That cute little golf-ball-sized tortoise at the pet store? It could eventually weigh more than YOU.
The African spurred tortoise—better known as the sulcata—is one of the largest tortoises commonly sold as a pet.
You buy one when it’s tiny. Two or three years later, you’re starting to wonder what you’ve done. By four years old, a well-fed sulcata can be the size of a bicycle helmet—and adult males can exceed 200 pounds.
They eat enormous amounts of forage, need lots of warm space, and eventually produce droppings about the size of a shoe.
And unfortunately, that’s when many get neglected, surrendered—or even dumped outdoors where they can’t survive the winter.
By the way, sulcatas LOVE kudzu.
Mine is named Atlas. He weighs over 130 pounds.
Wonderful tortoise.
But that little golf ball? It doesn’t stay little.
