return to main index

  mobile - desktop
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on YouTube link to us on LinkedIn
Click here for LLL Reptile & Supply  
click here for Rodent Pro
Mice, Rats, Rabbits, Chicks, Quail
Available Now at RodentPro.com!
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 . . . . . . . . . . 
Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
full banner - advertise here .50¢/1000 views
Polar Rodents - US based provider of frozen rats and mice.
pool banner - $50 year

AB Press: Tortoise is 80-year obligation

[ Login ] [ User Prefs ] [ Search Forums ] [ Back to Main Page ] [ Back to Sulcata & Spurred Tortoises ] [ Reply To This Message ]
[ Register to Post ]

Posted by: W von Papineäu at Thu Aug 16 08:01:40 2007  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by W von Papineäu ]  
   

EDMONTON JOURNAL (Alberta) 11 August 07 Pet tortoise an 80-year obligation; Zoo steps in after owners give up Delei (Jeff Holubitsky)
Edmonton: When Delei came home from a pet store, her shell was so small she could nestle in her owners' palms.
Now, after four years of loving care, the sulcata tortoise weighs almost 16 kilograms. The Edmonton Valley Zoo's newest resident was brought in by owners who no longer wanted a pet expected to weigh more than 90 kilograms by the time she is 15 years old.
"A lot of people get pets without really looking into what it takes to take care of them," Jesse Popowicz, Delei's caregiver at the zoo, said Thursday.
"When these guys are in a pet store they are absolutely tiny and really, really cute and people don't realize they are going to get huge."
In the wild, sulcata tortoises range from the southern edge of the Sahara Desert down through arid African countries including Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia. "They are common enough to be found in pet stores but they are threatened in the wild," Popowicz said.
They are the world's third-largest tortoise species, with the capability of living 60 to 80 years. But to live that long they need a lot of room, and special diets consisting of hay and salads.
Delei's former owners had a backyard enclosure behind their Edmonton house to allow the cold-blooded creature to get outside on warm summer days. The rest of the time, the healthy tortoise was kept inside. At the zoo, Delei also appears to enjoy going outside on hot days, but spends cooler weather inside the zoo's Saito Centre, next to an enclosure where a recently surrendered pet fennec fox named Todd also makes its home.
"We get a lot of calls from people with reptiles and parrots, but we can't take all of them, so we have to be pretty selective," Popowicz said. "Some people don't realize what they get into with pets."

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/local/story.html?id=dc1aa4b4-b0db-453a-88fa-41f666622b9c&k=7042


   

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]

  • You Are HereAB Press: Tortoise is 80-year obligation - W von Papineäu, Thu Aug 16 08:01:40 2007

>> Next topic:  part two of the sulcata saga... - weebeasties, Fri Aug 17 10:35:48 2007
<< Previous topic:  Edible sod grass? - SulcataPappa, Tue Aug 14 23:28:09 2007