DeadMouse
Hungry, hungry Hognose!
I have to agree with the comments surrounding the negativity in owning a sulcata considering we ourselves have had one for the last 13+ years bought as a hatchling. These are definitely not pets to be taken lightly at all. You can read all the literature, you can think you fully understand these animals and then you realize that all of that is pretty pointless until you actually have to take care of one. You might think that at 19 that you understand the care and requirements of taking on such an animal, but the truth is, until you are fully settled with a house of your own, this is more than just a responsibility. Again, I speak solely on experience.
My wife (then girlfriend) purchased Scooter over 13 years ago while she lived in an apartment and he fit nicely in the palm of your hand. Even back then I was very skeptical about her buying such a pet because of the then scant literature regarding them that still warned of their size. But she was pretty sure that by the time that he would get to "that" size, she'd be settled and be in her own house. Well, a few years later, we moved in together into a rental house and had a decent back yard for scooter who had then gotten to be about the size of a frisbee, so he was fairly safe to let roam around. Honestly, he didn't dig too much or do that much damage back then, he was still fairly small, but he would notice when the side gate was open (when I would mow the yard or just to take out the trash) and he would literally run for the gate to get out. Fortunately we always watched him and he never got away, that is, until my in-laws ended up with him, but I digress.
After a few years, and 2 rental houses later, my girlfriend and I embarked on very hard times and ultimately split up and moved back into our parents homes. Scooter at this point was about 4 or 5 and weighed an easily 50-60 pounds. At her parents, Scooter was getting restless no longer feeling he knew his surroundings so he started to dig some good sized holes in the yard, but after a few months that resided and his only occupation, other than eating everything around him, was to get out of the yard. Well, my girlfriend then ended up getting a job that required that she move out of state and the starting pay was just enough for her to get an apartment, no place for a 60 pound sulcata. So, Scooter stayed at her parents because I couldn't keep him where I was living at at the time either.
Then it went bad. My wife's mom had thought she closed and locked the gate, but Scooter was strong enough that he pushed the gate open and was out in the front yard eating dandelions unattended. That's when a rogue garbageman in his time off was scouring neighborhoods looking for god knows what. He came across Scooter sitting in the in-laws yard and asked the kids across the street if the tortoise belonged to them, they said no so he took it upon himself to grab Scooter and take him. My mother-in-law called us up telling us Scooter was missing and all that jazz. So we printed up flyers and put them all over the place. After 2 months of hearing nothing, we finally gave up. We had known he had been stolen due to the kids across the street telling us how the guy had gone onto my in-laws property to get Scooter without even knocking on their door to see if he belonged to them. Then, after about 3 months, we get this phone call from a guy claiming he had our tortoise and was enquiring about the reward money we had put on our flyers. We found this rather interesting since after 2 months, we had taken down every flyer we had put up, so why would he have one and why call now? After talking to him and really grilling him, he basically told us that if we wanted to see our tortoise again, that we had to pay the reward money. Aha, pet ransom! Now we knew what we were dealing with. Over the next few days, we were discussing our options when we got another phone call, this time from that guys wife, who told us to come over to their house quickly and get the tortoise while her husband was gone. We drove over and found that Scooter had literally dug a hole so big that you could bury and ATV in it just trying to get out as he was not happy in his new surroundings. The woman told us to take him because he was destroying their yard and would bite and kick at them. So, we took him home and that was that basically.
A year later, we got married and I moved out of state as well. We got a small apartment where we stayed for a year. We obviously didn't have a yard, so Scooter still stayed behind at her parents. That's when the second escape happened. Again, Scooter forced his way out of their iron wrought gate and again another transient found him and took him. Ironically, the man left a business card with a neighbor so that whoever was missing the tortoise could call him and get him. Well, when he got the call from my in-laws, he made up all sorts of lies about how he had given him to a friend who did tortoise rescues and how they were out of town for a while. Then I called him long distance and he told me that Scooter had escaped out of his backyard and wandered into the desert. Yeah right. So, my mother-in-law found out where he lived and had the sheriffs accompany her to the house where they ultimately did a search and found Scooter cooped up in a chicken fire cage that was barely larger than he was. Somehow, that guy got off the hook as the sheriffs didn't feel like a $2000 tortoise was anything to press charges over. Anyways...
We finally moved into a townhouse with a yard and ultimately flew Scooter to live with us. For the 4-5 years we lived there, everything was fine except for the one day that I accidentally left the back sliding glass door open and Scooter got into the house and literally trashed it. He moved the couch, knocked over all the tables, everything was a mess. We had thought we had been broken into until we found Scooter happily lying underneath some huge stereo speakers. The only other incident at that house was when we had a terrible ice storm that left us without power for 5 days. Being that Scooter was at this point 80+ pounds and living outside in a Dogloo doghouse with a ceramic hanging heater and a pig blanket (plastic heating pad), we knew that he'd surely have frozen to death if left outside without any heat. So, I had to carry him up the stairs and put him in the bath tub, the only place large enough to hold him where he couldn't do damage, until the power finally came back on.
Everything at our townhouse seemed fine until all the good tenants finally left and the drug dealers moved right into the place next door. We knew at that point that we had to move out and we no longer want to rent a place. So, we researched and found out that we could afford to buy our own house. We were sure excited about this.
So, after finding a great real estate agent, we looked at literally hundreds of houses over an 8 month period. During the first few months, we had found several houses that we really liked, but either the yards were unfenced or were heavily shaded with large trees, neither of which was going to be good for Scooter. We could have bought an unfenced place and fenced it ourselves eventually, but that was an added cost we just couldn't afford right away so we had to pass up on a lot of great house just because they weren't right for Scooter. And I'm serious when I say this! We took serious responsibility for owning a pet like a sulcata and revolved our lives around him as best we could. Well, we finally bought a great house with a huge backyard and things have been great now. But last year we finally had a very expensive air conditioner installed of course with the huge unit being outside on a concrete pad. That unit is so big, that I could barely move it. But one day my wife came home and found that Scooter had moved it about 3 inches and almost snapped the copper tubing that it was hooked up to. So, we had to put concrete blocks all around it to act as a deterrent to keep Scooter from moving that as well.
Why did I bother to write all of this? Because I wanted to share a real life experience of what it's like to own an animal like this WHILE having to go through all of life's constant changes. My wife bought Scooter when we were in our mid-20's and how we're in our late 30's. Back then, we had no idea how our lives would have changed like this nor would we have ever even thought we'd be living 2 states away from where we were raised. While our lives were oftentimes a rollercoaster anyways, it was made doubly difficult trying to account for Scooter. Do we regret having him? Hell no! But that's not my point either. Scooter is one of the most awesome animals we've ever had but he's also a tank. He can be very destructive and very headstrong about what he wants to do. Like when I mow the backyard; he realizes that I'm going to be cutting down all the grass he loves to eat so he will literally trot in front of the lawnmower so that I have to go around him. Sometimes he'll even ram the mower or me when he realizes that I just go around him. And believe me, having a 100+ pound sulcata ramming you in the legs is very painful and there's not a whole lot you can do about it when you are in their domain.
I would never tell you not to get an animal like this, but I would hope that you would give it some very serious thought because at only the age of 19, you have no idea how your life might transform and where you'll be in 10 or 20 years. And owning a pet like this is a lifetime responsibility as I know you are aware, but I don't think that anybody that has never had a pet like this can fully understand or appreciate the sacrifices that are needed to be made in keeping a pet like this long term.
Good luck with whatever you choose!
Scooter, Marbles and I (2006)
My wife (then girlfriend) purchased Scooter over 13 years ago while she lived in an apartment and he fit nicely in the palm of your hand. Even back then I was very skeptical about her buying such a pet because of the then scant literature regarding them that still warned of their size. But she was pretty sure that by the time that he would get to "that" size, she'd be settled and be in her own house. Well, a few years later, we moved in together into a rental house and had a decent back yard for scooter who had then gotten to be about the size of a frisbee, so he was fairly safe to let roam around. Honestly, he didn't dig too much or do that much damage back then, he was still fairly small, but he would notice when the side gate was open (when I would mow the yard or just to take out the trash) and he would literally run for the gate to get out. Fortunately we always watched him and he never got away, that is, until my in-laws ended up with him, but I digress.
After a few years, and 2 rental houses later, my girlfriend and I embarked on very hard times and ultimately split up and moved back into our parents homes. Scooter at this point was about 4 or 5 and weighed an easily 50-60 pounds. At her parents, Scooter was getting restless no longer feeling he knew his surroundings so he started to dig some good sized holes in the yard, but after a few months that resided and his only occupation, other than eating everything around him, was to get out of the yard. Well, my girlfriend then ended up getting a job that required that she move out of state and the starting pay was just enough for her to get an apartment, no place for a 60 pound sulcata. So, Scooter stayed at her parents because I couldn't keep him where I was living at at the time either.
Then it went bad. My wife's mom had thought she closed and locked the gate, but Scooter was strong enough that he pushed the gate open and was out in the front yard eating dandelions unattended. That's when a rogue garbageman in his time off was scouring neighborhoods looking for god knows what. He came across Scooter sitting in the in-laws yard and asked the kids across the street if the tortoise belonged to them, they said no so he took it upon himself to grab Scooter and take him. My mother-in-law called us up telling us Scooter was missing and all that jazz. So we printed up flyers and put them all over the place. After 2 months of hearing nothing, we finally gave up. We had known he had been stolen due to the kids across the street telling us how the guy had gone onto my in-laws property to get Scooter without even knocking on their door to see if he belonged to them. Then, after about 3 months, we get this phone call from a guy claiming he had our tortoise and was enquiring about the reward money we had put on our flyers. We found this rather interesting since after 2 months, we had taken down every flyer we had put up, so why would he have one and why call now? After talking to him and really grilling him, he basically told us that if we wanted to see our tortoise again, that we had to pay the reward money. Aha, pet ransom! Now we knew what we were dealing with. Over the next few days, we were discussing our options when we got another phone call, this time from that guys wife, who told us to come over to their house quickly and get the tortoise while her husband was gone. We drove over and found that Scooter had literally dug a hole so big that you could bury and ATV in it just trying to get out as he was not happy in his new surroundings. The woman told us to take him because he was destroying their yard and would bite and kick at them. So, we took him home and that was that basically.
A year later, we got married and I moved out of state as well. We got a small apartment where we stayed for a year. We obviously didn't have a yard, so Scooter still stayed behind at her parents. That's when the second escape happened. Again, Scooter forced his way out of their iron wrought gate and again another transient found him and took him. Ironically, the man left a business card with a neighbor so that whoever was missing the tortoise could call him and get him. Well, when he got the call from my in-laws, he made up all sorts of lies about how he had given him to a friend who did tortoise rescues and how they were out of town for a while. Then I called him long distance and he told me that Scooter had escaped out of his backyard and wandered into the desert. Yeah right. So, my mother-in-law found out where he lived and had the sheriffs accompany her to the house where they ultimately did a search and found Scooter cooped up in a chicken fire cage that was barely larger than he was. Somehow, that guy got off the hook as the sheriffs didn't feel like a $2000 tortoise was anything to press charges over. Anyways...
We finally moved into a townhouse with a yard and ultimately flew Scooter to live with us. For the 4-5 years we lived there, everything was fine except for the one day that I accidentally left the back sliding glass door open and Scooter got into the house and literally trashed it. He moved the couch, knocked over all the tables, everything was a mess. We had thought we had been broken into until we found Scooter happily lying underneath some huge stereo speakers. The only other incident at that house was when we had a terrible ice storm that left us without power for 5 days. Being that Scooter was at this point 80+ pounds and living outside in a Dogloo doghouse with a ceramic hanging heater and a pig blanket (plastic heating pad), we knew that he'd surely have frozen to death if left outside without any heat. So, I had to carry him up the stairs and put him in the bath tub, the only place large enough to hold him where he couldn't do damage, until the power finally came back on.
Everything at our townhouse seemed fine until all the good tenants finally left and the drug dealers moved right into the place next door. We knew at that point that we had to move out and we no longer want to rent a place. So, we researched and found out that we could afford to buy our own house. We were sure excited about this.
So, after finding a great real estate agent, we looked at literally hundreds of houses over an 8 month period. During the first few months, we had found several houses that we really liked, but either the yards were unfenced or were heavily shaded with large trees, neither of which was going to be good for Scooter. We could have bought an unfenced place and fenced it ourselves eventually, but that was an added cost we just couldn't afford right away so we had to pass up on a lot of great house just because they weren't right for Scooter. And I'm serious when I say this! We took serious responsibility for owning a pet like a sulcata and revolved our lives around him as best we could. Well, we finally bought a great house with a huge backyard and things have been great now. But last year we finally had a very expensive air conditioner installed of course with the huge unit being outside on a concrete pad. That unit is so big, that I could barely move it. But one day my wife came home and found that Scooter had moved it about 3 inches and almost snapped the copper tubing that it was hooked up to. So, we had to put concrete blocks all around it to act as a deterrent to keep Scooter from moving that as well.
Why did I bother to write all of this? Because I wanted to share a real life experience of what it's like to own an animal like this WHILE having to go through all of life's constant changes. My wife bought Scooter when we were in our mid-20's and how we're in our late 30's. Back then, we had no idea how our lives would have changed like this nor would we have ever even thought we'd be living 2 states away from where we were raised. While our lives were oftentimes a rollercoaster anyways, it was made doubly difficult trying to account for Scooter. Do we regret having him? Hell no! But that's not my point either. Scooter is one of the most awesome animals we've ever had but he's also a tank. He can be very destructive and very headstrong about what he wants to do. Like when I mow the backyard; he realizes that I'm going to be cutting down all the grass he loves to eat so he will literally trot in front of the lawnmower so that I have to go around him. Sometimes he'll even ram the mower or me when he realizes that I just go around him. And believe me, having a 100+ pound sulcata ramming you in the legs is very painful and there's not a whole lot you can do about it when you are in their domain.
I would never tell you not to get an animal like this, but I would hope that you would give it some very serious thought because at only the age of 19, you have no idea how your life might transform and where you'll be in 10 or 20 years. And owning a pet like this is a lifetime responsibility as I know you are aware, but I don't think that anybody that has never had a pet like this can fully understand or appreciate the sacrifices that are needed to be made in keeping a pet like this long term.
Good luck with whatever you choose!
Scooter, Marbles and I (2006)
