Ruby the tortoise went on an adventure last Sunday that got all of Reeltown’s attention.
After returning home from church, the Cox family discovered its 75-pound Sulcata tortoise had gotten loose. Nicolette Cox said she never expected this to happen.
When it comes to Sulcata tortoises, it’s more likely for them to burrow under rather than climb over. Nicolette said she felt if Ruby started to burrow, she could be caught before actually escaping.
However, Ruby took an alternative route. Her current living quarters are an outdoor, constructed box made out of decking boards. The walls of the box are three decking boards high, which reach up to Nicolette’s calf.
Ruby had managed to knock down the top two boards and climbed over the lowest board still standing. After discovering the escape, the Cox family looked all around the 10-acre farm. Nicolette then also made a Facebook post asking the Reeltown community to be on the lookout for Ruby. The post spread far and wide.
“We were the talk of the town,” she said. “It was the first night of Vacation Bible School; we went to drop our kids off. Everybody was worried about the tortoise and wanted to know if we found her.”
Luckily, she was found that afternoon. By about 3 p.m. Nicolette got a call from her neighbor telling her the tortoise had been spotted two streets down at another neighbor's house. Nicolette said this was another surprise — Ruby crosses streets.
The family went over to the neighbor’s house and began to search, but it wasn’t easy.
“It had gotten so hot that afternoon that she had just laid down somewhere and was quiet,” Nicolette said. “She blends in with everything on the ground. So my husband had walked past where she was three times and did not recognize that she was there.”
Fortunately the neighbor spotted her, and Nicolette’s husband, Brian, came back, loaded Ruby into the bed of his truck and returned home. Ruby had made it back from the day by around 4 p.m.
However, Nicolette explained she is really just Ruby’s caretaker; the owner is her sister-in-law, Laura, who got Ruby 13 years ago when Ruby fit into the palm of her hand.
Each year Ruby grew and each year she would get a new enclosure. Eventually Ruby grew to the point Laura could no longer keep her while renting a home in Atlanta.
So, Ruby went to live with Nicolette and Brian and the tortoise has become a beloved family member while also bonding with their daughter, who has an especially soft spot for Ruby.
Nicolette Cox's sister-in-law, Laura, holds her pet tortoise over her head. This was five years and now the tortoise, Ruby, has grown to roughly 75 pounds.
“We have a 4-year-old little girl,” Nicolette said. “She goes out and feeds her with me. She loves her. We will sit there, and she will follow us because she knows we have food.”
Aside from this recent escape, Nicolette said Sulcata tortoises are very low-maintenance pets. Ruby eats fruits and vegetables from scraps and the Cox’s garden. That fresh food is also where Ruby gets her water source as well.
Since Ruby adventured off, Nicolette said the family have come up with a couple of ideas to help avoid this in the future. First, they ordered her an Apple AirTag to put on her shell. Second, they are going to add some features to Ruby's enclosure to help her from getting bored.
“A zoo exhibit would have things for them, like holes for them to go down in,” she said. “So, I guess our next adventure is making a zoo exhibit for our pet tortoise.”