[WildLife Warrior]

Ok i had to do it...i just had to post a thread on tortoises. I have such a love for them. They are adorable little creatures...well not all are so little ha ha ha.

My first ever tortoise was a Russian Horsfields. One day i had gone to the local pet store and saw an advert selling him for £100 complete with everything he needed. Now i thought this was a very good bargain so i rang them up and the next thing i know im round the house to see him. I fell in love with him at first sight but had to wait until i had the money to get him. Once the cash came through i was round like a shot. He didn't come with any papers and i was told he was 1 year old. I knew from the start that it couldn't be right but i kept quiet and took him home.

Straight away i started to read up on him and found out That the house he had been kept in was actually doing him alot of harm. He was in a vivarium that was heated from underneath and he also had a heat lamp, there was also an abscence of a UV light too...welll my credit card had come through that day so you can guess what the cash limit went on ha ha ha....yep a brand new home and all the right equipment..i didn't care how much it cost i just knew he had to have a good home. He now lives in another new home that i built myself, it is much better than a tank and he is loving it. After his first trip to the vets we found out that my guesses had been right...he was A-a male and B-over 1 year...try 25 instead...i was also told that he was most likely taken out of the wild as a youngster due to his erratic behaviours...he doesn't hibernate, he has slight OCD's with pacing in a repetitive manner and he is a little aggressive...however i have managed to make him hand worthy. I don't want to make him too tame as he was originally wild so i want him to retain that nature...he loves to guard his territory i tell you ha ha.

However it was discovering all of this that lead me on my tortoise mission...to educate people about these amazing little reptiles and how much effort it really does take to care for one as from my first experience you can tell that not everyone is understanding and well educated. They are such amazing little creatures and deserve to be respected..not imported in horrid manners and to have the right to be cared for in the right environment. My little guy is doing great now and has such a personality for such a damaged tortoise and boy can he run ha ha ha but i wouldn't have him any other way and i know he will get a great quality of life with me now...as i was told by the vet...if i hadn't come along he would have cooked to death in his vivarium from the intense heat.....I LOVE TORTOISES WOO HOOO CRIKEY THEY ROCK!!!!

[stirling]

Very interesting W.W.Thanks for educating me about tortoises.

Best from mike.

[paul m]

Does anyone remember Harriet - the only tortoise I know of that had an obituary in the Times when she died a couple of years back?

Harriet the tortoise dies aged 175 - Times Online

[frostfire]

It's a shame not everybody takes so good care of their tortoises, apparently in China there is somebody that has gotten his pet tortoise addicted to smoking.
The first time he tried his pet on sigarettes, it was only a 'joke' and since then pet and owner have been smoking together. The owner thinks his pet is addicted now, as every time he lights one up, the turtle pops his head above water untill he is given a sigarette, which he smokes for 4 minutes.
He has even showed this 'special bond' between them to the local newspapers...

I just can't get over how ridiculous and stupid some people are. Another thing I can't even begin to understand is why the Chinese press is so positive about it, seems to be a completly different world to ours.

[paul m]

That quote has gone dead - so I shan't use TimesOnline again!
Fancy having met Charles Darwin!

BBC Learning English | The world's oldest tortoise dies

Originally Posted by paul m

Does anyone remember Harriet - the only tortoise I know of that had an obituary in the Times when she died a couple of years back?

Harriet the tortoise dies aged 175 - Times Online