Greetings from Habanero

[vrskane]

This is our 3 1/2 year old (just a guess) sulcata, Habanero......Habby for short. I found him trying to cross the street as a wee little infant about 3 years ago. Knowing nothing about him at the time, aside from his being really stink'n cute, I brought him home and placed him in the tub with some water and a few lettuce leaves. We took him to our local reptile shop the next day and to our surprise, we learned he was a Sulcata.......the second largest tortoise next to the Galapagos!! What did we get ourselves into?!?

Needless to say, we have grown incredibly attached to him and had no idea a tortoise could have so much personality! He is a permanent member of our family and can't imagine not having him! It is a never-ending learning experience and look forward to meeting other tortoise lovers and getting some useful tips through this wonderful forum!!!

~The Kanes

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

Danny

 

[Torty Mom]

Hello! Welcome to the forum, both your babies are cute!!! Love the Tort's name! Mary Anne

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

 

[Angi]

Welcome

 

[franeich]

Seems big for 3 1/2

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi "vrskane:"

Welcome to the forum!!

 

[vrskane]

Like I said, I'm totally guessing on the age. He was pretty small when we found him and he has just been growing like crazy since. He's like a fish, the bigger we make his home, the bigger he gets!

Seems big for 3 1/2

 

[pongpagong]

Welcome!!!!

---

Actually Sulcata is the third largest tortoise..the first is the geochelone elephantopus or the galapagos then the geochelone gigantea or the aldabra tortoise and then the Sulcata.Your sulcata it seems big for 3 1/2 years old..again Welcome!!!

 

[ChiKat]

Welcome to the forum! Like Torty Mom said, both of your babies are cute

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum!
Beautiful baby girl and beautiful tortoise

 

[Jacqui]

Habby is very good looking. You have done a great job with him. I am guessing he has added a bit of spice to your life. Cute little one you have,too! Glad your here.

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm thinking Habby is a girl because of the small gular.

You said in your enclosure post that Habby was about the size of your palm 3 1/2 years ago when you found her. That would make her about 7 or 8 years old. Its pretty hard to guess the age of a well fed, captive tortoise because they grow better and bigger than one not fed so well.

At any rate...she's a nice-looking tortoise and you've done a good job with her.

 

[vrskane]

Thanks everyone for the welcomes and comments. The baby in the photo is not ours, though she is pretty darn cute!

Habby had his first wellness check today. I took him to see Dr. Brown in Highland/San Bernardino and she was wonderful! I highly recommend her if anyone lives in the area. As many of you have said, it's hard to pin down his age, but she was guessing him to be in the 5-7 year range. All checked out great with him and he has only a mild respiratory infection, which we will need to flush out with saline for a couple of weeks. So in this crazy tortoise world that we threw ourselves into a few years ago, I guess we're not doing half bad!

Oh, and we definitely know he's a boy, as we have had the rare pleasure (sarcastic) of seeing his very odd looking genitalia. Apparently, they are not seen very often, thus making sexing them difficult. Maybe a little TMI, but there you have it!

This is our 3 1/2 year old (just a guess) sulcata, Habanero......Habby for short. I found him trying to cross the street as a wee little infant about 3 years ago. Knowing nothing about him at the time, aside from his being really stink'n cute, I brought him home and placed him in the tub with some water and a few lettuce leaves. We took him to our local reptile shop the next day and to our surprise, we learned he was a Sulcata.......the second largest tortoise next to the Galapagos!! What did we get ourselves into?!?

Needless to say, we have grown incredibly attached to him and had no idea a tortoise could have so much personality! He is a permanent member of our family and can't imagine not having him! It is a never-ending learning experience and look forward to meeting other tortoise lovers and getting some useful tips through this wonderful forum!!!

~The Kanes

---

Forgot about the Aldabra.

Welcome!!!!

---

Actually Sulcata is the third largest tortoise..the first is the geochelone elephantopus or the galapagos then the geochelone gigantea or the aldabra tortoise and then the Sulcata.Your sulcata it seems big for 3 1/2 years old..again Welcome!!!

---

 

[Maggie Cummings]

For not knowing anything about tortoises you've done a really good job, he's a nice looking gentleman. Forgive Yvonne, she's still guessing sexing. She trying to learn, I just let someone else tell what sex they are.
Be sure to give the name of that Vet to one of the moderators so they can add it to our Vet list...Yvonne, Jacqui and Kristine are a couple of the mods...Just PM the address of that vet...thanks ever so

 

[vrskane]

Dr. Brown is already on the list.....that's where I found her!

For not knowing anything about tortoises you've done a really good job, he's a nice looking gentleman. Forgive Yvonne, she's still guessing sexing. She trying to learn, I just let someone else tell what sex they are.
Be sure to give the name of that Vet to one of the moderators so they can add it to our Vet list...Yvonne, Jacqui and Kristine are a couple of the mods...Just PM the address of that vet...thanks ever so

 

[vrskane]

Ooops.......sorry! I got the name of the vet wrong! We went to Dr. Brothers in Highland, not Dr. Brown. Dr. Brothers is listed with the forum.

For not knowing anything about tortoises you've done a really good job, he's a nice looking gentleman. Forgive Yvonne, she's still guessing sexing. She trying to learn, I just let someone else tell what sex they are.
Be sure to give the name of that Vet to one of the moderators so they can add it to our Vet list...Yvonne, Jacqui and Kristine are a couple of the mods...Just PM the address of that vet...thanks ever so