kingsnake.com - reptile and amphibian classifieds, breeders, forums, photos, videos and more

return to main index

  mobile - desktop
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on YouTube link to us on LinkedIn
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research  
Click here for LLL Reptile & Supply
This Space Available
3 months for $50.00
Locate a business by name: click to list your business
search the classifieds. buy an account
events by zip code list an event
Search the forums             Search in:
News & Events: Herp Photo of the Day: False Coral Snake . . . . . . . . . .  Herp Photo of the Day: Bearded Dragon . . . . . . . . . .  Greater Cincinnati Herp Society Meeting - Apr 02, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Calusa Herp Society Meeting - Apr 04, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Southwestern Herp Society Meeting - Apr 06, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Hamburg Reptile Show - Apr. 13, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  St. Louis Herpetological Society - Apr 14, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  San Diego Herp Society Meeting - Apr 16, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Suncoast Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  DFW Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Colorado Herp Society Meeting - Apr 20, 2024 . . . . . . . . . .  Chicago Herpetological Society Meeting - Apr 21, 2024 . . . . . . . . . . 

Re: Update on Virgil -- now 4 months old -- and thoughts on novice owners


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Tortoise Forum ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Terry on January 15, 2001 at 20:00:33:

In Reply to: Update on Virgil -- now 4 months old -- and thoughts on novice owners posted by Lisa on January 15, 2001 at 17:43:18:


Hi Lisa,
sounds like Virgil is doing just fine.

As far as novice keepers, well it's when those cute little hatchlings grow up that problems start.

I'm lucky I know to live in a warm climate. But at one point before we had the overnight shed, I bought my first sulcata indoors for the night.
She was still small, around 30 lbs, we emptied the spare bedroom and it was all hers.
Even though it was only for overnight, it didn't work.
She made holes in the walls, stripped off paint and the smell from poop and urine was bad. We mopped the floors daily and cleaned everything, but it was pretty nasty and very hard work.

And this was just for overnight, during the day she went out! Plus she was only 30 lbs!
For most households, housing a 100 lb or more, messy, smelly tortoise in the spare room isn't going to work.
Plus when fully grown, or even as sub adults, sulcatas require alot of space. They are very active and will eat you out of house and home.
If I didn't grow hibiscus, mulberry, opuntia, dandelions etc it would be expensive to feed my sulcatas. They also graze all day.
A fully grown sulcats eats a huge amount of food, then poops it all out, stools larger than the biggest dogs and more of them!

Outdoors on a grazing diet the stools have a very high grass content and are quite dry. They dry up quickly and look like hay clumps, the smell is minimal.
Indoors the smell can get bad and the floor stained from the urine.

So when they grow up most of those cute little hatchlings, now 150 lb monsters! need rehoming.
Only the truely dedicated can properly keep these huge, active, messy torts indoors.

There are people who have the means and the dedication to do it. But for the average household it just isn't going to work.

That's when the torts are dumped, sold back into the pet trade. Or if they're lucky find good new homes.

Thousands of sulcata hatchlings have flooded the market over the past few years. Before it was larger wc sulcatas that were available. Being very prolific thousands of hatchlings are produced and sold every year.It's now illegal to import wc sulcatas.


As these hatchlings grow into huge adults, many of the ones in colder areas of the States will become unwanted pets.

I don't think anyone is saying that those in cooler climates shouldn't have sulcatas. But the fact is, that unless you are truely dedicated, have the financial means and the space it isn't going to work.

Not talking about you, but the typical/average household.

Okay, that's my ramble for the day!!
Terry.



Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Tortoise Forum ] [ FAQ ]