Elennin
New Member
Help! My sulcata tortoise named Bob is missing! If you see him anywhere In Gilbert Arizona, contact me, he is missing for 2 days and he's a big tortoise! Thanks for reading this
-Elennin
-Elennin
MISSING SULCATA TORTOISE
- Thread starter Elennin
- Start date
Apple Tag to the rear of the carapace. Hope things turn out soon for you and Bob!
Notify local vets, animal rescues and pet stores. Put up flyers and let neighbors know. Keep an eye on Craigslist incase he was stolen and someone trying to sell him.
Good luck, sure hope he is found.
Good luck, sure hope he is found.
DozerOwner
New Member
Put up flyers at the intersections of area of your house. The good thing about Gilbert/QC area is that they are so common that most people are trying to return them and not interested in having a wrecking ball with legs so he will probably turn up. Post on FB community group also and Craigslist. In case anyone is thinking about being a jerk and keeping it make it known that it will not survive in these temps very long left outside without shelter so they will either opt to return him because it isn't worth the trouble or at least try to care for it properly. In reality, they will likely be fine even with some 35F nights as sometimes mine gets lazy and doesn't go back to his burrow even in winters and nestles under or next to whatever structure contains some residual heat. It definitely takes a long time for them to warm back up but it is what it is.
I have thrown my back out plenty of times loading sulcatas in my SUV over the years wandering around. Was always able to get it back to the owner within 24 hours. My chill sulcata turns into a warrior if a tortoise is brought to his territory so I have to section off part of our land while they wait for pickup.
I have thrown my back out plenty of times loading sulcatas in my SUV over the years wandering around. Was always able to get it back to the owner within 24 hours. My chill sulcata turns into a warrior if a tortoise is brought to his territory so I have to section off part of our land while they wait for pickup.
Good way for your sully to die is to be left out in temps that are too cold. They need a heated night box they should be shut into each night that temps are below 80. Left open during the day so they can go into them to warm up if day temps are too cold. It doesn't get that cold where they come from. That's a risk you are taking and the sully has no choice
DozerOwner
New Member
Do you know how he got out? Gate open, dug/pushed thru fencing?
I know you have probably looked high and low is probably gone, but on several occasions I swore ours escaped because I walked every area of our acre multiple times and a 100 lb tortoise should be easy to spot, only to find him tucked somewhere I didn't notice him the first couple times. If you have a large yard leave no stone unturned.
I know you have probably looked high and low is probably gone, but on several occasions I swore ours escaped because I walked every area of our acre multiple times and a 100 lb tortoise should be easy to spot, only to find him tucked somewhere I didn't notice him the first couple times. If you have a large yard leave no stone unturned.
DozerOwner
New Member
Mine has a choice, mine is smart as a dog. It knows what the weather will be better than the weatherman. I didn't say sulcatas could live in 35F nights indefinitely without shelter, I'm just saying mine, which lives within 5 to 10 miles of OPs, has decided on more than one occasion to spend the night out of his burrow when it was 35F to 50F over the years and in perfect health. If I knew he didn't go to his burrow I would put a space heater next to him, but there have been times when he is hiding somewhere on the property only to stumble across him the next day trying to warm back up. He's 10 years old now since my dog found the tiny guy in the backyard and picked him up and brought him in the house. YMMV.
The neighbor down the way runs a rescue for 25 years and the permanent residents don't have man made or heated structures, they lived in their burrows by coming and going to them at will for the last 30+ years.
This is a common mistake made by people living in Phoenix. Some of the tortoises survive it some of the time, but its not good for them. Low temperatures kill off certain elements of their GI flora and fauna. He is not in perfect health at those temperatures. He is simply surviving unnatural inhospitable conditions. Many of them die this way in your area, my area, and other similarly warm areas, but you don't hear from those people on the internet.
It is not a question of how "smart" they are or are not. They evolved for millions of years in a place where the temperatures are simply never too cold, and they live underground in the Sahel where ground temps are a consistent 80-85 degrees with daytime high usually around 100 degrees all year long. Where they come from, parking under a bush or in a corner somewhere is never too cold. Where we live, it IS too cold at night in winter.
Many of us were taught what you have been taught, and it took a while to figure out that it was wrong, and longer still to figure out why it was wrong. Please learn and advance tortoise keeping knowledge. Don't perpetuate old wrong info on the internet. More here:
Info For New People. Please Read This First.
Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...
tortoiseforum.org
DozerOwner
New Member
Again, I didn't say indefinitely and I didn't say it was ideal, optimal or good for them. I was trying to give OP some comfort that their tortoise would probably OK if he was hunkered down without shelter for a cold night or two as ours has done that before, and we had a couple unusually cold nights before OP posted.This is a common mistake made by people living in Phoenix. Some of the tortoises survive it some of the time, but its not good for them. Low temperatures kill off certain elements of their GI flora and fauna. He is not in perfect health at those temperatures. He is simply surviving unnatural inhospitable conditions. Many of them die this way in your area, my area, and other similarly warm areas, but you don't hear from those people on the internet.
It is not a question of how "smart" they are or are not. They evolved for millions of years in a place where the temperatures are simply never too cold, and they live underground in the Sahel where ground temps are a consistent 80-85 degrees with daytime high usually around 100 degrees all year long. Where they come from, parking under a bush or in a corner somewhere is never too cold. Where we live, it IS too cold at night in winter.
Many of us were taught what you have been taught, and it took a while to figure out that it was wrong, and longer still to figure out why it was wrong. Please learn and advance tortoise keeping knowledge. Don't perpetuate old wrong info on the internet. More here:
Info For New People. Please Read This First.
Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...
If you're worried about my sulcata, here's his situation...
With our tortoise the only way he will stay in an enclosure after he got to a certain age is if you never let him out. For his first couple years after he got too big to stay indoors he had a really nice enclosure that had multiple temp zones, temp and humidity sensor and webcam all monitored remotely by web. Then one day we came home to see dirt flying in the yard and he had made a massive burrow in a matter of 8 hours. If you tried to put him the enclosure he would fight tooth and nail and sometimes try to climb in the corners and would flip over. Let him out and he goes to the burrow. So the only way to get him in it without interrupting his grazing and patrols would be if you happened to be outside when he was finishing up for the day and he walking towards his burrow and get the wagon before he got in it.
So we capped his hole it with concrete. Within days he dug under the concrete and was back in his burrow. So then we backfilled as much as possible with river rock and concrete and that thwarted his return even though he tried for a couple days to open it back up without success.
His enclosure days lasted about 5 days after giving up on that one, when we came up from work we found him with a new deep burrow again in a different area, in record time.
In the winter we put a hut over the top of the entrance and put a space heater there at night thinking he would like the heat, but he would stay at the bottom deep down apparently satisfied with the constant 70-75F temps and moisture in his deep lair.
That is when we stopped being helicopter owners to this tortoise that wandered into our backyard and our dogs mouth as a hatchling because he was going to do what he wanted to do.
He eats Bermuda or rye grass and weeds all day and a little Greenleaf or romaine lettuce a couple times a week to give him extra water content because he will only free drink maybe once a month. Offer him all the water in the world, hoist into a play pool, he will wade through 3 inch deep irrigation, make puddle for him, he doesn't like drinking water, presumably because he is getting plenty from the plants. Not a speck of pyramiding and just kicks butt. We basically treat him like a wild tort that homesteaded on our land and he and us are less stressed that way.
I am not offering advice to anyone, just telling my experience with our tort. We did all the by the book stuff when he was young but once he he was big and strong enough to impose his will we stopped fighting him after it wasn't going to stop him. YMMV.
This is a common mistake made by people living in Phoenix. Some of the tortoises survive it some of the time, but its not good for them. Low temperatures kill off certain elements of their GI flora and fauna. He is not in perfect health at those temperatures. He is simply surviving unnatural inhospitable conditions. Many of them die this way in your area, my area, and other similarly warm areas, but you don't hear from those people on the internet.
It is not a question of how "smart" they are or are not. They evolved for millions of years in a place where the temperatures are simply never too cold, and they live underground in the Sahel where ground temps are a consistent 80-85 degrees with daytime high usually around 100 degrees all year long. Where they come from, parking under a bush or in a corner somewhere is never too cold. Where we live, it IS too cold at night in winter.
Many of us were taught what you have been taught, and it took a while to figure out that it was wrong, and longer still to figure out why it was wrong. Please learn and advance tortoise keeping knowledge. Don't perpetuate old wrong info on the internet. More here:
Info For New People. Please Read This First.
Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...
You've got all the elements, you just need some help putting it all together.
Burrows are great for your summers. Then in fall, just cover the burrow entrance with a sheet of plywood and some blocks to hold it in place, and then put the tortoise in the heated night box every night. Sometimes it takes them weeks to "learn" their night box is the place to be, but they all do. This of course assumes you have built the right type of night box with the right type of heating.
Our tortoises do not know what is best for themselves because they are not in the native environment that they evolved in. We have moved them to a temperate North American climate instead of a tropical African climate. I work with exotic animals all day every day and I cannot fathom the idea of letting an animal dictate to you how things are going to be knowing full well that the choices it is making, and will continue to make, are not conducive to good health and survival. You've taken on the responsibility of caring for a powerful, stubborn, giant reptile. Its not always easy giving them what they need.
Any update on Bob?
