Where the Heck Has ATR Been?
We’re so busy that we barely have time to sleep. As many
of you know, ATR is a labor of love and not money. We have been run strictly by volunteers since our founding
15 years ago. This means that working at our real jobs to stay afloat has to take priority.
And saving animals, protesting their suffering and basic consumer education comes next. So that is why our poor little newsletter has suffered from a long absence. We are going to try
to do these more often again because we know that you all enjoy them and look forward to some good information about caring
for your turtles and tortoises.
Getting Ready for Winter
It’s hard to believe as I sit here sweltering in the California heat, that
our east coast and mid-west neighbors are thinking about hibernation. Just a quick reminder…wait
until your turtle or tortoise has stopped eating for about two weeks. Then soak him or her in a warm bath
to make sure all the feces are out – food can rot in the stomach of a slowed down or sleeping tortoise.
We generally do not recommend that desert tortoises stay outside all winter. Water can flood their
burrows and drown the tortoise or it can cave in from flooding. We suggest putting your dry tortoise in
a bankers box with lots of shredded newspaper underneath and on top. Put it into the coolest room in the
house or in a garage if there are no rats. Check one a month to make sure it has not wet itself –
when you hear consistent scratching in the spring it is time to come out.
Donations Keep ATR Humming
Since we
are a volunteer group, all our money goes directly to the rescue, rehabilitation, adoption and protection of turtles and tortoises
in the U.S. and Canada. For that reason, donations are critical to the operation of our shelter.
We have several approved places for donations. When our website is revamped you’ll be able
to do everything on it. In the meantime, here are some suggestions. Send a check or
money order to American Tortoise Rescue – address at the end of the newsletter. We have also
set up some donation opportunities so that you can give ATR a gift many different ways. Click on “Please Make A Donation” also on the home page at www.tortoise.com. If you donate to Network For Good, 100 % comes to ATR. Always start your online shopping with http://www.tricordia.com/tortoise.go and then we get donations from your shopping spree!
Have you thought about a car,
truck or trailer donation? Our daughter, Tori, donated a beautiful Jeep Cherokee to ATR so that we can
transport those big sulcatas in case of emergency or fire. We could use a used trailer to tow behind it.
- and we had our first car donation to National Charity Support Foundation thanks to ATR supporter Sharon Wright.
A large portion of the car donation comes to us and they even pick up your car and do all the paperwork.
It is so easy. Contact Shellie Stewart the outreach coordinator if you have a car that you
want to donate. www.nationalcharity.com or call 877-980-2277.
A huge thank you to one of our food donors. If
you haven’t tried San Francisco Bay Brand turtle food do – ours love it and the company has been super generous
to us. www.sfbb.com
Adoption Announcements
We now have a new policy because the shelter has had to refuse animals
because we were so full. Now we have people who are requesting placement of their animals or those found
on the street fill out a relinquishment form and submit a photo. The animal is then put up for adoption
through email blast. We primarily are getting tons of red eared sliders that Fish & Game refuses to
block from coming into the state. Next most frequent is still the sulcata which when it starts pushing
furniture around, pooping like a Rotweiller and eating like a horse, becomes the object of immediate rejection by the owner.
Each adoption email has what the animal is, where it is and what you need to have to be eligible. If
you have not been receiving these announcements and you know that you have an adoption form into ATR, better remove your spam
blocker or make sure that we have your current email address. Send your email to info@tortoise.com and include your area code (not ZIP code!) – we have people in our databases by area code.
At
The Rescue
Male sulcatas Tank (that’s Tank in the photo) and Poppy continue their enormous growth and have
two small females (no chance of illicit sex going on for years) our beloved Quasi and Sleepy. These are
the only sulcatas that will grow up at the rescue along with little Louie who is still too small to go in the yard with them.
Tank is about 50 pounds now and Marshall has built them a spectacular house that is fire proof and Tank proof.
Our pond is at its limit with cooters (that’s Fluffy – we have had her 15 years) and sliders and
one map turtle. They enjoy the lazy days of summer sunbathing and I have promised that I will not put any
more in the pond with them. We are desperate for pond owners to step forward because we have so many people
who either find or want to dump their water turtles and it is our policy to never adopt to tanks unless they are tiny.
It’s cruel – these are wild animals. So if you have a pond, send me an email and say
I can take four or five! susan@tortoise.com Make sure that you also put in your area code or city.
Hey
Ma! It’s chow time….People ask
what to feed all the time. So here is some advice – feed once a day or every other day or every third
day. In the wild, they eat sparingly. No, those shell bumps that sulcatas and other
captive raised tortoises and turtles get are not pretty – they are from overfeeding, feeding the wrong thing or no real
sunlight. Turtle and tortoise carapaces are supposed to be smooth.
If your young
tortoises are bumpy even a little, cut back on food. This has long-term negative consequences and can lead
to metabolic bone disease (MBD). We have some sulcatas with severe MBD; they walk on their knees, and on
x-ray have actual fractured bones. Body parts like jaw bones have fallen off! Eventually
you can lose them to some unknown disease. Mimic a natural environment for happy, healthy tortoise.
In the wild, tortoises do not eat green beans, shredded carrots, washed fresh spinach and dog food. So
why would you feed it to them in captivity. If your tortoise is sick and won’t eat anything but forbidden
food, okay for a while. But please – no cookies, peanut butter, tofu, cat food, iceberg lettuce,
hot dogs, collards and stuff that you’ll regret one day. We suggest a sprinkling of minerals and
calcium once week, at most, if your torts spend most of the year outside. As for water turtles, once every
other day or third day with Reptomin, San Francisco Bay pellets or trout chow is fine; they also need fish for making strong
bones and getting vitamin A. So throw some little live feeder fish in for them to chase. They also like,
and should eat, water plants. Mine also like dark Romaine leaves.
Please check visit www.tortoisetrust.org and www.turtlehomes.org. Great info about turtles and tortoises.
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