Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What sort of problems have you encountered with a larger tortoise?
Just now I kept hearing something against the house, I went outside there she was trying to wedge herself between the house & the telephone box. I had to use a mulberry leaf to lure her away then block off that spot.
Our biggest problem used to be that she'd get under the car & we'd have to jack up the car to get her out of there. Today she can't get under the car so now it's her wooden dog house/hide box.
The problem we have off & on is that we know what the weather channel says, she doesn't understand that she has to go to her heated home when it's going to dip down into really chilly weather at night.
Last week we had a couple of nights with record lows, it got down to 60-61 here & that's cold in July. She was in her wooden house, she needed to go home where at least her heat mat would be turned on.
I was on the phone, looked out the window & there was DH rolling a big giant tortoise in the wheel barrow ROFL!!!!
With just her heat mat on it was only 72 in her house that night, I can imagine she'd have gotten just a little too chilly if she hadn't been moved.

Another problem we didn't expect..
We have spineless cactus growing in a corner of the yard, we planted it for her but we need to allow it time to grow before we can harvest any for her. We had it fenced off with ranch fencing she could see through, one day I went outside, the cactus was all torn up & there she was stuck in the fence that she went through. So much for that fence. We now have the cactus blocked off with a thick vinyl lattice that she can't really see through.
However, if she can go through ranch fencing at 50 lbs.. what will she do to chainlink fencing at 100lbs?
We didn't wait to find out, we got rid of the chain link & had a brick fence built. :-x
The gates have chainlink in them but DH found a thicker chain link made to keep hogs from going through it so he used that instead of the regular residential chain link. I still wonder though if she'll tear that up one day...
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PHRatz

I can see the headlines now.... Giant Tortoise Loose in Small West Texas Town. Below that is a picture similar to a scene from a Godzilla movie. People running and screaming, buildings collapsing under the giant foot of the 50' tall tortoise!

Yeah everybody walk away at a normal pace because it'll take her 20 minutes to reach you! ROFL!!!

I saw her out grazing yesterday morning right in the middle of the spot where wild dove, sparrows, & Mexican ground squirrels were eating. The ground squirrels that had babies have an entire tunnel system going on here now inside & outside the fence both, they also like the milo that I feed to the birds.
I don't mind because I think the squirrels drove the gophers away, they're gone and the squirrels don't tear up the land the way gophers do.

Anyway she lumbered into their space, the birds all backed off & stared at her but when her back is turned to them, they all ignore her lol.
I've seen rabbits grazing along side her before, they aren't the least bit afraid of her.

People who see her for the first time always ask: "is that a big snapping turtle?"
pffffffffffffft
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PHRatz

Another problem I had last fall was because of rain.
It rained enough that the lawn sprouted mushrooms. I picked I believe somewhere around 120 mushrooms. The one I didn't find in time, she ate.
It made her vomit. She was 43-44 lbs at the time, and was vomiting. Holy cow what am I gonna do?!!!?
I called the vet who's great about my critters, I was told to "bring her in right now" I did but I had a very hard time getting her in the car so I could haul her to the vet. Next time the vet will have to make a house call, thankfully they DO make house calls.
It turned out that vomiting was the best thing she could've done, it got the toxins out & she didn't need much treatment, the vet gave her an injection & she took an oral medication for 2-3 days & was fine.

The year before that she ate some mulberries that fell off the tree & they made her sick at her stomach. Tortoises seem to have good memories because this year when they fell off the tree she didn't eat any but the box turtles loved it!
I hope that if we sprout mushrooms again, she'll remember them too & avoid them.
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PHRatz

that I never expected started when we got the new fence built.
Destiny used to always poop outside in the yard while she was grazing. Ever since we got the new fence that she can't see through she's pooping regularly in her house.
I just was outside to check on her, now I have a huge mess that I have to clean up.. AGAIN!
I don't know why she decided she needs to do this in her house all the time. I wonder if it's a territorial marking thing going on?
She did it in the lawn to mark territory when she could see animals outside her fence & now that she can't see them she has to mark her home? I dunno but I wish she'd stop doing this.
Ok I'm off to get my rubber gloves now...
lol
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PHRatz

she is approx. fifteen inches-and discovered that she could ALMOST fit under the privacy fence in just one spot of the yard-got herself wedged and I was about to panic and tear the fence down to get her unstuck when I managed to pull enough dirt underneath her out of the way to get her unstuck.
Every time she is out now, she goes right back to that one spot. Great memory.
I have a pond in my yard- one of those preformed plastic ones, and I am currently trying to figure out a way to make it unaccessible to her, yet still look nice-so that I do not have to worry about her heading over there and falling in.

Rapunzel, I understand your panic!
Our tortoise ran away from home once I think it was 2 summers ago & I think she was probably about the size of yours when this happened. (btw I consider 15 inches to being on the way to pretty darn large)
We had chain link fence then & there was a spot where there wasn't enough rebar hammered into the ground so she actually did get through that spot. She did the same thing yours did, after we blocked off the spot she would go right back to it, over & over & over. We were very lucky that when she ran away from home, she got as far as 3 inches away lol!
This year when we got the better fence that she can't see through, I felt so relieved!
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PHRatz

Forgot to ask.. do you have any photos of your tortoise that you can share?
I love to look at people's pics.
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PHRatz

Geeze I'm so forgetful I forgot to mention this about the pond.
We bought this thick vinyl lattice fencing stuff that's white to block off the cactus, it's really pretty. It looks so much better than the ranch fencing we used to have there.
I wonder if something like it would look ok around your pond?

We've been searching for lawn statues & so far haven't found any turtles like we want but apparently because I searched on line, my info got out there & I started receiving lawn & garden catalogs by snail mail sheesh...

Anyway one of them shows photos of vinyl materials they call border fencding & it's made to hide things in your lawn, it looks really good so maybe something like what I saw in the catalog would work for your pond.
Of course they have a website, the url is
www.ImprovementsCatalog.com
If you see some of the photos & like them then maybe you can find similar materials at your local Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Lowe's etc..
(I'm the type that needs photos to look at for projects because I have no imagination lol)
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PHRatz

Destiny CAN get under the car at the very back of it, next to the back wheels.
When did I find her there? At 12:30 PM when I needed to be in a very important meeting at 1:00 PM, of course!
LOL
Luckily although I don't like to give her fruits, I was able to lure her out with a strawberry, far enough to back the car out & get her to go somewhere else. I made it to my meeting on time. sheesh!
What a BRAT she is!
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PHRatz

Well, quit parking the car in HER pen! One of these days you're going to find her under it and the back wheels up in the air. Either that or it'll be pushed forward several feet

>>Well, quit parking the car in HER pen! One of these days you're going to find her under it and the back wheels up in the air. Either that or it'll be pushed forward several feet

ROFL!!!
HER pen is our fenced in yard that includes the driveway & carport. I guess we could start parking on the street to accomidate her LOL!
Next time we buy a car it's going to have to either be low enough that she can't get under it or high enough like a pickup truck that she can easily move about under it. Our tortoise is going to have to be the deciding factor on our next automobile purchase.
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PHRatz

I don't even know why you're thinking about it. You know you're going to NEED a pickup with a ramp to haul her to the vet from time to time. And why question parking on the street to accomadate the princess? We know who rules there

>>I don't even know why you're thinking about it. You know you're going to NEED a pickup with a ramp to haul her to the vet from time to time. And why question parking on the street to accomadate the princess? We know who rules there

You have me pegged don't ya?
LOL
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PHRatz

Thank you very much for the info- I have to have pictures too, lol.
I have misplaced my camera- soon as I find it again I will post pictures. I am rescuing another one next week-two bulldozers in the yard....cool.

I am rescuing another one next week-two bulldozers in the yard....cool.

OH MY GOSH!! Good for you, I don't know if I could handle taking in another or not. High 5 to you for that!
Good luck & when you do get pictures, get pics of both of them when the new one arrives.
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PHRatz