The Mr T Experience

saginawhxc

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Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
897
Location (City and/or State)
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Almost run over this fella today with the work van. I toppled some of my parts off the shelf swerving to avoid him. I pulled over to try to get him off the road. The girl behind me also stopped. Without an ounce of fear or caution she picks him up just as I'm starting to warn her that he is a snapper. I can see the scene in slow motion. Her picking him up, me warning her, and his head lunging around and snapping at her hands. I think at this point she realized she was in over her head and she flung him the next couple of feet. He seemed to somehow land safely in the grass and she didn't lose a finger. I took this picture and watched him toddle off into the woods and towards a nearby pond. He was about 12-14 inches long. Beautiful turtle. I so badly want a snapping turtle of my own.

When we buy a new house I want to set up a dedicated billiards room with a huge tank at one end for a snapper. ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1466028146.039610.jpg
 

saginawhxc

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Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
897
Location (City and/or State)
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Forgot to measure him over the weekend so no progress update, but we are on vacation and I'm constantly convinced my pet sitter is going to kill my tortoise while I'm away. Anyone else find vacations stressful for this reason?
 

saginawhxc

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Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
897
Location (City and/or State)
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Well we were gone for 5 days and the pet sitter didn't kill him. In fact despite the slightly simplified diet and no outside time during that stretch Mr T still gained weight. Up to 166 grams now. Now over 4x as big as when we got him just a couple of months ago.
 

Meganolvt

Active Member
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Aug 25, 2015
Messages
235
Location (City and/or State)
Michigan
I love Mr T. What a lucky guy! Hey, i'm in Clio! I have a yellowfoot, and the husband and I really want to get a sulcata, but I don't know what I would do in the winter once it got big. What is your plan for when he is a huge monster for winter? I keep saying I guess we would have to buy one of those rubbermaid sheds and put some kind of heater in there.
 

Big Charlie

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5 Year Member
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Jul 28, 2015
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2,801
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California
198g. Just missed that 200 mark. Before too long I'm going to wish he stayed small.
No you're not. I loved Charlie when he was small but part of the reason I got him was to watch him grow. I love having him big. I like looking back at his baby pictures and remembering how tiny he was, and how perfect all those tiny features were. He seems to interact more with me now that he is big.
 

saginawhxc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
897
Location (City and/or State)
Saginaw, Michigan, USA
I love Mr T. What a lucky guy! Hey, i'm in Clio! I have a yellowfoot, and the husband and I really want to get a sulcata, but I don't know what I would do in the winter once it got big. What is your plan for when he is a huge monster for winter? I keep saying I guess we would have to buy one of those rubbermaid sheds and put some kind of heater in there.
This year he will still be small enough to keep indoors for the winter. My true hope and plan involves the new property I'm looking for now. What I want to do is build great big out building that I will use for a work shop, a small kennel, and an area to winter Mr T when he gets bigger.

Honestly we had made the decision to get a Redfoot and not a sulcata, but then we saw Mr T at the Birch Run reptile expo a few months ago and made a fateful impulse buy.

Speaking very honestly and very bluntly I second guess most people that want one of these giants and live in the north. I think most people vastly underestimate the space that will need to someday be dedicated to them. I know there are some truly wonderful keepers on this forum that take great care of their tortoises, but just in the short time I've been a member I've seen five people who cluelessly got a sulcata and are not prepared to every member that is actually dedicated.

I love my tortoise, but on some level I don't feel like getting him was the best decision I ever made. Now that I have him you could not pry him from me, but I just think most people (including me) are in over their heads when they get something like this and live in the north.

I personally doubt one of those sheds I think you are talking about is big enough to properly house an adult sulcata for the winter.

That being said, do what you want. I'm not really trying to influence you one way or another, but just trying to encourage serious thought about the challenges of keeping them in Michigan.
 
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