runaway sulcata – A giant African sulcata tortoise named Rex caused a stir on a suburban Phoenix street after escaping its backyard. Neighbors rallied to keep him comfortable while the search unfolded, and Rex’s long-term owner traced the route that led him to a new caretaker.
One spring evening in suburban Phoenix, Rex came lumbering down a sidewalk like something from another era.. Neighbors stopped mid-step. staring at the giant sulcata as questions piled up in real time: where he had come from. how far he might have traveled. and whether he was hungry or thirsty or simply exhausted.
The commotion wasn’t just a funny roadside spectacle.. Dan Marchand. founder of the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary. said sulcata escapes and abandoned tortoises are part of a wider caregiving reality that many buyers don’t anticipate—especially because the pets are sometimes sold as if they’re easy novelties.
When sulcatas hatch, they’re about the size of golf balls, Marchand said.. “They’re so damn cute,” he recalled, describing the moment many people decide they want one for their kids.. But he said that sweetness fades quickly once the animals start tearing through gardens. knocking over furniture. and claiming more space than most owners are prepared to provide.
Rex, according to the account of people who know him, has been growing into that challenge for years.. The U.S.. banned importation of sulcatas in the early 2000s, but breeding is still legal.. Sulcatas can reach up to 200 pounds and live as long as 150 years. and they are. as Marchand put it. among the largest tortoises in the world.. In Rex’s case, he was at least a couple feet long.
Marchand said many people don’t understand the full requirements until it’s too late.. He pointed out that even though some sulcatas are sold in small plastic carriers. they need large. grassy outdoor enclosures to roam and graze. access to clean water. and dry. warm shelter during winter months.. They also dig.
His sanctuary sees the consequences.. Marchand said his facility is home to about 700 sulcatas, many arriving over the span of 20 years.. Some are like Rex—picked up from the streets and turned in to the sanctuary.. Others are left behind when new homeowners don’t want to manage a massive reptile. or because owners can no longer handle the demands.
Rex very nearly became another such case. but instead he found what Marchand described as the rare exception: a neighborhood ready to mobilize.. A 5-year-old daughter of Brian and Sara Westfall was the first to spot him moseying down the sidewalk.. “We were eating dinner at our front dining room table and my daughter goes, ‘Daddy, a tortoise!’” Westfall said.. “We thought maybe it was the neighbor’s lawn decoration or whatever.. And we go outside and we’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, that’s a real tortoise!’ And he’s huge.”
Westfall said she first checked with a neighbor who knew tortoise owners in the area.. Then, as Rex continued down the street, Westfall’s household got involved directly.. She noted that her own desert tortoise. Dotty. was safely snoozing in the backyard. and neighbors gathered around Rex as someone offered him lettuce.
They posted “Found tortoise” messages on Facebook and Nextdoor, asking what to do.. Eventually, Rex was hoisted into a wheelbarrow and rolled into the Westfalls’ backyard.. Their daughter dubbed him Chicken Nugget. and the family quickly tried to make him comfortable—ordering hay online. digging a pit for a shallow pool so Rex could soak. and even stopping mowing the lawn so he could graze.. They fed him carrots and placed signs around the neighborhood that read “Large Tortoise Found.”
For days, the Westfalls waited for an owner to come forward, answering calls from neighbors checking in on Rex. About five days after his escape, his owners reached out.
Rex’s long history helps explain how he got there.. Frank Boxberger bought Rex at a San Diego pet store roughly 15 years ago.. Boxberger said the tortoises were being displayed in a way that made them stand out. with “these sticks and flags on their backs 5 feet high. ” so people would notice them.. He said Rex ended up catching his attention because, in his words, “they look like dinosaurs.”
Boxberger said Rex’s name came from that moment.. He was an adult when Boxberger brought him home. and Boxberger estimated that Rex has grown by another foot or so in length since then.. He estimated Rex is likely about 35 years old now—barely middle-aged for his species.. For 15 years. Rex lived in the backyard of Boxberger’s Arizona home and came up to Boxberger whenever he went outside.
Boxberger said Rex even played a role in family celebrations. including his daughter’s wedding. where he was fitted with “a sort of a beer cooler” on his back.. “He was sort of the wedding favorite when he walked around the backyard as our beer burro,” Boxberger said.. “But he was really our beer tortoise.”
But Boxberger said that the tortoise’s digging and size eventually changed the terms of the relationship.. He and his wife wanted to redo the landscaping, and Rex’s destructive streak kept getting in the way.. Boxberger said Rex was temporarily rehomed at Boxberger’s mom’s house, which was up for sale.
Boxberger believes Rex escaped when someone touring the home left the gate open—though he added, “Bowser, maybe?”
In the end, the story of where Rex went next involved a chain of connections. Boxberger’s daughter saw one of the Westfalls’ flyers and made the call. By then, Boxberger said, he was already planning to rehome Rex.
Boxberger offered Rex to Westfall, who said she adored the creature but could not take him in permanently. That opening led to Garret Beshey, a plumber working with the woman buying the house where Rex had been staying.
Beshey said he had wanted a sulcata but wasn’t sure he would ever buy one because he felt guilty about the excessive breeding.. “I’ve always wanted [a sulcata].. I’ve just never wanted to purchase one. honestly. because I feel bad for purchasing. given the excessive breeding that goes on with these guys. ” Beshey said while preparing to take Rex home one afternoon.
The wider ecosystem around these animals is part of why sanctuaries are strained.. Marchand said the pet trade has become problematic. describing pet stores and reptile trade shows as focusing on moving inventory instead of teaching owners what the animals require.. “Pet stores and the reptile trade shows. they have the vendors who are out there and they just want to move merchandise.. They don’t want to educate,” Marchand said.
Local rescue groups see the strain up close.. Eclecteri Tortoise & Reptile Rescue/Sanctuary. based in Casa Grande. Arizona. takes in roughly 1. 250 sulcatas a year and refers at least another 1. 000 to other rescues. according to owner Teri Boyungs.. Boyungs said via Facebook chat that “there’s no government or county support for this species and the few private rescues that take them in are inundated each year.” She added that “Arizona is ground zero for the chaos as our climate allows the eggs to ground hatch easily and each female can have 60+ babies a year.”
Boyungs said the overwhelming majority of abandoned tortoises come from people who can’t take care of them anymore.
Back in the Westfalls’ yard. the practical work of care continued just long enough for Rex to find his next home.. Beshey planned to set things up for Rex in his spacious backyard and said he took home leftover hay and the pool the Westfalls had bought for Rex.. He said he was considering a new name for Rex—maybe “Bowser. ” after the turtle-like final boss from the Super Mario franchise.
But before that could happen, there was the immediate challenge: getting the 100-plus pound tortoise out of some oleander bushes. “No amount of carrots, hibiscus or shell nudging had convinced Rex to budge,” the account says.
Beshey finally hunkered down and pulled Rex out.. The tortoise’s feet were dangling as Beshey hauled him into the front yard. having to set him down once because of his bulk.. Rex was eventually loaded into the back of Beshey’s truck. ready for what would be the next chapter after his unexpected escape.
“Bye, Chicken Nugget!” Westfall said as she waved.
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