misguided experts

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Posted by Max Duggan on January 12, 2001 at 11:52:56:

I have been watching this forum along with many other information sources for 6 or 7 months now during which time I gathered information, formulated an informed opinion, and chose to purchase a Leopard tortoise. The help and guidance that I have received from this forum is greatly appreciated.
The purpose of todays post is to relay a story of what was to me; a big surprise and very enlightening.
I was in the office yesterday engaged in idle conversation when someone asked me how Rex was doing. (Rex is of course my tort) I talked at some length about how he seems to be very much at home in his new surroundings and is eating like a cow. While I was describing the outdoor enclosure that I am planning to build in the spring I was interrupted by my secratary who just had to offer her expert opinion.
She told me that I didn't need railroad ties and low ground cover. Don't bother to plant grazing grasses for it. I always had box turtles when I was a kid. You should save yourself a lot of trouble and do what I did. Just DRILL A HOLE IN ITS SHELL AND PUT A STRING THROUGH IT. It can walk around your yard wherever you stake it out. You can put some lettuce and tomatoes in the yard and it will be just fine. To say that I was surprised by the words escaping the mouth of this otherwise intelligent and educated woman would be an understatement. As I tried to enlighten her as to the stress that this may cause a tortoise she defended her position as an expert because "it always worked for me". As I said: enlightening. I wondered if another person in my place would have taken the advise and drilled the tort. How many people out of ten would "save themselves a lot of trouble"?
The world is filled with great varieties of people. They amuse us and educate us. We should all be careful which expert advise we choose to follow.
Have a nice weekend. Me and Rex are off to the vet for our first checkup.

Follow Ups:

Re: misguided experts Heather 01/13/01 (0)
Re: misguided experts Giovanni 01/12/01 (0)
Re: misguided experts JM 01/12/01 (0)

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: I have been watching this forum along with many other information sources for 6 or 7 months now during which time I gathered information, formulated an informed opinion, and chose to purchase a Leopard tortoise. The help and guidance that I have received from this forum is greatly appreciated. : The purpose of todays post is to relay a story of what was to me; a big surprise and very enlightening. : I was in the office yesterday engaged in idle conversation when someone asked me how Rex was doing. (Rex is of course my tort) I talked at some length about how he seems to be very much at home in his new surroundings and is eating like a cow. While I was describing the outdoor enclosure that I am planning to build in the spring I was interrupted by my secratary who just had to offer her expert opinion. : She told me that I didn't need railroad ties and low ground cover. Don't bother to plant grazing grasses for it. I always had box turtles when I was a kid. You should save yourself a lot of trouble and do what I did. Just DRILL A HOLE IN ITS SHELL AND PUT A STRING THROUGH IT. It can walk around your yard wherever you stake it out. You can put some lettuce and tomatoes in the yard and it will be just fine. To say that I was surprised by the words escaping the mouth of this otherwise intelligent and educated woman would be an understatement. As I tried to enlighten her as to the stress that this may cause a tortoise she defended her position as an expert because "it always worked for me". As I said: enlightening. I wondered if another person in my place would have taken the advise and drilled the tort. How many people out of ten would "save themselves a lot of trouble"? : The world is filled with great varieties of people. They amuse us and educate us. We should all be careful which expert advise we choose to follow. : Have a nice weekend. Me and Rex are off to the vet for our first checkup.

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