Ah, the majestic sulcata. A mighty steed of a tortoise. Also known as the African Spurred Tortoise (Geochelone sulcata). For sale, as cheaply as $35 or as expensively as $100 or more. . .or when they get too big--free.

The sulcata's natural beauty, as well as its generally friendly and mostly docile personality, have captivated tortoise lovers. Originally from the African Sahara, the sulcata can be purchased through many sources: breeders, pet stores and tortoise enthusiasts. They lay huge clutches of eggs.

These are big guys. The average adult size is 30 inches and 100 pounds. Some are smaller, and the largest about 230 pounds. Unbelievably, most people who buy sulcatas do so without a lick of homework. Even though they live in apartments, condos, or small homes with tiny backyards, people buy baby sulcatas because the pet stores display these tiny treasures and never tell the truth about how big they will get.

"They were so cute when they were babies". Duh! Everything is cute when it's a baby. We hear this lame excuse for buying these tortoises all the time. But then they grow, and the massive poops come. The big huge smelly poops. And the crashing. And the ripping and tearing. First, the screen door. Then the dry wall. How about the four foot deep burrow in the back yard? There go the water pipes! And all the other destruction that a big powerful tortoise can wrought.

Guess what. They don't hibernate so unless you can cook up a 70-90 degrees F winter house to keep them out of the snow and cold for half the year (they do terribly on the east coast), you are stuck with these biggies in your house. The food situation is a challenge, too. They should eat only native grasses and their own poop (normal). In fact, they should get about 80% of their diet from natural grasses, weeds, clovers, alfalfa hay and dark greens like mustard, collards, beets and kale (in small amounts) and about 10 percent from fruits like mangos and figs.

What's the point of this article? Well, ask our residents Tank, Tommy, Little Tick, Baby, Bubba Ann, Elvis and the rest who roam American Tortoise Rescue's two Sulcata yards. They all started out in happy homes with loving owners who didn't read the fine print: your Sulcata needs to be outside in sun and low humidity all day with a place to seek darkness and shade. It must be indoors at night or in a specially lit and heated doghouse. It makes poop the size of a St. Bernard and can knock down fences, screen doors and chase dogs. It can break your fingers off if you get them caught in the shell during one of its' stubborn moments. It smashes cage mates and turns them over, leaving them for dead. You will not be able to lift it. The mobile vet will have to come to you, which tends to be more expensive.

Now that a lot of people have purchased them, they are becoming disposable, like red eared sliders and iguanas. Once they shed their babyhood, they aren't what people expected. So listen up. If you live in the north, northeast or midwest-- any place that gets below 60F at least once, or have a home with less than a half acre-- no sulcatas please.

For more information on sulcatas, purchase "The Great African Spur Thigh" by Richard Cary Paull, available through Green Nature Books. Call 305- 242-1317, or on the web at http://www.herp.com/green

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