New Member and Looking to Adopt or Purchase

[AdaminTexas]

My name is Adam and I have just joined this forum. We live in the Fort Worth area in Texas, relocated here 2 years ago from San Diego. About 10 years ago my girlfriend (back then) and I purchased 2 baby spur thigh tortoises. They were tiny and both of them fit in the palm of your hand together. Well fast forward to now and that girlfriend is now my wife. We moved out to Texas to get closer to her family. We have a home on about a half acre of land that is heavily wooded. We have a couple of boys, a couple dogs, a bunch of cats, and 11 hens. I took about 4000 square feet out back that is fenced off and has several citrus trees for the torts. The torts we had from babies have been with us the entire time. We actually had a male and female. Having all that room to roam was great for them. Unfortunately about 5 months ago we had a tragedy. Our boys are 6 and 7 and we were having a party for one of them. The next day we found the male dead. We took him to the vet and it turned out he had been stood on. So then we went to the parents of each boy and found out that one of the boys had gotten out back to where they were out and stood on him. It broke all of our hearts. Our 10 year wedding anniversary is coming up and I think it would be pretty neat to get another spur thigh. (I guess they are also known as sulcatta) Ideally if I could find a male in the same age range as the female it would be awesome but I am not picky.

Anyways that is my story... I guess I will put a post up in the for sale area but if anyone knows of where I could adopt or purchase one then I will go that route.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome! Good luck in your search for that perfect anniversary gift. I am a bit surprised that the boy standing on him was enough to kill him. You see so many pictures of children and dogs on top of them.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. that's really sad that your long time family tort died that way, so sorry. I think your idea for the anniversary gift is great. Good luck. Check out your local Craig's list and also the fauna classified on the Internet. Even a local reptile rescue. Large sulcatas are always being given up.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Adam:

Welcome to the Forum!!

I'm so sorry to hear about your male sulcata (I'd like to make a small correction here for the benefit of anyone else reading the thread: African spurred tortoises, or sulcatas, are NOT spur thigh tortoises. A spur thigh is a Greek tortoise.)

Like Jacqui, I don't understand how a child that light could have harmed the tortoise, unless maybe he jumped on it. Anyway...water under the bridge, and a terrible tragedy.

I don't know of any rescues in the DFW area, but you might try a GOOGLE search for Tortoise Rescue. You might be able to find one the same size that way.

 

[AdaminTexas]

Yeah it was a drag and I would have to believe he was jumped on, not just stood on top of. When we go out to their area in the morning they generally hear the gate open and come running because they know it is chow time. So when he did not come running my wife knew something was up. She found him and he had some dried blood running out of his mouth. His shell was okay though. The vet didn't actually say he was stood on but did say that it appeared he died from a trauma. When he asked what could have caused it we did tell him about the kids party the previous day. That combined with the admission from the child seemed to identify the cause to us. That male was big and strong and had survived the Texas heat and cold, (although when it gets to cold we put them in the garage with a bale of hay). So it was no surprise that it took a human to kill him. Also 7 year old boys can be pretty tough on things no matter how strong the animal is.

Also to clarify, when we purchased the tortoises I was sure that they were called African Spur Thigh tortoises. We go them at Pet Kingdom in San Diego which sells alot of reptiles. So it sounds like there is no such thing. So I guess I either have a Sulcata or I have a Greek Tortoise then.

Hi Adam:

Welcome to the Forum!!

I'm so sorry to hear about your male sulcata (I'd like to make a small correction here for the benefit of anyone else reading the thread: African spurred tortoises, or sulcatas, are NOT spur thigh tortoises. A spur thigh is a Greek tortoise.)

Like Jacqui, I don't understand how a child that light could have harmed the tortoise, unless maybe he jumped on it. Anyway...water under the bridge, and a terrible tragedy.

I don't know of any rescues in the DFW area, but you might try a GOOGLE search for Tortoise Rescue. You might be able to find one the same size that way.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[shellysmom]

Wow. That is completely heartbreaking...

As mentioned above, you shouldn't have much trouble finding another male roughly the same size, as bigger ones always seem to up for sale/available for adoption.

 

[DrewsLife727]

Hi! Welcome to the form I am very sorry for your loss. I hope you find a replacement that you can love like your old one! Try fauna classifieds, breeders like tortoise supply, etc., look at the sales and adoptions section of this form, craigslist, or your local tortoise rescue society. Those were just a few recommendations! Best wishes to you! btw where is San Diego did you live if you dont mind me asking? I current live in SD

-Drew

 

[DesertGrandma]

welcome to the forum.

 

[shellysmom]

I JUST FOUND ONE IN TEXAS!!!

Hey, I just got a post on my facebook page from American Tortoise Rescue. There is a large male sully in Houston whose owner is having medical problems and has to give him up. It says Houston area only because they don't want to ship. But, they might be OK with it if you are willing to drive 4 hours with a stinky tort in your car. IDK, but here's the link if you might be interested. At the very least, it's a super cute photo of a giant sully with his "girlfriend."

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...4056792373.166364.260540537373&type=1&theater

 

[mainey34]

Nice find shellysmom. Hello and welcome. I'm sure you are going to enjoy this forum. So sorry to hear about your resent tradagedy, very heartbreaking. Good luck to you.

 

[AdaminTexas]

Awesome Shellysmom! I am checking it out tonite. A couple of hours drive would not be a problem!

For the person that asked we used to live in Scripps Ranch in San Diego and before that PB.

I JUST FOUND ONE IN TEXAS!!!

Hey, I just got a post on my facebook page from American Tortoise Rescue. There is a large male sully in Houston whose owner is having medical problems and has to give him up. It says Houston area only because they don't want to ship. But, they might be OK with it if you are willing to drive 4 hours with a stinky tort in your car. IDK, but here's the link if you might be interested. At the very least, it's a super cute photo of a giant sully with his "girlfriend."

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...4056792373.166364.260540537373&type=1&theater

 

[AdaminTexas]

Okay received plenty of messages not to get a male for our female so I am now searching for a female sulcata in the 10 year old range. If anyone knows of any out here in Texas or the surrounding area lemme know!

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

Welcome!

 

[tortadise]

Welcome. Such a tragedy about the male. I sometimes get them turned over to me and adopt them out. Check on pet finders in your area theres usually some on their in the dallas region.

 

[pam]

Soooooooo sory for your loss Welcome Hope you find one soon

 

[Tom]

I missed this thread the first time around. What size was your male? I just can't see how a kid jumping on the tortoise could kill it like that. Even small ones get batted around and layed on by 300 pound lions in the wild and that doesn't harm them in the least. I bring it up because if it was not the little boy who killed it, then you might want to consider other possiblilties for what happened, in order to protect your other one.

About getting another one: Most tortoises, but especially sulcatas, do not do well in pairs. They are much better off alone or in a small carefully supervised group. If you want to have more than one then I would first really verify your original is a female and then get a couple more females. Usually three females will get along in harmony, but you will still need to be prepared to separate them if they decide to not get along. If you post some pics of the tail and anal scute area, we can verify that your female is really a female for you too.