El Gato Diablo
New Member
Hello to all...first time poster, longtime lurker (learner). I feel like I already know some of you as I have benefited from this forum's members for years.
I became interested in tortoises when a beautiful adult DT became available for me to adopt in a wild way. He was released or an escapee, as we are out of DT's natural range here in Santa Cruz. I was so utterly naive that when he became lodged in my wire fence...I thought it was because a savage, mindless snapping turtle had gone h.a.m. and was trying to eat my dog. I was afraid to pick him up, I scrambled to the internet and wound up here (I think). Within 10 minutes I was no longer afraid of the 'snapping turtle' in my yard...and didn't realize it at the time, but I was holding and looking into the emerald green eyes of my lifelong companion and one of the best pet friends I've ever had. His name is Cadilac Scutes Deville, or Scooter for short.
Since then, we bought a hatchling Sulcata who has grown into a beautiful adult female named Petunia, who is no friend to anything green or my wife's painted toenails. Those are the two tortoises we keep and enjoy as lifelong members of our family. But now the time has come, and we are in a position in our lives that I have more time and space to expand our tortoise clan. And so, I've come full circle...from a complete and total newbie getting ready to do backyard battle with an attack turtle, to a skilled tortoise keeper and botanical expert who grows his own tortoise foods. And now, I feel like I'm back to a newbie as I start from scratch...learning about which new tortoise species is getting a brand new set of keys to my already bursting heart.
Thank you all for being (albeit anonymously) a big help to me and my whole family over the years...shelled and sans shell.
TL;DR: I found a DT and thought it was a snapping turtle. Now I know a lot and want more torts.
I became interested in tortoises when a beautiful adult DT became available for me to adopt in a wild way. He was released or an escapee, as we are out of DT's natural range here in Santa Cruz. I was so utterly naive that when he became lodged in my wire fence...I thought it was because a savage, mindless snapping turtle had gone h.a.m. and was trying to eat my dog. I was afraid to pick him up, I scrambled to the internet and wound up here (I think). Within 10 minutes I was no longer afraid of the 'snapping turtle' in my yard...and didn't realize it at the time, but I was holding and looking into the emerald green eyes of my lifelong companion and one of the best pet friends I've ever had. His name is Cadilac Scutes Deville, or Scooter for short.
Since then, we bought a hatchling Sulcata who has grown into a beautiful adult female named Petunia, who is no friend to anything green or my wife's painted toenails. Those are the two tortoises we keep and enjoy as lifelong members of our family. But now the time has come, and we are in a position in our lives that I have more time and space to expand our tortoise clan. And so, I've come full circle...from a complete and total newbie getting ready to do backyard battle with an attack turtle, to a skilled tortoise keeper and botanical expert who grows his own tortoise foods. And now, I feel like I'm back to a newbie as I start from scratch...learning about which new tortoise species is getting a brand new set of keys to my already bursting heart.
Thank you all for being (albeit anonymously) a big help to me and my whole family over the years...shelled and sans shell.
TL;DR: I found a DT and thought it was a snapping turtle. Now I know a lot and want more torts.
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