My Lawn Guy Almost Just Poisoned my Redfoot

[shellysmom]

I'm sitting here on the computer, procrastinating as long as possible before I go out and run my boring errands. I glance out the window and the guy who mows my lawn is standing in my redfoot's enclosure with a big tank on his back and spraying something all over the grass and weeds. I ran outside and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? MY TORTOISE IS IN THERE!" He's like, "It's just roundup."

I almost died. JUST Roundup? I explained how it would kill her because it's POISON, and kindly made him pull all of the weeds he sprayed, and then rake up all the mulch in the enclosure. I'm glad I'm so good at procrastinating, or I never would have seen him spraying, and then who knows what would have happened.

This is the same tortoise whose fence was knocked down last week by the roof repair people, and she got out. Are these people trying to give me a heart attack? I TELL them she's there and to be careful. What the hell is wrong with people????!!!!

 

[TheTortoiseWhisperer]

LOL, LOL, LOL Shelly I am not at all laughing at the incident, I just love the way you tell it!!!!! I'm glad your baby is ok despite all the attempts on her life…..maybe she was a cat in another life

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

I'm sitting here on the computer, procrastinating as long as possible before I go out and run my boring errands. I glance out the window and the guy who mows my lawn is standing in my redfoot's enclosure with a big tank on his back and spraying something all over the grass and weeds. I ran outside and yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? MY TORTOISE IS IN THERE!" He's like, "It's just roundup."

I almost died. JUST Roundup? I explained how it would kill her because it's POISON, and kindly made him pull all of the weeds he sprayed, and then rake up all the mulch in the enclosure. I'm glad I'm so good at procrastinating, or I never would have seen him spraying, and then who knows what would have happened.

This is the same tortoise whose fence was knocked down last week by the roof repair people, and she got out. Are these people trying to give me a heart attack? I TELL them she's there and to be careful. What the hell is wrong with people????!!!!

EEK! I would not want to put her back in even after he pulled everything... And I'm sure all she got out of it was that some jerk took away a good amount of her food supply...

 

[Yvonne G]

If it were me, I would take the tortoise out of the pen for a week or so. During that time I would water the pen every day, setting a sprinkler in there and let it run for a half hour each day. Roundup has a re-entry time of 4 hours, but because tortoises eat vegetation, I wouldn't want to test that. It is also known that Roundup causes breeding/birth problems in animals.

 

[wellington]

I totally agree with emysemys. Then I would call the company, tell them what happened. Tell them if it ever happens again that they even look at the pen you will sue their pants off. I am not a sue happy person. But screw with my animals and I would rather kill ya as to even breath. I think next time you have someone over to do any kind of work. You need to let them know in not a nice way. That they need to stay completely away from your tortoise enclosure or else. So glad you seen it happen.

 

[Yvonne G]

I understand Wellington's feelings and I so agree with them, but in this day and age of threats, etc. most people realize that when someone says they're going to sue, they are usually just letting off steam. I think a more serious threat would be to tell them you will fire their butts and hire a different company.

 

[shellysmom]

If it were me, I would take the tortoise out of the pen for a week or so. During that time I would water the pen every day, setting a sprinkler in there and let it run for a half hour each day. Roundup has a re-entry time of 4 hours, but because tortoises eat vegetation, I wouldn't want to test that. It is also known that Roundup causes breeding/birth problems in animals.

Diluting it/washing it away with water is a great idea, thanks. I'm thinking of putting a giant sign in the enclosure with BIG words for the people who are not capable of following simple directions to "not spray anything toxic on my property," and to "be careful about such-and-such because I have tortoises." Maybe I'm not being CLEAR ENOUGH. Jeez... I'm glad she's OK. I'm just not going to be able to trust anyone to be careful enough, so I gotta watch 'em like a hawk.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Great save!