Who had torts while young?

[Nay]

Hi, I was reading an earlier post(mistreated tort) and saw Robyn said she had a DT as a child( or rather her family did) and I wondered who here also had torts when they were young? (So I started a new post, hope it's OK) We had a biting poodle, and my parakeet that I loved had escaped, so my parents thought a turtle would be an easy pet. Yes, hard to admit it was complete with palm tree, poor little RES, probably didn't last to long. We are talking over 40 yrs ago. Then I had to wait till I was 'grown up' to get what I have now, hopefully complete with knowledge.
Just curious, mostly did anyone here have parents that checked things out , like diet,temps etc. Now of course, like was said in same above mentioned post by Yvonne, the intenet makes it almost a crime for there to be so much ingnorance.. Maybe too much info now to pick from,,,,
Nay

 

[Isa]

Very interesting question Nay,
I can't wait to see the answers
Me I got my first and only tortoise (Hermy ) last year.

 

[Stazz]

I didn't have any of my own, but my kindergarten had two giant torts ! I am not sure what type they were, definitely not Sulcata, they were very dark. They were massive, and I remember they were about 60 yrs old when I was there. Their names were Salt and Pepper, and I remember loving them to bits. I loved it when my turn came to feed them and clean their enclosure!

 

[Yvonne G]

Back in the '60's, when my kids were teens and pre-teens, we found a male desert tortoise walking around the neighborhood. Naturally, we put it in the back yard, never thinking to try to find its owner. We lived in town, and had a large, olympic-sized in-the-ground pool. We named the tortoise Gumdrop. We were ignorant tortoise keepers, not realizing there were other types of tortoise. Over the years, as other people heard we had a tortoise, we were given other tortoises and eventually had 6 of them in our backyard with the pool. We were very lucky that none of them drowned. We didn't feed them, but there was plenty of grass in the yard. We did give them left-over dinner, which included spaghetti, salad (including the dressing), mashed potatoes and gravy, etc. I don't know how those tortoises managed to stay alive.

We bought a house in the country and fenced in an area for the tortoises using T-posts and chicken wire. That's how ignorant we were. It never occurred to us that the tortoises would just push under the fence and walk away. We lost them all within a couple days.

All of the tortoises looked alike, so were desert tortoises, except one. And looking back in my memory now, I think she was probably a chaco tortoise. She was the same size of the desert tortoises, but was lighter colored, almost yellow.

When I think back to those times, I feel so sorry for the poor tortoises that we kept. I hope the escapees had more luck finding a good home after their experience with us.

Yvonne

 

[Nay]

Stazz, I wonder if that experience (having them in school) sparked anything to what you feel now. I love it when teachers bring stuff in, nowadays and especially where I live, they are sooooo overconcerned with allergies and such. I think much of which we bring on ourselves. But hey that's a whole nother thread.
Yvonne. hey your family was kinda ahead of the curve so to speak to even welcome those torts in your home. I remember coming home with a RES and wanting to keep it so badly, but I had to march back where I found it, which come to think of it was in the woods, do RES have their eggs on land, oh god it was probably a gravid female,,,, And return it..
I just have a hard time thinking about Gumdrop doing laps in a large pool. Wouldn't they sink? Or did they never go in?
Nay

 

[Crazy1]

When I was a little kid my dad got us a RES, yes complete with the clear plastic bowl and palm tree. I think we had several of these as none ever lasted long. He bought me a young (at least I know it now) chameleon because it changed colors and it had a chain attached to its leg and a pin so you could pin it to your blouse and wear it. I even got to wear it to school. I felt sorry for it after about a week and let it go outside. Poor chameleon. Alligators we had several, kept them in the same bowl the RES had occupied. Also didn’t last long. While camping I found a soft shell turtle (what I now know was a hatchling) I played with it and kept it in a pan with water. For a few days then released it back were I found it. Hopefully it had a good life. We (the family) had a couple of DTs one with a whole in its shell my dad filled with “Goop” (a silicone type substance). As the shell healed (it was on the 2nd vertebral scute as I remember) he would snip the part of the ‘Goop” off that would begin to stick up out of the shell. Both DT escaped and we never new what happened to the. Dad always joked the neighbors made soup out of them, which always made me cry. Hopefully they found a good home. My parents I don’t think ever researched how to care for any of the “Pets” but they both were very caring people and would try and help especially injured animals as best they could. At least that’s what I remember.

 

[Yvonne G]

Desert tortoises sink like a stone. He would have drowned. However, they can hold their breath for a very long time (ask any vet who's trying to administer a nasal anesthesia), and if you find him soon enough can usually be saved.

Yvonne

 

[chadk]

I found a box turtle in my back yard when I was about 7yrs old. We had no idea how to keep it, but we tried. My mom loved animals and encouraged it. But the turtle died within a year I think. Could have been sick when we got it, but I know we did not take good care of it (not on purpose, just no idea what it needed).

I had a RES for a bit too. Don't recall what happened to it. Fed it worms and gold fish.

Had a few different types of lizards my mom would get from the pet store. None lasted too long. So sad looking back. Also took in various frogs, newts, salamanders, snakes that would catch in the wild. Usually let them go after a short time with me. But anything from a pet store probably died in a year or 2. Maybe that is why I'm so determined now days to research and do the best I can for them.

In HS I had a dwarf caiman I bought at the local petstore. In the summer, I let it live in a pen at the local golf course pond (my friend's family I moved in with the last year of HS were the gold course caretakers). When I went to college I gave it to a friends family who took care of it, but it died in their care.

Didn't have any more 'exotic' type pets until about a 5 yrs ago. I get them for my kids to enjoy with me - but I take full resposibilty of their care.

 

[Nay]

Robyn, Your Dad certainly had a good heart trying to help.
Chad, I am also the sole caretaker of anything my son trys to help. I started him out catching snakes, and salamanders and frogs.(We could only keep them for the day, if that). and it kinda instilled a sense of curiousity..( When he was 5, we had some people over and he caught a garter snake, he told everyone we had to keep it for a little while because it was due to shed, cloudy eyes dull coat, and wouldn't you know it, before people left the darn thing did shed. The family was so amazed and said 'oh yes he is Nadine's son" (I also as a kid tryed to catch everythng)And now as an adult have everything. Now my son does not have to catch every snake, and get smelly, and will move anything that is in a path. We shoot archery in an outdoor league and right now the little red newts are eveywhere. he has to move them ALL.. Took us 3 hrs last time, but it's OK. I love that he loves critters, so many of his buddies could care less and worse. He is at least lerning by me to not just take them in and how much proper care is needed.
Na

 

[shelber10]

when i was little i use to have red eared sliders and i had a lot of them and they grew up and i think i gave them away or something and then when i was 12 i got a russian tort now i just have sulcatas and a red foot

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I was born and raised in San Francisco in the 50's. I lived there during the 60's too but I don't remember that. and every week I'd take 3 buses across town and go to Playland which at that time was a big amusement park on the ocean. Every week I'd throw enough ping pong balls at the gold fish bowls to earn a tiny RES. Then 3 buses back home with turtle in a bag. Bus fare was 15 cents...anyhow, then I set up my tiny turtle in his death bowl complete with palm tree and cold water. Here's the part that shows how smart I was. My father had a thing about having flies in the house and if he saw one he'd spray that room with enough fly spray to kill an elephant, in fact, I don't know why us kids didn't die from that spray. So after the fly died from the fly spray I'd find it/them and feed the offending fly (killed with pesticide spray) to my tiny turtle. Because the guy at Playland who had the turtles said they could eat flies...I imagine I had 50 turtles I cared for that way. I finally got tired of them dying and stopped getting them...not one of my more shining moments...

 

[treshell]

I almost did when we lived in TX. Daddy never said No, but he thought I should know just what their favorite things were so they would be happy living with us. He loved research and passed that love on to me and all of those who came after me. First we got the encyclopedia out. Then off to the library to check out any books. Then off to the zoo. There we would watch and also go ask the keepers about their care. Next it was off to get stuff to build the cage. I still remember going out with one of dad's trapping buddies. That time I wanted a pet raccoon. Went early in the morning with Owen to check his traps. The first trap had only a foot. The next had one under the water, dead. The next was in the process of chewing its foot off. After that I only remember throwing up all the way back to the car. I didn't want a pet raccoon any more. Daddy was a very wise man. I miss him a lot. He never said no. I learned a lot. I kept hatchlings but had to take them back to where I got them the next day. I did keep horny toads for the day, if that sort of counts. I took them from red ant hill to red ant hill. And down to the creek. Just had to have them home by dark) I'm starting to sound like Mark Twin*.

 

[Meg90]

My mom was adamant that if we wanted something, we were going to do the research FIRST. If we'd go to the petstore, and see something we wanted, we went home and gathered information on the animal first.

I had boxies as a kid. Prolly around 12 or so. I am sad, because I didn't appreciate them like I should have. We took good care of them, but I couldn't tell you what kind of personalities they had. I didn't take the time to get to know them.

 

[treshell]

OK, One more post on this subject. My sister-in-law taught first grade in LA, CA. She had the perfect class room pet. This must have been in the early 70's. When she started teaching, she brought in her childhood pet, a 17 year old California Desert Tortoise. She loved it because for the most part it slept by her desk. Not sure how with all the kid noise and the I'm sure to high a heat it slept. Maybe sometimes it is wise not to know to much)
tj

 

[Barb92083]

I had a redeared slider I got at the Del Mar fair when I was 15 and shes in my friends 10000 gal pond 35 years later

 

[terryo]

I wrote this article for a local newspaper and posted it on another forum last year.
"When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, a hundred years ago, for as long as I could remember there was a box turtle living in our yard. We were never allowed to feed it. My Dad said it was wild, and free and didn't want it to become dependent on us. We knew winter was on it's way when my Dad raked all the leaves into a pile in the back of the yard, just in case Frank (named after our Uncle who we thought he looked like) needed a place to sleep. Then we didn't see Frank until the Spring. We couldn't wait to see which one of us saw Frank first. My Dad had a big vegetable garden, many fruit trees, and loads of compost which he made in the back of our yard, which was filled with bugs. (so much for Frank not being dependent on us) If any fruit fell, and we didn't pick it Dad would say "leave it for Frank". The same with the vegetables. We always saw him munching on a tomato, or a fig, or an apricot. We also had a big strawberry patch where you could always find Frank taking a nap. The only thing my Dad did was always keep a really big dish filled with water in case Frank needed a bath or a drink. When I got married I was 22, and Frank was still there. As the years passed I used to bring my kids there to see that old boxie. He was never sick as far as we could tell. When my parents died, my sister took over the house, and Frank is still there. Now in the Spring I bring my Grandkids there to look for Frank. He is over 60 years old as far as I can tell."

Last summer was the first year that we didn't see Frank...we didn't see him this summer either. When my Father brought him home, he said he was already an adult. Needless to say, my whole family is devastated. All the grand kids searched the yard, but we didn't find him. There was no way he could have gotten out of the yard...my Dad turtle-proofed it....and he stayed there for over 60 years without trying to leave. We are assuming that Frank died during hibernation last winter.
My Dad gave us all a love of nature, and this was my first boxie. I have some "movie pictures" (that's what we called them) of me holding Frank when I was a little girl. I wished I had taken some recent pictures of him.

 

[treshell]

OK, I am crying now

 

[Stazz]

Awww Terry thats a beautiful story !! Frank lived a good life in that garden for sure.

Nay, now that you mention it, I think my "new" love of tortoises could definitely stem from kindergarten time with Salt & Pepper. I thought they were the most amazing creatures, cos they were so old and fascinating. I still think that!

I remember I used to collect earthworms, and grab a tupperware dish, put some soil in, and keep them in there (that was a couple years after my mom used to catch me eating them like spagetti)...much to my mothers unhappiness hahaha. I loved bugs as a kid, not sure why I'm so petrified of them now hahaha.

What cool stories you all have! I love this! Yvonne that amazing, sad to hear they all escaped. It's so cool to hear most people had some kind of love or admiration for our tortie friends back in the day Good job for making this thread Nay !

 

[dmmj]

I got my first one when I was 8 a RES I still have him BTW and now 27 years later I have lots more.

 

[Isa]

Terry
What a beautiful story (and sad at the same time) my eyes are full of water right now. Because of you and your family, Frank had a beautiful life.
Thanks for sharing the story with us.