What would you do?

[jaizei]

Between this thread and the grass fire near my house earlier, I got to thinking; what would you do if you had to evacuate? Try and take your tortoises (or any other pets) with you or leave them and hope for the best? I'm especially interested in responses from those that have numerous tortoises or very large tortoises. What do you do with a 200lb sulcata or a 600lb aldabra?

 

[Yvonne G]

My animals would really be S.O.L. if there were a big fire or some dangerous reason I had to leave. There are just too many of them for me to take any with me.

I have a house cat that I love dearly. Of course, she would go into the cat carrier. I may be able to get a bunch of the small tortoises into another cat carrier, but there's just no way I can get two 150lb tortoises up over their fence and into the back of the truck.

You can turn your horse loose and hope it knows how to get out of danger, but if I broke down fences so the large tortoises could get out, they would be killed by traffic. I'd leave them as is and hope for the best.

 

[zesty_17]

They're all coming with me. I have designated travel tubs for all torts & turtles that are stackable & can be belted into the car, along with the cats & snake.

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Between this thread and the grass fire near my house earlier, I got to thinking; what would you do if you had to evacuate? Try and take your tortoises (or any other pets) with you or leave them and hope for the best? I'm especially interested in responses from those that have numerous tortoises or very large tortoises. What do you do with a 200lb sulcata or a 600lb aldabra?

trailer train your giant torts, they learn to bait quickly.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I own other property and would relocate our entire herd to ensure safety. Great question.

 

[terryo]

I'd probably never be able to find my box turtles, but I have some plastic tubs in the garage for my two Cherry Heads. My three dogs are very small so I would just grab them and my hand bag. As long as I have my credit card.......I think it would be next to impossible to evacuate this Island in case of an emergency.

 

[SulcataSquirt]

I would definitely take my Sulcata with me where ever I needed to go. Good thing we only have one!

 

[ascott]

suppose would entirely depend on the situation....if there was a flash brush fire relative to our home and no time to do anything I would get my son and head out (grabbing any tortoise, turtles and dogs that we could)

If it was a moving fire with a bit of warning, all critters would be boxed and moved along with the dogs....

I sure hope it is not ever a reality here at home...

 

[Momof4]

Sometimes there's no time. We were evacuated at 4am while our back yard was on fire. We got kids and dogs. No shoes, blankies, computers, or contacts for seeing . If we had tortoise i doubt we would have been able to grab them . Buuut we did learn to start packing even if the fire doesn't seem close. When we went to bed at 2am the fire was like 10 mi away but the 120 MPH winds blew our way . Next time i will pack the car early even if it's a false alarm. I will be ready this time.

 

[Angi]

I have had to evacuate twice so I have a plan for the next one. As soon as I hear that there is a fire getting close I get ready. I have rubbermade boxes for my torts I guess I need to get one for the gecko. The ice chests will work fine too.
People where I live evacuate all kinds of animals horses, goats, cows. If I had a large herd of torts I would have a trailer so I could get as many out as possible. I would not risk my life, but I would do my best.

 

[HipsterTorts]

I'd take them with me.
My tortoises cage right now is one of those long storage tubs that you can slide under your bed so I'd just snap the top on that and load them into the car. The dogs are easy, if you say "it's time to go" they run to the car so I'm not to worried about them.

 

[cherylim]

Fortunately, living in England, I'm at low risk from outdoor fires, but of course with all the technology in my house I'm constantly aware of indoor fire risk.

I keep my bag, phone, laptop/laptop charger, keys and purse with me whenever possible (and always at night), but have a lot of valuable sentimental items I'd have to leave behind in the event of a fire. I don't have my tortoise yet, but I'm getting an Eastern Hermann's so I'd be able to take it if I had time, and I'd do anything I could to make sure I got to it. My tort will have his/her own bedroom (they're going to live in the my office) when inside the house, so as long as that wasn't the room at risk they'd be the first thing I'd grab.

 

[dmmj]

well I have about 25 or so not including dog and 3 cats,I would try and get everyone out,it would all depend on how much notice I have.

 

[Guggie]

We had a tornado warning about a month after getting our two Greeks. We were watching the weather channel downstairs hovering near the bathroom (we don't have a basement) when the siren turned off, and we suddenly realized we hadn't even thought about our new Guyzos. Talk about feeling guilty...

Our Greeks are small. We have a spare zip-lock container that we use for transporting outside or moving out of the table when we're cleaning; we'd just drop them in there next time.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

I rigged up a watering system out of PVC (with holes drilled about every 4") that wets down the roof and walls of my house, as well as about a 10' perimeter of the yard...out here, fires are a very real consideration, and the last one took out both of our nearest neighbor's homes.

So, in the case of a fire, I just run out, turn on the faucet, gather tortoises and let the livestock into the pasture w/ the big stockpond...worked great, last time.

Winds and storms? Miss satelite TV for a while is about all.