Tortoise - Family Pet

[NoRagrets 1125]

Wife and kids are really putting the pressure on me to adopt a sulcata from another family. He’s about 80 lbs and 8yrs old. I have a decent yard but not a lot of grass because of the oaks; other half is paved patio area and flower beds. I have a dog, cat, snake (kid’s), and bearded dragon (kid’s).

Does anyone have any experience with these things? Apparently they live longer than we do. Can’t wait to be 96 yrs old trying to take my 150lb tortoise to the vet! Wife and kids really want him, and they do a good job with the other pets.

What am I getting myself into?

[shadow_operative2.0 15941]

@mchookem had a turtle, maybe she can help. 

[fattyflattie 4639]

I know a guy with one. Eats a shitload of lettuce but seems like a pretty cool pet (member of the family for them).  But something like 2 heads a day appetite. 

[ROFL BOX 6647]

Around 12 years ago, I had a gutter customer who had an "older" (to humans) turtle of some sort & IIRC, it was around 2½ ft, maybe 3 ft. long.

 

They had a well fenced in (metal) back yard that was maybe 4× the size of your average suburban neighborhood yard.

The turtle had worn a path all the way around the perimeter to where everything in that route was hard pack & it also nipped @ the bottom edge of their Masonite siding everywhere it could reach; supposedly it did this over the course of around 6 or 7 years.

They also had a decent large home made dog house for it with a pair of heat lamps for Winter livin' & a kiddy pool dug into the ground for some shallow water action whenever it wanted to use that. 

That's about all I can volunteer for you.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13507]

Thought I had left a post on here before. @NoRagrets I’ve been served up a channel or two on TikTok about people owning tortoises and they’re decades into ownership. I assume there are YouTube channels as well.

being 55, I don’t want anything that could live more than 20 years unless there was clear understanding that someone else (younger) wanted them.

[Upgrayedd 5810]

After my grandfather passed, brother and I inherited two desert tortoises that were my dad’s when he was our age (elementary school).

They are shitting machines.  Love to eat snails.  

Escape artists.  They would burrow under the fence and just cruise down the sidewalk.  We ultimately wrote our address in nail polish on the shells.

We were always told they were two males and we would joke about our gay tortoises since on liked to mount the other.  Turns out one was female (found eggs).  We ended up sending them to a desert tortoise sanctuary. I like to think they are probably still around getting busy.

 

[futureman 22440]

 

On 8/10/2024 at 8:14 AM, fattyflattie said:

seems like a pretty cool pet (member of the family for them)

can a turtle have personality?

[HornOnTheBayou 8904]

Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charming motherfuckin' turtle.

[Brew 3049]

Turtles/tortoises make terrible pets, their life expectancies are too long. They end up getting released into the wild (terrible idea and usually a death sentence) or sent to a “sanctuary” that is already over filled with “pets”. They are also not the cleanest animals around. Just say no.

[High Plains Drifter 11024]

 

They like to roam. You really need a large space, much bigger than a typical back yard. And as mentioned above, they are escape artists. 

[Vegas64 673]

4 hours ago, Brew said:

Turtles/tortoises make terrible pets, their life expectancies are too long. They end up getting released into the wild (terrible idea and usually a death sentence) or sent to a “sanctuary” that is already over filled with “pets”. They are also not the cleanest animals around. Just say no.

This.

Have your daughter watch Leo a few times on Netflix to scratch the itch of old turtles and lizards.

[ROFL BOX 6647]

On 8/11/2024 at 10:11 AM, Upgrayedd said:

Escape artists.  They would burrow under the fence and just cruise down the sidewalk.

They don't really have anything else to do with their day.

[WhatTheBuck 28771]

On 8/8/2024 at 11:13 PM, NoRagrets said:

What am I getting myself into?

Ragrets.