Reptile owners: considering a tortoise

[zinfamous]

lol, seriously though--they will run away.

when I was young, one of my dad's colleagues, a herpetologist at the local college, had a galapagos tortoise (or something similar. I remember him being massive, but maybe it was just a gopher tortoise) in a fenced-in pen in his backyard.

That fucker would escape at least once a week, and it usually took a few days to scour the neighborhood and find him. He could clear several blocks in his wandering about.

 

[zinfamous]

And what...they'll be 4 ft. away by morning?

they can actually haul ass if they set themselves to it. You'd be surprised.

 

[Zorander]

And what...they'll be 4 ft. away by morning?

Either you have only seen the slow ones or never even seen an actual tortoise.

A tortoise can gather some serious speed if it puts its mind to it and they can be tireless when chasing after something too. My parents had an old tortoise (not sure of the type but its size is nearly that of an iPad) that would chase any young tortoises we brought home and even attempt to kill them. It could somehow sense them from some 10-20 metres (33-66ft) away and come crashing down like a rolling cannonball towards them.

And let me repeat, they are masters at escaping given any chance at it.

 

[Leros]

We had a couple of box turtles when I was growing up. My just left them in the backyard all year. I guess they hibernated in winter, no idea.

They lived about 10 years and then suddenly they were both gone. Must've been a cold winter or something.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

As much as I love animals, I don't see a point in owning reptiles. I've had turtles and lizards...while they are interesting creatures, they are messy as shit. Be prepared to keep the cage clean 24/7, otherwise your room will smell like ass.

 

[Colt45]

I have a few snakes, nice and low maintenance. not terribly active though, either. fine by me.