Turtles

ITS THE WEEKEND!

positivethinkingforlosers:

metaphorically–imawhore:

@positivethinkingforlosers answered your question “Help?”

no tank you need a terrarium and it needs to be large and open aired. Tortoises don’t understand glass and can beat their heads against the glass till they die 🙁 some get VERY big so be sure to go small. UVB lighting and temps must be correct. DM me

I’ll message you in a minute. Do bear in mind that I don’t have a lot of money and I want to tortoise to have a good life, so that may be an issue. I will not buy an animal if I know I won’t be able to care for it.

well your caveat is actually the best thing I’ve read so far and makes me want to help you in any way I can. There are creative ways to create enclosures and what not.. there are costly things like lighting that are not negotiable. I am seriously lacking funds just in general but I make the choice to ensure my shell leader ( cause lets be real… she owns me and I do her bidding) has everything she needs to be happy and healthy. 

I run a blog here called Tort-time (check it out!) and I try to be a good balance of ‘lets acknowledge the glory that is tortoise’ and providing info that is helpful/real considering ( and this was the inspiration for the blog) SO MUCH terrible terrible care info out there! Particularly given out by pet stores. 

if we’re being real? Don’t buy a tortoise. Adopt one in need. Buying from a shop will almost always mean you get an illegally imported (aka someone went into the wild and ripped a small tortoise from their home and smuggled them into the US for someone to buy at petsmart). This means an almost sure bet they have worms, health issues etc. All of this is treatable and correctable in many cases with the best proper care … which you definitely need to know before hand. 

They are also a lifetime commitment. you plan to care for your tortoise properly (THANK YOU!!!!) and that means he/she will grow and develop for 40+ years and you have to know that, plan for that, and all it entails. There’s info out there, there are forms out there should something happen to you (ensuring your tortoise has proper care), and LOTS of smart people who have done research willing to share with you throughout your ‘journey’ with you shell friend. If you want mailing lists with people that run rescues that are willing to give advice, I’ll give you all the emails I know, I’ve managed to find (for specific species not all) care sheets that come from serious herpetology researchers and people who care for the animals on a regular basis. One thing I definitely learned is that the care sheets you get and pet stores and generic books are almost completely wrong! They tell you to get a tank, don’t talk to you about size, give you crappy info about lighting and temp (the most important part except maybe for diet) and ignore humidity completely. 

in fact, its that horribly inaccurate info and my little shell angel that got me writing about and blogging about turtles and tortoises. everything I was told in the beginning was wrong. if I hadn’t immediately started researching I would have caused her irrevocable harm and not noticed her obvious scarring from what was once shell rot. I was told everything wrong! I owe so much of what I’ve learned (and the support in the first few years) to the Turtle Rescue of Long Island and the mailing list they have with experienced care takers willing to tell you what’s wrong and why and how to fix it. 

So!  I guess this is to say, I hear you and I will share all the info I have with you, openly and honestly and would never tell you adopting a tortoise is a good idea if I don’t believe it so. the last 7 years, writing and sharing and learning info about these amazing animals that I’ve fallen head over heels for has become my life. I respect that you respect their worth and that makes me want to chat with you even more. 🙂 

So yeah! DM me here or at Tort-time (also Tumblr but tort-time.com  as well)

and If your life circumstances allow, you’ll soon understand exactly why I became the minion of this little shell with a big personality instantly (and do everything I can to make sure she has the best life possible)