Yvonne

[Rhyno47]

Hello Yvonne, I remember you saying that you take care of over 100 tortoises/turtles. This fascinates me, and I was wondering if you would like to share just what types they are, any trends among them, or just anything interesting you have found out. Also I was wondering just how all that got started. Thanks, you basically have my dream as a backyard.

 

[Yvonne G]

I think I've told this story before, so I'll try to give the reader's digest version so as to not bore anyone who's already heard it:

When my son came home from the service and got his own home, he used to go around to the pet shops, just window shopping. Because of this, he ended up with a few sick box turtles that he nursed back to health. The guys he worked with knew of his interest in turtles, and one day a co-worker's dad hit a desert tortoise with the disc of his tractor while he was discing between his grape vines. They gave that tortoise to my son. (the dad put Play-doh in the crack on the carapace and I still have that tortoise today, 30 years later)

After a while, my son bought a rottweiller pup. He had a hard time keeping the pup out of the turtle pens and he asked me if I would take the turtles and tortoise.

Way back then (in the dark ages) I didn't have a computer, and even if I did, there wasn't the online resources that there are now. I had to do my research by buying any turtle and tortoise books I could find. I also joined the National Turtle & Tortoise Society, based in Arizona. They put out a pretty nice newsletter and I learned a lot from them. But most of my knowledge came from hands on experience.

When people hear that you have a turtle, they bring you more...my neighbor found this...I don't want this any more...this is sick will you take it...etc. And I realized there was a need for either a club or a rescue in our area. I attended a few board meetings in Arcadia and let the California Turtle & Tortoise club know that I was interested in starting a branch of their club in our area. That was the Cen-Val Chapter of CTTC.

I moved on from those first box turtles and that one desert tortoise to Russian tortoises. A friend and I went down to L.A. and visited a few of the wholesalers. We bought Russian tortoises for $5 each. In order to get that price, we had to buy 30 at a time, but we had no trouble selling them to our club members. The conditions the tortoises were kept in at the wholesaler were pretty bad. The Russians were actually the only chelonia I bought. Everything else in my collection came from rescuing or my tortoise-partner in Philadelphia.

So I now have:

6.8 Russians (4. of which are up for adoption)
2.5.18 Gopherus agassizii (desert tortoises) (.18 of which are up for adoption)
0.1.8 Gopherus berlandieri (Texas tortoises) (.8 of which are up for adoption)
1.0 Geochelone sulcata (can't remember his new latin name)
10.20.4 Terrapene carolina triunguis (3-toed box turtles) (I'd like to keep a few, but most are up for adoption)
1.0.1 T.c. major (Gulf Coast box turtle)
1.0 T.c. ornata (Ornate box turtle)
1.1 ornate/3toe cross
1.0.2 T.c. bauri (Florida box turtles)
2.4.6 T.c.carolina(eastern box turtles)
0.0.2 T.c.luteola (desert box turtles)
0.2.1 Geochelone pardalis leopard tortoises
1.1 Manouria emys emys (Asian forest tortoise)
1.3 Manouria emsy phayrei (Asian mountain tortoise)
5.0 intergrade Mep/Mee
1.1 Dipsochelys dusumieri (Aldabran)
2.1.3 G. denticulata (yellow foot)
0.1 Phrynops hillari (Argentine sideneck)
0.6 Trachemys scripta elegans (red ear slider) up for adoption
4.8 Actinemys marmorata (Pacific pond turtle) rehabbed but too injured to release
2.1 Trionychidae ?? (Florida soft shelled turtles) 1. up for adoption
0.1 Pelomedusa subrufa (African side neck) up for adoption
0.1 ? (diamond-back terrapin)

I don't think I've left anybody out.

I'm retired from the phone company, and most of my energy goes to taking care of the land and the tortoises. I really enjoy building pens, sheds, fences, etc. I love working outside. The tortoises are not treated as pets, as I love watching them as wild animals, and not as humanized beggers.

My favorits are the box turtles and the Manouria.

Sorry to be so long winded. I LOVE my turtles and tortoises!!

(As I was re-reading this I realized that I DID buy a couple hatchling box turtles from a couple people here on the forum)

 

[bikerchicspain]

I would love to help you adopt but living in spain its a bit far to travel...lol
Unfortunatley out here a tortoise is like gold dust.everyone wants one for free, especially when one of the biggest natural reserves for the Testudo Graeca is just down the road in Lorca.Its fantastic to see them in their natural habitat..

 

[Rhyno47]

Your right when you say that when people know you have turtles they give you more. Ive come across that many times. My problem with the people that do that is their logic. Why when people see a snake or a bug the have to kill it, and when they see ducks they chase them, and when people see a turtle they have to rescue it? Most of the box turtles I have been given were just walking across the street or someones backyard. The people see them and have an urge to "rescue'' them like they are helpless. My most recent box turtle Eli, who is a month old now had survived being exhumed from the ground with a spade shovel, then thrown into an aquarium of mud. His tail is still broken. People need to understand that turtles, even though they dont seem safe as they waddle around, do not need our rescue unless they are harmed. They have been on earth a lot longer than we have so they are doing something right. So enjoy them from afar.

If i had the money and resources I would love to start up a rescue organization. There is a big need for that around here. There are so many tortoises on Maryland Turtle and Tortoise Rescue's site that need a good home. Its main type is the sulcata. So many people around and up North of here get them and cannot take care of them like people down south can and they end up giving them to adoption agencies. Most people dont know who to give them to and they end up at humane societies. And animal left there for too long will get euthanized. I highly doubt that many people adopt them from these places.

 

[Isa]

What a beautiful story Yvonne, do you realize that because of you and your huge heart, A LOT of turtles and tortoises are living a better life. I know I already said it but I will say it again, you are a star Yvonne.

 

[gummybearpoop]

Yvonne you have a wonderful story and a great heart!

 

[Yvonne G]

Please don't make me sound so altruistic! Its just something that I do. I'm a normal person just like the rest of you, no better, no worse. I just happen to have a bit of land and a love of tortoises. I normally adopt out everything that comes in to me, but that's not to say that if a female yellowfoot came in I wouldn't keep her! I have feathered my own nest a bit too.

 

[Stephanie Logan]

I notice you don't have any redfoots. Is that because you've never been given one, or are they too high maintenance with their humidity and diet requirements?

Also, which kind of tortoise is your favorite, in terms of outgoing personality/tolerating or interacting with human animals?

 

[-EJ]

Interesting thread.

 

[Yvonne G]

I wouldn't have any Yellowfoots either except a gal in the club wanted to find a good home for her two females and pleaded with me to keep them rather than adopt them out. Then I had the chance to get a male from TSA, but he was sick and later died. Another guy in the club was having wife trouble and he had to part with all his tortoises. He sold them all except for a young male YF which he gave to me and still have him. One of the original females has since died. Then a couple summers ago someone in the L.A. area contacted me to take her RF's. She had 3 juvenile cherry heads and 3 juvenile RF's. She also had a juvenile male YF. I adopted out the RF's and kept the YF. I don't want to diversify any more than I already have and my YF pen isn't large enough to add anymore animals to it.

My favorites are the box turtles because they are so personable. Then the Asians same reason.