Greetings from NY

[RandomWiktor]

Greetings folks!

I'm Ren. I have joined TortoiseForum as I have recently found myself very unexpectedly in posession of a young Sulcuta tortoise. Yesterday, I was photographing wildlife in a state park and came across a decidedly not native species: a sulcuta! I took her home as there's no way she'll survive in NY, especially after summer ends. I'm assuming since the park is so far from housing developments that this animal was deliberately released, not a lost pet - but I'll of course make sure no one is looking for it before deciding what to do with it.

I am not sure if I'll keep the tortoise long term. Housing an adult Sulcuta year round in NY is a daunting task. However, there is a decent chance that I'll be moving to Alabama soon, and if that is the case, I'll not only be able to keep it out much of the year, but the property I'm hoping to buy already has a tortoise yard as the previous owner kept them.

In the mean time I have a LOT of learning to do, and quick! I'm sure you'll see a bunch of n00b questions all over the board from me; I've researched, but I still have so many questions! So thanks in advance for any help

 

[terracolson]

welcome

 

[Tom]

Welcome. Lucky find. We'd love to see pics. Don't you wish he could talk and tell you how he got there?

 

[pugsandkids]

Welcome! Hmmm, found a tort, was already looking a house with a tort yard...Sounds like fate to me! I'm fairly new to the tort thing too, you will learn sooooo much here.

 

[terracolson]

pictures?

 

[RandomWiktor]

Here's a pic of her while she was out grazing today. Still very small, perhaps 5" or so?

 

[terracolson]

How can any one lose that little one

 

[dmmj]

Welcome, to be honest I did not think people in new york had yards, glad to see him in a nicer place.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Ren:

Welcome to the forum!!

What a lucky tortoise that you just happened to be in the right place at the right time!

The tortoise doesn't look the worse for wear. Looks pretty darned good to me. Nice shell and bright, alert face.

 

[terryo]

Welcome follow New Yorker!

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum Your little girl is beautiful!

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum Ren

Danny

 

[jejton]

Welcome. Where in NY are you ? As for the above poster - many people in New York have yards! Outside of Manhattan, and definately outside of NYC altogether, it is quite common to see a yard.

 

[GBtortoises]

Contrary to what you most of you may see on television, the majority of New York State is either farm land or forested hills and mountains.
Adirondack State Park is the largest State Park in the U.S. and the largest National Historic Landmark. It encompasses over 6 million acres.
Catskill Park Forest Preseve, which borders my county, consists of over 700,000 acres.
Delaware County, where I live, is the 5th largest in the state, is made up of 1,500 square miles of farms and forest and with only about 48,000 people, you don't have to have neighbors if you don't want them!

 

[RandomWiktor]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! For those who asked, I'm in Dutchess County, so we do indeed have yards! I have about an acre myself, complete with chickens, rabbits, wildlife rehab patients, and apparently now a tortoise. Though granted I'm not sold on keeping the latter just yet. I have a funny feeling this forum will convince me, though.

 

[Jacqui]

Ren welcome! Sure sounds like fate was making a loud suggestion to you between having looked at a home complete with tortoise yard and then placing this needy fellow right in your path. Just think of the odds of either thing happening.

I have to admit, I use to think of NY as just one huge city, but after getting to drive thru parts of it, I have become much more "edumacated".

 

[danielledelynn]

Welcome to the Forum! Everyone here is super nice and there's a lot of knowledgeable people here, you will soon see.

About the NY thing, I seriously cannot help but bust out laughing whenever people just automatically assume when someone says they live in NY, that they mean NYC. I live in NY as well, but in Buffalo (Erie County). I've been to NYC once...And yeah, that's really no place for a tort to live, especially a sulcata. (No offense to anyone reading this who lives in NYC with sulcatas haha!) New York is definitely lots of farmland, country-settings...heck, I live only about a mile from like 20 different dairy farms...It's so weird how that NY/NYC assumption is made. I could never be a "city rat", I'm a country girl through and through. (lol, by city rat, I simply mean someone who lives right in a major city...wasn't implying anything else, just being a little silly here! lol)

Again, welcome aboard!!