Your First Tort

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Wewt

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Hey!

Just wondering what it was like when you got your very first tortoise. What species was it? How old? Did you do all of your research before you got it, or did you have to learn as you went? What surprised you most about having a tortoise?

Looking to read some cute / funny / interesting stories.

:)
 

Levi the Leopard

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I gave my best friend a Russian tortoise as a wedding gift. She had always wanted one. I got it a few weeks before the wedding so I kept it until then and had a blast caring for it. After giving it to her I knew I wanted one of my own. I did a lot of research on the Russian and stumbled upon TFO. I caught wind of "The End of Pyramiding II" and liked what I saw. The Leopard fit what I wanted pretty well and I felt up to the challenge of raising it smoothly. I found a local breeder and bought my first tortoise. Of course, I still "had" to get my Russian since that what started it all so my male Russian was next. Then the 3 girl Russians. Lastly another forum member who had to move out of the country needed to rehome her 2 leopards. They now live with me. Somewhere in that mix are the water turtles, too.
I think I'm done... pretty sure I'm done... Maybe just one more leopard since a friend has 10 hatchlings and I really want just one more.....lol. ;)
 

Wewt

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Woah, that is a lot of tortoises!

It's cool that you got to sample being a tortoise owner before "taking the plunge", haha!
 

Jacqui

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My story is rather plain and simple, I walked into a pet store (mostly fish) and in a tank they had a pair of adult Bell's hingebacks. Now I knew nothing about hingebacks or tortoises for that matter. I was keeping turtles at the time. Took me about two seconds to decide they were coming home with me (had to take those two seconds to make my children think I had thought about them before buying.) :rolleyes: :p :D

I had learned rather early on with the turtles not to believe what the animals were sold as at the stores, so we had not much more then pulled up in front of the house before my oldest went running into the house for the two turtle "bibles". There was not much on them or what their needs were. :( We were able to be sure they were Bell's hingebacks, but that was about it. These two were named Ding and Dong. They went on to have a few clutches for me, before I had to sell the female. I still have the male.

My third one was a large adult "female" yellowfoot we had name Bonnet, because we bought her at Easter time. Bonnet later became Bonner, when we finally realized it was a male.

Knowledge in those days was hard to find, so most of it was just kinda making it up as you went along. So much nicer now to have places to look and folks to ask about care and things, or just to have a shoulder to cry on.

Hmmm what surprised me the most about tortoises... may be how addicting they are. :D Might also be how your always learning and always improving how you care for them.
 

Yvonne G

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I got my first tortoise many, many years ago in the '60's. I knew nothing about tortoises, and thought that there was only one kind...a tortoise. It never occurred to me that different countries might have different tortoises. So, when we found tortoises, we just put them all in the back yard. We eventually had about 6 of them. One, a female, was very yellow. She was probably a chaco, but I didn't know anything about them. We had a built in pool and the tortoises never fell in. We put all our left-overs out in the yard for them to eat...spaghetti, salad with dressing, mashed potatoes...everything. It's a good thing there was grass out there, although I never saw them grazing. We moved to a big house out in the country and I put all the tortoises in a pen surrounded by T-posts and chicken wire. Who knew they would push under the wire and escape, but that's what they did. I lost all of them.

So, fast forward a few years to the '70's, but now all my kids are grown and moved away. My son had some box turtles and a female desert tortoise at his house, then he got a rottweiler pup. The pup wouldn't leave the turtles alone so he asked if I would take them. Well, I was older and wiser, and I made some pretty darned good pens for the animals. I joined the NTTS, a national tortoise society specializing in desert tortoises (in those days, not too many people had "exotic" tortoises). Whatever I learned about turtles and tortoises in the early days, I learned from reading their newsletter. Dr. Jartchow was their vet and he is a very knowledgeable person. So my early learnings was very good stuff. But since joining this Forum, I have had to un-learn some things and re-learn some things, and I've come to realize that tortoise-keeping isn't static. It is changing all the time, and we must change with it.

I still have that female desert tortoise that my son gave me.
 

Wewt

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Jacqui said:
Knowledge in those days was hard to find, so most of it was just kinda making it up as you went along. So much nicer now to have places to look and folks to ask about care and things, or just to have a shoulder to cry on.

Cute story! Love at first sight, for sure. It's cool that while you couldn't find much information on them they still managed to produce babies for you. Natural instincts on your part for tortoise care!

Glad I'm not the only one here who has impulse-bought. :p


Yvonne G said:
I got my first tortoise many, many years ago in the '60's. I knew nothing about tortoises, and thought that there was only one kind...a tortoise. It never occurred to me that different countries might have different tortoises. So, when we found tortoises, we just put them all in the back yard. We eventually had about 6 of them. One, a female, was very yellow. She was probably a chaco, but I didn't know anything about them. We had a built in pool and the tortoises never fell in. We put all our left-overs out in the yard for them to eat...spaghetti, salad with dressing, mashed potatoes...everything. It's a good thing there was grass out there, although I never saw them grazing. We moved to a big house out in the country and I put all the tortoises in a pen surrounded by T-posts and chicken wire. Who knew they would push under the wire and escape, but that's what they did. I lost all of them.

So, fast forward a few years to the '70's, but now all my kids are grown and moved away. My son had some box turtles and a female desert tortoise at his house, then he got a rottweiler pup. The pup wouldn't leave the turtles alone so he asked if I would take them. Well, I was older and wiser, and I made some pretty darned good pens for the animals. I joined the NTTS, a national tortoise society specializing in desert tortoises (in those days, not too many people had "exotic" tortoises). Whatever I learned about turtles and tortoises in the early days, I learned from reading their newsletter. Dr. Jartchow was their vet and he is a very knowledgeable person. So my early learnings was very good stuff. But since joining this Forum, I have had to un-learn some things and re-learn some things, and I've come to realize that tortoise-keeping isn't static. It is changing all the time, and we must change with it.

I still have that female desert tortoise that my son gave me.

Living in a cold climate, it's crazy to me to hear about tortoises just roaming around. Reminds me of an African safari or something! Too bad your collection all ran off... it'd sure be interesting to see you trying to make each one's mini-habitat perfect now, while also figuring out what they were. :p

I, too, have had to un-learn and re-learn. It's scary when you can't trust some information you get, even when it comes from someone reputable like your vet.

And you've had the same tortoise for so long!! That's awesome! :D
 

N2TORTS

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My first tort was a DT in 1973 ( about 2nd grade). My father was out on a geological expedition mapping some of the washes in the painted gorge. He brought it home for me. As I grew older and life changes, I gave it to my Aunt in the early 1980’s. To this day she still has it …and is always asking if I would like it back . But with the Reds and Cherries I have my hands full and care not to “risk” species pathogens that possibly could transmit. Although I always enjoy seeing him when the family visits occur during the holidays. Great thread and fun to read the stories.
JD~:)
 

Wewt

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N2TORTS said:
My first tort was a DT in 1973 ( about 2nd grade). My father was out on a geological expedition mapping some of the washes in the painted gorge. He brought it home for me. As I grew older and life changes, I gave it to my Aunt in the early 1980’s. To this day she still has it …and is always asking if I would like it back . But with the Reds and Cherries I have my hands full and care not to “risk” species pathogens that possibly could transmit. Although I always enjoy seeing him when the family visits occur during the holidays. Great thread and fun to read the stories.
JD~:)

Woah! Wild tort as your first, and you still get to see it. Set off quite the tortoise passion, haha!
 

Uberspooky

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My first tortoise was an Eastern Box that had been hit by a lawn mower. My dad found him and brought him home. He was missing a large section of the back of his carapace. We nurtured him back to health and very slowly, he healed. His shell never was quite the same, but it was a far cry from the poor thing my father brought home. We had an indoor solarium and he lived there for many, many years and seemed quite happy. It pains me to think of the things we fed him. Now that I'm so OCD and rigid about what my Russian gets I just cringe, lol.

When I was 3-5 we also had a ginormous tortoise in our backyard that used to come up to the sliding door to wait for his meals, along with our pet rabbit. They'd just stand there together expectantly. I wish I knew what species the tortoise was. I just remember he was all black and very large. 20-24" or more long and somewhat flat for a tortoise.
 

Wewt

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Uberspooky said:
My first tortoise was an Eastern Box that had been hit by a lawn mower. My dad found him and brought him home. He was missing a large section of the back of his carapace. We nurtured him back to health and very slowly, he healed. His shell never was quite the same, but it was a far cry from the poor thing my father brought home. We had an indoor solarium and he lived there for many, many years and seemed quite happy. It pains me to think of the things we fed him. Now that I'm so OCD and rigid about what my Russian gets I just cringe, lol.

When I was 3-5 we also had a ginormous tortoise in our backyard that used to come up to the sliding door to wait for his meals, along with our pet rabbit. They'd just stand there together expectantly. I wish I knew what species the tortoise was. I just remember he was all black and very large. 20-24" or more long and somewhat flat for a tortoise.

Aww, that's crazy! Your first tort was a poor little broken thing you had to love back to health. Very cute!

I wish I knew what kind of tortoise you had, too, haha! Comical image that- a giant tortoise and a rabbit hanging out together waiting for their supper. :p
 

klinej50

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Wow! Everyone has such interesting stories. I'm still new to caring for tortoises. But I was at the zoo with my mom and I and saw a Texas tortoise which is a smaller tortoise and my mom really wanted one. I researched for days about this tort before finally learning you have to have a permit to keep this tort as a pet. So I finally found a medium sized tort (leopard) and did research on them for weeks and preparing their home before finally ordering 1 from tortoise supply. And somehow I now have two 4 month old leopard tortoises! I'm only 16 and completely built my torts 4 by 4 table planted real plants in their enclosure built all the hides and planted seeds in pots for food.
 

Wewt

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klinej50 said:
Wow! Everyone has such interesting stories. I'm still new to caring for tortoises. But I was at the zoo with my mom and I and saw a Texas tortoise which is a smaller tortoise and my mom really wanted one. I researched for days about this tort before finally learning you have to have a permit to keep this tort as a pet. So I finally found a medium sized tort (leopard) and did research on them for weeks and preparing their home before finally ordering 1 from tortoise supply. And somehow I now have two 4 month old leopard tortoises! I'm only 16 and completely built my torts 4 by 4 table planted real plants in their enclosure built all the hides and planted seeds in pots for food.


I love how passionate you are and how researched you were before you purchased. It's so easy to just buy one, once you see their cute little faces, and then have to figure it out from there. Awesome job!!
 

klinej50

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Thanks! I was pretty upset when I learned that most of the information of the Internet was outdated but I soon learned the right way from the forum. Still learning new things everyday!
 

Wewt

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klinej50 said:
Thanks! I was pretty upset when I learned that most of the information of the Internet was outdated but I soon learned the right way from the forum. Still learning new things everyday!


It is super hard to find good information out there for tortoises- especially for people who want more from their tortoises than for them to merely survive-- they want them to thrive and be fabulous! I'm sure your tort is awesome. :)
 

AnnV

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Wow, good topic! I love all the stories.
I am fairly new to tort keeping, but I have loved turtles and torts all my life. I am guilty of having one of the little green turtles they used to sell along with the horrid plastic containers with the palm tree center. :-( I also had a box turtle for a short while, as a youngster, but really had nowhere to house it so I traded it off to a better equipped neighborhood kid.
Over the years, I often thought about getting a tort, but having no idea there were so many devotees out there buying, selling, and trading, I never acted on it. I had a bookcase full of books about turtles and torts (none really pertaining to keeping them, though). I even joined some clubs, once the internet came into play.
I had only ever seen box turtles at the pet stores. I knew box turtles needed to hibernate and didnt want to worry about that sort of thing.
Finally, just over 2 years ago, I decided I might have a little pet that could live at my dog grooming salon. I thought about a lizard or gecko maybe. But in the end, after some research, I decided on finally getting my tort. Or torts, as it turned out.
My 2 redfoots have outgrown their enclosure there much faster than I had anticipated.
They now have a pen at home, outdoors. And I just received my Indian Star boy. He will keep me company at work until he grows some. We bought a house in FL recently. Will be moving from CT within a year, hopefully, and will be able to have them outside much of the time!
Looking forward to more stories!

Ann from CT
 

TortoiseLuv0131

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My first tort is my only tort...I've only had her for a year :p. Basically I just saw the ad for her in PetSmart and without ever having seen a Russian I informed my parents that that was what I wanted for my birthday. And...surprise...or not so surprise, that's what I got :D. Lucky little me!
 

Terry Allan Hall

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My first was originally my grandfather's pet, a Hermann's (probably an Eastern) named Jennifer (namesake of one of my present torts)...he found her during his time in the Merchant Marines, during WWII, I think in Greece. The story he told was that he'd been out drinking ouzo and tripped over her, and, as it was common for MM ships to have mascots, and his ship already had a goat, a few dogs, a couple parrots, and other pets, he figured nobody'd care about a tortoise. And, as we are of the Little Turtle Sub-Clan of the Western Cherokee Wolf Clan, it seemed appropriate.

As a child, one of my favorite duties was to take Jennifer her breakfast, either out in the garden (warm part of the year) or kitchen (cold part of the year).

When he passed, in '74, I inherited her, and had her for her last 19 years...altogether, she was a Hall for about 50 years, from '43 'til '74. :cool:
 

Wewt

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Super awesome stories, everyone! Keep them coming! Love drinking my morning coffee while reading them. :)


Terry Allan Hall said:
My first was originally my grandfather's pet, a Hermann's (probably an Eastern) named Jennifer (namesake of one of my present torts)...he found her during his time in the Merchant Marines, during WWII, I think in Greece. The story he told was that he'd been out drinking ouzo and tripped over her, and, as it was common for MM ships to have mascots, and his ship already had a goat, a few dogs, a couple parrots, and other pets, he figured nobody'd care about a tortoise. And, as we are of the Little Turtle Sub-Clan of the Western Cherokee Wolf Clan, it seemed appropriate.

As a child, one of my favorite duties was to take Jennifer her breakfast, either out in the garden (warm part of the year) or kitchen (cold part of the year).

When he passed, in '74, I inherited her, and had her for her last 19 years...altogether, she was a Hall for about 50 years, from '43 'til '74. :cool:

That's insane! You got to look after a war veteran tort! So cool!
 

alysciaingram

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My first tortoise was a gift. I had been talking about how I wanted a big tortoise roaming around my back yard for quite some time but always thought of them as one would view owning a tiger or lion. My high school sweetheart surprised me one afternoon with Bowser, a sulcata. He brought her home in a salad container. I had done a small amount of research, but nothing in depth, and I was definitely NOT prepared at all. All of a sudden I realized that I had my dream pet, and rushed out to the store to make her a tortoise table (which I still have and use to grow food in). He and I broke up some time after high school and I met my husband, who didn't even know people could own tortoises. It was quite a surprise to him when we moved in together and I brought her with me. I think he expected a cat to be honest.
She has lived in four states with me, and a fantastic companion. I call her my dog tortoise. Now I have four sulcatas but Bowser lives alone in her 15x8 enclosure. I'm excited to know I'm going to have her for the large majority of my life.
 
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