me is just a lie....how could you not know?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sulcata

I know that kind of strays away from the topic of breeding sulcatas....but I just think the argument of all the pyramiding and deformed adult sulcatas is because that was a different time, with much less access to information. I am convinced that the majority of Sulcatas being raised now will be raised in better conditions because there is so much info now. Am I delusional? Or does that sound valid?

Worst case scenario we can just eat them all right? I mean we'll have a food shortage eventually (relax im kidding!)

Very intelligent post. Good points and I agree with you. Even on the food shortage thing.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hey Dan: The first time I read your post I didn't click on the link. But when Tom showed your post in his reply, I clicked on it and what a great thing!!! So that's how you "GOOGLE", huh? LOL!!!

 

[Candy]

I just clicked on it. How does it do that? Cool.