Hi everyone!

[mckline]

Hi,
I am so glad to find this forum. We happened to adopt a African Spurred last spring by chance. Some friends of ours live in town and found it wandering down the street. They thought it was just a native turtle and ask if they could bring it out and turn it lose. We live by lake and swamp, perfect habitat for turtles. When they got here we realized it was not a native turtle. My husband took it to the pet shop in town to find out what it was.
We had to do research to find out what it eats and how to take care of it. We have had so much fun with it. Don't know if its a girl or a boy but it has been a very interesting educational experience. We call it Scratch and refer to it as a she. I hope to learn a lot more here. She is about 8-10 inches. Does anyone know approx how old she might be? Thanks and hope to learn a lot more about how to care for her.

Marcia

 

[Kristina]

Welcome to the forum!

It is hard to judge a tortoise's age by size, because there are a lot of variables that go into how fast they grow. Diet, size of enclosure, and hydration are just a few.

Did you or your friends ever try to find the owner? Tortoises can escape and somebody probably is missing their pet.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Marcia:

Welcome to the forum! May we know where you are?

If you post a picture of Scratch, we'll be better able to help you.

 

[mckline]

We put an ad in the paper and gave our phone number to the guys at the pet shop. No reply to either. We live in Northeastern Indiana. Near Fort Wayne. I will post a picture as soon as I can.

 

[coreyc]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. If you post a pic of the anal scute and tail region we might be able to sex it for you at that size. The pic should look something like this:

Congrats on the new tortoise. I love the sulcatas. You know how big and destructive they get, right? Please hit us with lots of questions.

 

[Isa]

Welcome to the forum & congrats

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[Torty Mom]

Welcome to TFO