I think we all have our own little stories about how these guys stole our hearts.
Just wondering what got everyone interested
Just wondering what got everyone interested
What got you interested in tortoises?
- Thread starter CourtneyAndCarl
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I posted about this little guy last week. I went to visit him when I was a kid and I was hooked!!
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_(tortoise)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_(tortoise)
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In 1971 my father and I were doing some geological research in the Mojave Desert ....and we came across a desert tort ...the rest is history :shy: ( they were not "endangered" back then ) . My Aunt 41 years later still has him......
JD~
JD~
I married my husband who loves turtles, they grew on me and now I can't wait to add more to the home.
TheValve said:
Wow, that's insane!
My sister was given a little RES as a birthday present back in 1969, I think. The poor little guy came in the 'bowl of death'. The sorrow of seeing him linger and then die in the worst possible living conditions has always been with me. I love caring for my tortoises properly and seeing them thrive.
Edna said:
My reason is also a little sad, actually. I didn't know that people ever kept turtles in bowls, that's terrible!
I just moved to Arizona. I ran to the local Petsmart to pick up some dog food because the brand I use was on sale. Where I parked was a small cardboard box with a tiny Red footed tortoise wrapped in wet paper towels. I picked it up and brought the little guy inside thinking someone bought it and set it down to put other stuff in the car and forgot about the tiny tortoise. Needless to say it wasn't sold from there and I went home with a new family member. She is now 2 years old and I love her so much. I went for dog food and left with a tortoise and all the fixings. Lol.
wow, that's also crazy! I wonder if someone left her there on purpose or if it was an accident
When I was little I loved catching frogs and "exploring" for stuff in the woods, which lead to my desire to get a reptile or amphibian, specifically a frog or gecko, but at the time my parents said no. Probably 5 years later I started asking again, and my parents agreed. We chose tortoises because they didn't require live food like the lizards I think it was a very wise choice.
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The first thing I can remember is riding and feeding the Galapagos tortoises at the San Diego Zoo when I was around 6 years old. There is a picture of me riding one that first time. My mother can't find it now, or I'd post it here... Got my first box turtle when I was 7.
My story is kind of a sad one, like I said. Working at Petco, we have people bring in their unwanted pets all the time and we take them and put them up for adoption in the store. Someone brought in a Russian tortoise named T-Rex that he got for his 5 year old three or four years before, and his kid got bored with it, so they didn't want it anymore. He'd been keeping T-Rex in a 20 gallon tank, on timothy hay. He only got pellets, was never soaked, and was never given proper UVB lighting or taken outside.
We put him on our adopton table, knowing it was very unlikely that he'd get adopted due to the poor condition he was in. I was fascinated with him and really wanted to give him a home, but I knew nothing about tortoises and all I did know was that I didn't have the proper enclosure or anything like that for him. I went home that night, looked into everything I could find, and decided I was going to take him home. When I showed up for work two days later, I was told that he'd died, apparently the poor care and stress from the move finally got to him.
We put him on our adopton table, knowing it was very unlikely that he'd get adopted due to the poor condition he was in. I was fascinated with him and really wanted to give him a home, but I knew nothing about tortoises and all I did know was that I didn't have the proper enclosure or anything like that for him. I went home that night, looked into everything I could find, and decided I was going to take him home. When I showed up for work two days later, I was told that he'd died, apparently the poor care and stress from the move finally got to him.
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Tom said:
Being 3rd generation SD native .....Tom, I bet I sat on those same torts!
Turtles and tortoises have been my favourite animal for as long as I can remember. When I was about 6 my parents got a red eared slider. Eventually it got to big and we had to sell it when we moved to MI. When I was 7 or 8 I got my first three toes box turtle, Pete (female ) and later Ziggy (male)
) and later Ziggy (male)
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When I was about 8 yrs old I was in Germany and went to the zoo, they had some very large tortoise there ,,, I saw one mounting another and was making very loud ghostly sounds, I kept asking what they were doing, my grandmother obviously didn't want to tell me ,,, so i was bugging the keepers, ever since then I guess I just fell in love with them!
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I Actually was a turtle lover at first, I actually have a African side neck and a baby res. but at my local pets tore there's only one guy that works with all the reptiles and amphibians. So I started asking questions going home researching buying books everything I could. Today I still don't have one but is will hopefully soon and if I never get one I'll still love them and talk to you guys because it's just so fascinating to learn about these amazing creatures!
When I met my wife 3 years ago, she had an adult RES and a baby southern paint turtle. She had them in a clear plastic tub that was half filled with water with a stepping stone that was propped up on the Side of one of the walls that was used for a basking out of the water spot. She had a clamped flood light on that spot that they used when they weren't in the water. She had a cheap filtration system for them and fed them nothing but turtle pellets from Walmart. She didn't know any better.
Well I didn't know anything about them so I did some research on them and found out she was way off base with her care. Lol. Anyways in the midst of our research, that's when we found out about tortoises and decided to go to petsmart and buy one.
After that, we decide to give the turtles to someone who had a turtle farm and concentrated on tortoises ever since. We now have 5 redfoots and 1 baby sulcata. I will tell you this though... It's MUCH easier taking care of tortoises than aquatic turtles. Aquatic turtles are VERY high maintenance and you can spend a high fortune if you don't watch it.
Well I didn't know anything about them so I did some research on them and found out she was way off base with her care. Lol. Anyways in the midst of our research, that's when we found out about tortoises and decided to go to petsmart and buy one.
After that, we decide to give the turtles to someone who had a turtle farm and concentrated on tortoises ever since. We now have 5 redfoots and 1 baby sulcata. I will tell you this though... It's MUCH easier taking care of tortoises than aquatic turtles. Aquatic turtles are VERY high maintenance and you can spend a high fortune if you don't watch it.
I think i was born this way....My first turtle was a Florida Box when i was like 4 years old (Froggy) that my grandfather gave me, the rest is history!
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