Off Topic... African Spur-thigh Tortoise needs a Florida home

18 years ago

Is anyone out there interested in adopting a 3 year old African Spur Thigh Tortoise? My son acquired it as a hatchling years ago when it was the size of a half dollar. It is now the size of a medium watermelon. It is very good natured {{gwi:752490}} and loves to eat grass, Hibiscus, catus pads...
It will (in years) get to be approx. 100 lbs., this species is the 3rd largest tortoise in the world.
If you are interested do a little research on them and see if you can provide him (or her) a good home. I will be willing to deliver or meet someone half way in the Central Florida area. Any questions feel free to contact me.
To keep this post some what to the subject matter I'll throw in a large variegated Philodendron and a few variegated Cactus pads...
Below is a fairly recent photo I took. I can take more if necessary.
Randy

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:752492}}

Comments (7)

manature
18 years ago
Randy, you might try calling Dr. Peter Pritchard in Oviedo. He is a world renowned expert on turtles and had (and I assume still has) a large collection of tortoises and turtles that he keeps. If he doesn't want it, he might be able to put you in touch with someone who can give it a PROPER home and good care.

Marcia
bigpaulie1972
18 years ago
We also have a spur thigh tortoise of about the same size....we live on over an acre and a half in Melbourne florida and he lives indoors in the winter and outside in the summer....My wife is the reptile and small mammal handler for the Brevard Zoo education department...I just spoke with her and she said she would take it if you can't find a home for it....Do you know if it is a male or female? And has it ever been around other tortoises before? If so....What is it's temperment?

you can email her at edukeeper@hotmail.com if you'd like
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randy_e
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks Marcia for the reference, I e-mailed him earlier.
Bigpaulie, the tortoise has only been around people and dogs... it hasn't seen another tortoise since my son got it from Mr. Abbott in Canaveral Groves (Central Florida Reptile Farm). We're not sure what the sex is. We keep it in a large wading pool at night indoors (with heat and lights) and during cold weather. When the weather's nice it gets to go outdoors. We live in Titusville...
Talk to you all soon.
Randy
randy_e
Original Author
18 years ago
Paul,
E-mail me.
Randy
randy_e
Original Author
18 years ago
Paul and his wife adopted the tortoise... we couldn't ask for a better place for it. After meeting them in person I have no problem sleeping at night knowing it has the perfect home.
People need to think ahead of time when they aquire an exotic pet... how big they get, what they have to eat, housing, etc. We gave the tortoise an excellent living environment while we had it but I should have put my foot down when it was brought home knowing the size it would get and that my son most likely would loose interest in it and your's truly would be taking care of it.
coffeemom
18 years ago
I love happy endings!
jessebain
10 years ago
Well everyone wish to have their dream home, where their family can live happily without any stress. I bought one in 2012 by the help of renowned developer in South Florida i.e. Leonard Albanese. It was tough for me to handle the entire process of buying my dream home, but he made it easier for me.