Poor Elvis

[knechtion53]

One of the tall fences of Elvis' enclosure is a shared fence with a neighbor. The neighbor hired some workers to replace the fence. We spoke with these workers and asked them to come to our house before they started on that section so we could move Elvis while they worked.
They started work on 3 separate occasions without letting us know but fortunately we were alerted by the noise each time so we came out to move him or at least make sure he was not in their way. Each time I asked them again to please let us know first the next time they were working.
I was out of town on Saturday but my husband was home and had fed and watered Elvis. Apparently, the workers returned again to stain the fence in the late afternoon early evening. My husband did not hear them that time. When I went out to tend to him Sunday morning I found him full of spatter from the staining of the fence. Not only was he spattered but his soaking pool, water dishes and one of his house/hides were covered in the spots.
Thankfully, Elvis seems to be unaffected by the stain but I do not know how or if I will ever be able to get this stuff off of him.
I am angered and saddened at the level of disreguard and disrespect for this amazing creature that has be shown by those workers.

 

[ScottishFish]

Thats disgraceful! Have you spoken to your neighbour?

 

[knechtion53]

My husband has been over and spoken to our neighbors. It is an older couple who were unaware of the situation. My husband advised them not to pay the remaining amount owed to these workers. He also told them we would seek action against the workers if Elvis were to become ill.

 

[lkwagner]

I'm sorry but that's bs. Since Elvis was on your property and he was "damaged" I feel like something can and should be done about this. That is so disrespectful. I'd freak out lol

 

[GeoGpp1012]

Unbelievable ..I would be outraged ..please let us know what comes of this and I hope Elvis is ok he really is a gorgeous tort

 

[Jenley]

ditto to what everyone said!! I would be very ticked off!!

 

[knechtion53]

I'm sorry but that's bs. Since Elvis was on your property and he was "damaged" I feel like something can and should be done about this. That is so disrespectful. I'd freak out lol

I know, I was so furious and frightened for Elvis but after my husband spoke to the poor, confused, elderly couple we decided to just let it go as long as Elvis was ok health wise.

 

[mctlong]

I'm glad he's okay. Hopefully he didn't drink too much of the tainted water.

As far as getting it off, I'd avoid using anything but water. If water doesn't wash it off (and it probably won't), just let the stains wear away on their own. It'll take a long time for the stains on the shell to wear off and he may have those spots the rest of his life.

 

[knechtion53]

Unbelievable ..I would be outraged ..please let us know what comes of this and I hope Elvis is ok he really is a gorgeous tort

Thank you! Elvis is such a joy....friendly, inquisitive and often comical. We have another, younger Sully, Ziggy 2, that has his outside enclosure in another part of our yard and a nighttime indoor enclosure. I adore my guys!

---

I'm glad he's okay. Hopefully he didn't drink too much of the tainted water.

As far as getting it off, I'd avoid using anything but water. If water doesn't wash it off (and it probably won't), just let the stains wear away on their own. It'll take a long time for the stains on the shell to wear off and he may have those spots the rest of his life.

Fortunately, it didn't appear as if he drank the water from the tainted bowls. He actually has 5 bowls set out in different parts of his area and 3 were not tainted.
I had not planed to try anything besides water unless some more knowledgeable members as yourself knew of something.
I figured he will probabled be my "spotted sully" from here on out.

 

[ascott]

Speckled Elvis......lousy laborers for sure .....although the new fancy spots don't take away from his beauty.... I would just let the spots be....

 

[Livingstone]

Poor guy. It's unreal what people do. My neighbor puts down mothballs in her yard to keep ants away, and just the other day I found one in Livingstone's enclosure. I don't know about anybody else's sulcata, but mine has quite a liking for white objects.

 

[Pumi_theturtle]

@livingstone my tortoise has the same thing for white and brown things!

 

[wiccan_chicken]

If you ever want to take action, take pictures of everything. This infuriates me, those people were told MANY times to come to you so you could move him. The disregard, is infuriating. I'd press charges on the workers, but I'm not you. XD I hope your poor boy is alright, I'd hate for him to get sick

 

[thatrebecca]

Elvis is very dapper looking, even with those spots! I'm glad he seems unphased by the incident.

But how rotten of those workers. If they are licensed contractors there may be a board you can report them to. Or if there is a service like Angie's List or Yelp where they're listed, you can at least alert other home owners of the kind of people they are. How people treat animals speaks volumes about their character.

We feel fortunate to have a gardener who is gentle to and respectful of our torts -- and I would recommend him to anyone because of it. There's a language barrier between us, but we both know what 'tortuga' means.

 

[knechtion53]

Poor guy. It's unreal what people do. My neighbor puts down mothballs in her yard to keep ants away, and just the other day I found one in Livingstone's enclosure. I don't know about anybody else's sulcata, but mine has quite a liking for white objects.

Elvis is really partial to red things so I know what you mean. How scary to have found a mothball in Livingstone's enclosure.

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Speckled Elvis......lousy laborers for sure .....although the new fancy spots don't take away from his beauty.... I would just let the spots be....

Thanks for the supportive words.

 

[AustinASU]

If it was an acrylic paint he should be okay.

 

[knechtion53]

If you ever want to take action, take pictures of everything. This infuriates me, those people were told MANY times to come to you so you could move him. The disregard, is infuriating. I'd press charges on the workers, but I'm not you. XD I hope your poor boy is alright, I'd hate for him to get sick

I have pictures. The workers are probably not licensed or anything, the fence was not done very professionally. I didn't want to end up stressing the elderly neighbors as long as Elvis is alright. It wasn't their fault but they would probably be the ones to shoulder the responsibility if we took legal action, unfortunately.

---

Elvis is very dapper looking, even with those spots! I'm glad he seems unphased by the incident.

But how rotten of those workers. If they are licensed contractors there may be a board you can report them to. Or if there is a service like Angie's List or Yelp where they're listed, you can at least alert other home owners of the kind of people they are. How people treat animals speaks volumes about their character.

We feel fortunate to have a gardener who is gentle to and respectful of our torts -- and I would recommend him to anyone because of it. There's a language barrier between us, but we both know what 'tortuga' means.

Thanks so much for the kind words. These workers spoke some English but I'm certain they are not a licensed professional company, probably handy men of some kind.

 

[WinterRose]

Poor Elvis looks pissed! Yeah, it sucks... but as long as he's okay I would just be relieved.

He's beautiful, btw. Doesn't detract from him at all.. and hopefully will wear off soon..

I WOULD remind the neighbors to please inform you about anything (like painting) that might indirectly affect your property in the future. I know you don't want to upset them but I would show them his picture so they can really appreciate what happened.

 

[yagyujubei]

I'd be furious, but there's really not much you can do. Is the grass on your side of the fence now paint splattered as well? You might want to mow that. It's hard to get workers like that to be careful. Their boss is breathing down their necks to hurry and get done. It's probably best to remove the animals until the workers are gone to be safe in the future, rather than try to change their work habits. On another note, he looks kind of cool with his new camo.

 

[Arnold_rules]

One of the tall fences of Elvis' enclosure is a shared fence with a neighbor. The neighbor hired some workers to replace the fence. We spoke with these workers and asked them to come to our house before they started on that section so we could move Elvis while they worked.
They started work on 3 separate occasions without letting us know but fortunately we were alerted by the noise each time so we came out to move him or at least make sure he was not in their way. Each time I asked them again to please let us know first the next time they were working.
I was out of town on Saturday but my husband was home and had fed and watered Elvis. Apparently, the workers returned again to stain the fence in the late afternoon early evening. My husband did not hear them that time. When I went out to tend to him Sunday morning I found him full of spatter from the staining of the fence. Not only was he spattered but his soaking pool, water dishes and one of his house/hides were covered in the spots.
Thankfully, Elvis seems to be unaffected by the stain but I do not know how or if I will ever be able to get this stuff off of him.
I am angered and saddened at the level of disreguard and disrespect for this amazing creature that has be shown by those workers.

May be Elvis secretly asked the workers to spray him so that he could start dating Leopard Tortoises.

I hope he comes through this without any harm. I know how frustrating it can be and always get concerned when anyone works in my back yard around my tortoise habitat.