Tori's Critters

Tori's Critters A traveling, interactive hands-on animal education program. We care for 50+ animals (most are rescued).

We teach about proper pet care in captivity as well as conservation in the wild. We specialize in the often misunderstood and unloved species. We are a small animal educational service based in Millville NJ. We offer a wide variety of animal services, including hands on education for any event.

Hey guys. If anyone’s available Tuesday Jan 28th late morning/early afternoon, we could use a lot of hands to get our en...
01/25/2025

Hey guys.
If anyone’s available Tuesday Jan 28th late morning/early afternoon, we could use a lot of hands to get our enclosures and tank contents cleaned.
The enclosures are currently at a horse farm in Clarksboro.

We would be meeting there around 10:30am.
I’m not sure how long we would be staying till, but probably no later than dark.
Maybe a short 45 minute break between like 12 and one at some point because the farm will need the water for the horses. We’ll have access to hot water for cleaning.
I’ll have gallons of vinegar, latex gloves and sponges for scrubbing.
If someone wants to ride up with me, I can fit one person in my car. We would be leaving from Millville.
If anyone has any towels for drying that would be awesome.
My hope is to maybe be able to bring a few cleaned enclosures back with me Tuesday evening.
Bonus points if you have a vehicle that you can also transport some enclosures back to the new rental in.
This is a working farm so I do ask that no little kids come. We wanna make sure everyone is safe.
Please let me know if you are available and are willing to help 🩷

01/24/2025

He’s back

He’s home

He’s safe

He’s with his family

When I say I BROKE DOWN when Joe showed up with him

Literally he just walked up the stairs where we are staying with Dodger in his arms. I just grabbed Dodger and cried and cried and cried.

Joe has been going to the park at least once a day looking for Dodger

Today, he found him 🤍🖤

He was 1 trailer away from the old place going towards home and he came up to Joe

He’s skinny and dirty but he’s WITH US

I’m so thankful

Joe is a hero through and through

Thank you ALL for sharing, looking and praying for his safe return

Dodger is back with us after over 2 weeks

He’s purring and happy. My heart 💗

Editing to add because I believe a lot of people see this post but don’t realize what actually happened to Dodger:
We were the victims of a house fire on January 8th.
Dodger was missing for two weeks and two days after the fire.
We looked daily, often multiple times a day, as well as many other people looking for him and no one could find him.
He was not let outside or escaped or anything like that.
He was actually caught in a house fire, somehow escaped and then had to survive on his own for two weeks.
Our cats are 100% indoor cats unless they’re being supervised outside on a harness. 
We’re already talking about making up signs for the new rental about warning people to leave the doors closed. At our old house the cats wouldn’t try to get outside, but if they did, it didn’t really matter because it was a quiet neighborhood. Here there’s a very busy road that people fly down so we’re not taking any chances. 
I gave him half a small can of wet food mixed with warm water once he got here to rehydrate him and warm him up. I’ve worked in rescue for many years and we’re well aware of refeeding syndrome 🩷

Between deaths, MIAs and having to adopt out animals for their own safety, we are up to 15 of our animals gone in the la...
01/24/2025

Between deaths, MIAs and having to adopt out animals for their own safety, we are up to 15 of our animals gone in the last 2 weeks.

That’s more than a quarter of my babies and I’m not ok ❤️‍🩹

I just want the rest of my animals back as soon as possible.

I’m praying this new rental will actually be ready to start moving in next week because I don’t know how much more loss and heartbreak I can take. This is just too much on my soul. My poor babies 💔 I want everyone back with me as soon as physically possible.

Lost the night of the fire:
Quasie
Fry
Mocha
Fred
Millie

Lost in due to either stress or complications from fire:
Leaf Guy
Flicka
Apollo
Sweety

Missing:
Dodger

Put up for adoption for their own safety and comfort:
Sylvester
Coal
Butters
Momo
Cory Cat

I have the new shelving ordered for the new rental, enclosures are still out being cleaned, a few new enclosures have been ordered as well.

Come on, please PLEASE let this work out

Update: the bunnies have found placement!!! ❣️I’m sad and happy about it. But I gotta do what’s best for them ❤️I’m sad ...
01/23/2025

Update: the bunnies have found placement!!! ❣️
I’m sad and happy about it. But I gotta do what’s best for them ❤️

I’m sad to say that the hits just keep coming.
We lost a tarantula in foster care (he was older and I assume the stress was too much)
Additionally, our trio of large bunnies need a new home together.
The yard at the new rental needs an extreme amount of work and won’t be done for some time. In addition, the new neighborhood is extremely unsafe and I don’t feel comfortable keeping any animals outdoors there.

So what’s best for my larger bunnies is to find a new home together.
They are 3 bonded neutered males and are family. Sylvester is the grandfather of Coal and Butters.

Indoor or outdoor home is fine as long as it’s secure. I prefer a 10x10 space or so for them to be comfy. They will NOT go to a home that wants to keep them on wire or in a hutch. They need an indoor Xpen, secured outdoor pen or even a room.
Sylvester was born in early 2021., the other two in late 2022.
They will give you headbutts as affection and will take treats from your hand. They are super inquisitive and will come over and say hi when you go in and sit with them.

They are really great rabbits and deserve the best.

Currently being fostered in Newfield but I’m willing to travel to find them a safe home.

Please share and help them find the best home possible

Update 1/24/25 am - Dodger has been found safe and is back with us 🤍🖤Thank you all so much for your kind words and suppo...
01/22/2025

Update 1/24/25 am - Dodger has been found safe and is back with us 🤍🖤

Thank you all so much for your kind words and support over the last 2 weeks. I can’t believe it’s already been half a month.
It feels like we are still in the mud trying to crawl out of this horrible situation and not gaining any ground 😞 Everyday seems almost just as tough as the last.

I really have to say that you guys have been my bright light amongst all the darkness. Life just keeps throwing more and more heartache on us, but our community continues to send words of encouragement and that means a lot to Joe and I.

It looks like we will be in the new rental by February 1st, but we now have access to store items so they will be ready for when it’s time to move in.

We’ve always had Amazon wishlists up for our clients that wanted to do barters with us.
I’m going to post them again now as I’ve had so many people reach out and ask what we can use for the animals and ourselves.

In the past I’ve tried to break it down by category. So if you’re more of a reptile person and would like to help with the reptiles, there’s a list for that, as well as one for birds, mammals, and so on.
There’s also lists that would help with basic animal care, behind the scenes, etc.
There’s now one specifically for things that we’ve lost in the fire and are trying to replace.
I believe that as far as furniture goes, we are all set for now 🩷

Our focus going forward for the moment is on cleaning/organizing supplies, animal enrichment for when the babies get back to us, and every day items that were lost.

Mammals- https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/14B62TFJRUDZU?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR0a-G_9es6inomU9gWYb04rDNo6oNLpZ83D5A5VXxILd8mXoAOd6dzAd6M

Birds- https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3CKEU06TQ62OG?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR2EFB5E0cy0hsWp4vXBjbqYTO4EJFaOevq1OC4gapDH5kZ6PwTxBxIgOLA

Reptiles-
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/295V525DKIJ7T?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR1Wwbkm0XFeTW7wzJi36hFb28ZkhXsGkUUvQqSa8_kuyPOeFNMZw3eyRIM

Basic animal care-
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1H43OJ8WN9IZ0?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR1YGqci5CB9v14dvlIgAhWp9y1Wm3wF4GcVW2fvWDSBPmDZBkmR2nSLaDY

Animal health-
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/BXLKEJB26BB6?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR0ejOZgIvJwXrsjGGEH_mtJnAUpuTvJXGdgzAMtK8LSoldoMhQrBqaEVWM

Enclosure upgrades-
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3DM8SI5P8COZ1?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR215_VVUZ3dD_cLLgK2SH1fgwSE57octScFgEkHq2UhPK0kHSg8qVFRnf8

My personal little wishlist-
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2HW9JX6UBSJ5D?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR1ibUrxdbfMO7z7gpl8uVat7pwL_tR1kllaNY7GIfneC7CtZMZmIjpmCCs

Fire replacement-
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/17QC0GTUQR81I?ref_=wl_share

If you’d like to allow us to use the funds for what’s needed:

Venmo-
PayPal-
CashApp- $TorisCritters
Apple Pay- 856-265-8973
Chime- $TorisCritters
GoFundMe- https://gofund.me/534ccd4b

But most importantly, the way that you can support us the most, is to continue to keep sending us good vibes and lifting up prayers, as well as to keep sharing the posts about, and looking for, Dodger our missing cat. We still go by the trailer park at least once a day and nearby neighborhoods looking for him. There has been no sightings.
We miss him tremendously and it would be a huge weight off my heart if he was able to move into the new rental with us come February 1st.

Today is a bad day. A really bad day. It looks like we will not be getting any payout from the insurance company. Trust ...
01/21/2025

Today is a bad day. A really bad day.

It looks like we will not be getting any payout from the insurance company.
Trust me, no need to give advice on this part, I know what happened and there is no way to fix it.
That’s why they’ve taken so long to get back to me. I’ve been hounding them for over a week and never got a response.

Why can’t just ONE thing go ok?
Why do we deserve such crappy luck?

I’m sorry for the whole “woe is me” attitude, but really, why is everything so awful?

I don’t wanna shut down Tori’s Critters, I really don’t.
But I’m thinking about not accepting anymore classes and just doing the ones I’ve already agreed to and that’s it. It may be time for a 9-5 job and a muggle life.

I just don’t know how to go forward from here.
One loss after another, one punch after another.
Everything just keeps piling on and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

I try to put so much good out into the world, but karma hates me for some reason. I don’t know what I did in a past life to p**s off the universe so badly.

I’m tired, I’m cold, I’m sore. I’m frustrated and I’m depressed. I have no home, I’m living in limbo.

How many times can a heart break?

01/20/2025

Someone send help….
I think NightTime is going stir crazy 🤪

I can’t wait until these guys have a whole house to run around and aren’t stuck in 1 room 🖤

Venmo-
PayPal-
CashApp- $TorisCritters
Apple Pay- 856-265-8973
Chime- $TorisCritters

GoFundMe- https://gofund.me/534ccd4b

The car has desperately needed an oil change. So much so that I haven’t been driving it. Today I was finally able to get...
01/20/2025

The car has desperately needed an oil change. So much so that I haven’t been driving it.

Today I was finally able to get away and get that taken care of.
But of course, I had to bring Cy because we can’t leave him alone where we are staying. The workers were nice enough to let us come in and stay warm vs having to wait outside.
It took him a few minutes for him to “settle”, which is unlike him.
He misses his home and his sister. He is feeling some anxiety.
As an owner, it’s my job to stay calm and help him realize there is no danger.

After a few minutes he’s in a nice settle, just like usual. Animals are so resilient.

A lot of people have asked what we need right now donation wise.

At the moment, we can’t take on much because we are still not in the new rental. But come February, we will be able to accept items that have been offered.

At the trailer we ended up leaving behind cages that belonged to:
Rexy the tegu
VoldeTort and Tortellini the little tortoises
Pongo the African grey
Ryder and Appa the ferrets
Floofals the chinchilla
And our own for the group of 4 bunnies

With the monetary donations we’ve received, we were able to purchase new cages for Rexy, the little tortoises and Pongo.
Thank you guys so much for donating and supporting us in this awful situation.

It made my heart a bit lighter when I ordered those cages, knowing the babies will be in our new home with comfy and safe enclosures waiting for them 🩷

Cy has a pillowKitties have a bed2 wins for today 💪💛Oh, I guess we have a bed too… so 3 wins? 😆 We had many people reach...
01/19/2025

Cy has a pillow
Kitties have a bed

2 wins for today 💪💛

Oh, I guess we have a bed too… so 3 wins? 😆

We had many people reach out and offer us mattresses, but we finally decided to go with this one today because it was already wrapped in plastic, which is what we need for where we’re staying right now (it’s sitting directly on the icky floor).

I was trying to hold off on getting a mattress until we were in our new rental, but we are really sore and the air mattress just wasn’t doing it for us. It’s been hard enough to sleep as it is with everything we’ve been through, we just wanted to be comfy.
So we bit the bullet and picked it up today.

I’m hoping we all sleep a little better tonight ❤️

I just wish Dodger was here to sleep in bed with us 💔
It kills me, thinking of him out there in the cold by himself. We want him back with us ❤️‍🩹

I can’t. She’s in a strange place.Her body is failing. She’s in pain. It’s her last day on this earth…But she still is c...
01/17/2025

I can’t.

She’s in a strange place.
Her body is failing.
She’s in pain.
It’s her last day on this earth…
But she still is comforting her brother.

We don’t deserve animals.

Sweety was not a direct victim of the fire last week, but it did take its toll on her. She’s older and has been having many ongoing health issues.
We were going to humanely euthanize her at the end of this month, but with the turmoil of the fire, she’s taken a turn for the worse and I’ve scheduled the appointment for today.

Sweety was surrendered to Adrienne‘s when her elderly owner had to downsize and was unable to properly care for her anymore.

They were having a hard time finding placement for her so Joe stepped up and adopted her.
From day one she’s been a big, loud dog. Her nickname is “Fat Stuff” and I’ve always liked to say that she’s “much muchness”.

Her favorite past times were barking for any reason, playing tug-of-war, chasing the cats when she got excited and playing the “bitey face game” with her brother Cy. They also each liked to hold onto one end of a toy and just growl at each other for hours.

When Cy first came to us she wanted nothing to do with him. That was until one day when Joe was running the vacuum, and Cy ran into the other room and hid behind her.
Ever since then they were inseparable.
He was so little when we rescued him that he was able to walk right under her.
And then when he was full grown, she was able to walk under him. She was so much smaller than him, but she was still his big sister.

She was the best big sister.
She would protect everyone in that house with her life.
She was so loving and sweet, but if you try to mess with her family, she would mess you up.
Anytime anything got exciting she would have to bark and be the loudest one in the room. She would make any excuse to try to jump on the furniture. She loved being covered in blankies. I would call it her babushka and she would be so happy to be cuddle up.

Sweety is one of our animals that we rescued that never went to programs. We have quite a few animals that have never done programs or do very few, but they’re still very important members of our family and household.

This past week has been so difficult for both Joe and I. Sweety is more Joe’s dog than mine. They have such a special bond.
He has such a hard time saying goodbye to an animal and with everything he’s gone through lately, this goodbye hurts so much worse. Cy is going to be lost without her.

Edited to add, 7:30pm:
Sweety’s appointment was for 3 PM. I got to sit with her for a while beforehand in the office.
She’s one of the few dogs I’ve ever had that absolutely loved going to the vet because she always enjoyed all the attention she got, so she was under no stress at all. 
She had lost 35 pounds since her checkup last year. It was clear that we were making the right decision and that she was very sick.
She didn’t even get the full injection before she was already asleep. I got to hold her face as she went under so I was the last thing that she smelled. And I told her that she was a good girl over and over so I was the last thing she heard.
Every time Joe and I would leave the house I would always tell the dogs “be good doggies, make good choices”. So I made sure I told her many times that she was a good doggy and that she made good choices.
After she was gone, I brought Cy into the room so that he could see her and know that she didn’t abandon him. 

I’m sitting here now with Cy and crying.
Our little family has been through so much in so little time, and the hits just keeps coming.

We just wanna get this new rental done so we can get the rest of our babies back to us. 

Go give your puppers a hug and a kiss for me please

Update 1/24/25 am - Dodger has been found safe and is back with us 🤍🖤REWARDIt’s so cold out. It’s going to be so cold ou...
01/16/2025

Update 1/24/25 am - Dodger has been found safe and is back with us 🤍🖤

REWARD

It’s so cold out. It’s going to be so cold out. Dodger is 100% an indoor cat, he’s known nothing but warmth and coziness since we rescued him off the street as a kitten.
Flyers have been put up around the trailer park and nearby. Please, please help us find Dodger and reunite him with his family.
Dodger is the only one of our animals that has not been accounted for after the fire. His remains were not found on the property when we were clearing it out so we are hopeful that he is still out there somewhere.

Tomorrow I have to bring our elderly dog to be put to sleep, my poor younger dog is not gonna know what to do with himself. We all miss Dodger and it would help lighten our hearts in this difficult time if he was found.
He was last seen the night of the fire, which was Wednesday January 8th. He’s missing from Country Meadows trailer park, lot 54 in Millville.

Most of the regular tips and tricks for catching a missing cat will NOT work in our situation.

Really, the only option we have is for people to keep an eye out for him.
There are many stray cats in the Neighbourhood that look extremely similar to him. The best way to tell him apart is that he has a big white blaze on his face, and a black spot on his nose and chin. He may be injured and scared but he’s an extremely loving cat and a good boy.

If you think you’ve spotted him, or if you’re able to catch him, please text me at 856-265-8973.

Today, I’m going to write about another one of our pets lost in the fire. Fry the carpet python.Fry came to us in Septem...
01/16/2025

Today, I’m going to write about another one of our pets lost in the fire. Fry the carpet python.

Fry came to us in September 2017.
He came from another “educator” who no longer wanted him. Honestly, the guy was just some pest control person who seemed to like to flip animals, but this was one of my dream species so we decided to take the trip to go get him.

On the way to go get him, we broke down Fries Mill Road, which is how he wound up getting his name.

Carpet pythons, depending on sub species, can be anywhere from around 5 feet to well over 10 feet. There is really no way of knowing the exact sub species unless you have their lineage. The person we got him from said that he was supposed to be full grown when we got him (at 5 1/2 feet). By the time that he passed, he was over 8 feet.

Fry was a good boy, he was just opinionated. He was not one of our “bombproof” snakes. He had his boundaries and you had to respect that.
But when he did come to events, he was always a rockstar. Speaking of rockstar, he was actually in a music video and professional photo shoots. His colors were absolutely amazing.

Fry loved when it was time to clean his enclosure because he got to free room the bathroom with the shower running.
He would climb all around the shower and then get up on the window, and then the medicine cabinet and it was always such a pain to get him down, but he loved being able to climb in the nice warm bathroom with a shower going. I’m going to miss having to corral him when it was time to put him back.

He’s one of the snakes that for years I kept saying, if I found him the right home, we would adopt him out. But the perfect home never came along and I was completely happy to keep him for the rest of his life if we were the best fit. He’s one of the animals that we were excited to move to the new home for as we were going to give him a huge enclosure.

Carpet pythons are arboreal which means they love to climb. Fry liked to climb up and up and up. When we did outdoor events with our gazebo, he loved to hang from the top like a chandelier. He loved it up there, and people loved seeing him up there too.

He was our longest snake, he was our strongest snake, he wasn’t the sweetest or the most docile, but he was so special and he was such a good boy in his own way.
I’m so sorry that he’s gone and that he’ll never get his bigger enclosure.

Another way that you can support us is to head over to The Spot and purchase some of our items. I will not be able to re...
01/15/2025

Another way that you can support us is to head over to The Spot and purchase some of our items.
I will not be able to restock for a while, but any funds made through this would be appreciated and much needed.

It’s on the bottom level, as soon as you go down the stairs to the left back wall

Last I checked, there was still a bunch of mystery bags, necklaces, fish supplies, and some nature themed knickknacks

Venmo-
PayPal-
CashApp- $TorisCritters
Apple Pay- 856-265-8973
Chime- $TorisCritters

GoFundMe- https://gofund.me/534ccd4b

For today, we’re going to recognize two animals that perished in the fire. We have to tell you their stories together be...
01/15/2025

For today, we’re going to recognize two animals that perished in the fire.
We have to tell you their stories together because they were a package deal.
Apollo the lovebird and Fred the cockatiel had one of the most special bonds I’ve ever seen in an animal pair.

Apollo came to me in the spring or summer of 2013 as an 8 week old baby. He came from someone that wanted a bunch of baby lovebirds at one time and then found that they were overwhelmed with having to hand rear them all. So I went and picked up Apollo, and another lovebird, Artemis. I hand raised them.
Apollo would come to indoor events and fly to somebody and then come back to me. It was his little party trick and everyone loved it so much. Until he hit maturity and then we had to stop that because he got a mind of his own and wanted to explore 💛

Artemis always had a healthy dislike for me, but Apollo and I had the most special bond. Unfortunately, in 2014, Artemis became egg bound and passed away. I was on the phone with the vet when she passed in my hands. Apollo was heartbroken. Lovebirds form very tight bonds with their mates. I was so worried about him.

Fred came to us in late 2014 or early 2015, shortly after Artimis passed.
He came to me from someone that had been working at a pet store and saw that he kept getting returned.
I believe he was returned up to 5 times. She purchased him and wanted to give him to her father, who was ill and needed a companion.
So she sent him to me to try to hand train him because he had so many trust issues. After less than two weeks, I said there’s no way this bird is ever going to really want to hang out with anyone and she said that we could keep him.
During one of our training sessions I had him on the couch with me and Apallo flew over, began to sing to him, and that was that. They were never apart after that moment.

I always loved to tell their story at events because they were 2 different species, from 2 different continents, were both male, but they were absolutely head over heels in love with each other. They came into each others lives just when the other needed them the most.

Apallo would build a nest on the bottom of the cage with newspaper and Fred would go hide and make such happy noises.
They slept together in their hammock every night.

Apollo’s eyes and neck were bald because Fred would give him too many kisses.

Fred didn’t want to be touched by people but would let me pick him up and put him in his travel cage because he loved going out so much, as long as Apallo was with him.
Fred always like to wait until I was talking at a program to start “talking” himself. It was funny and a bit annoying, but that was Fred.
I’m going to miss his interruptions so much. What I wouldn’t give to have him interrupt me one more time.

Apallo liked when I would cup him in my hands and let people gently pet his back. He was such a special little man.
They were especially a huge hit at our senior home volunteer events.

Fred passed away the night of the fire and Apallo passed away the next day from complications. Though I’m absolutely devastated to have lost them, I take solace in that they didn’t have to live without one another. They were laid to rest together with the other animals that we lost so they get to be together forever.

Fly high my babies

If you have any photos or memories of Fred and Apallo, please share them in the comments

Someone gave me the wonderful idea of writing a little post about each one of our Critters. They thought it would be hea...
01/14/2025

Someone gave me the wonderful idea of writing a little post about each one of our
Critters.

They thought it would be healing for me and also help you guys learn more about the animals, Joe and I, and how these guys really are our life.

I can’t guarantee how often I’ll post with everything going on, it might be one a day, one a week, multiple in a day, I’m not really sure. But rest assure you will hear all of their stories.

I remember a while ago I tried to do a critter-a-day or something along those lines, then fell out of it.
But things have changed now, the ones that we’ve lost… It’s just broken my heart and I think writing about their stories will be healing for me.

And for the ones that Joe saved, well, I thought I couldn’t love my critters anymore than I already did, but my heart breaks again at the thought of losing any more of them.
I’ve seen these animals every day for years now, they’re part of my every day life.
Joe and I have never gone on a vacation or been out of the house together for overnight. There was no days off, no sick days. No days playing hookie. One of us was home with them every single night. It’s been that way for over 13 years.

Not to say that I took that for granted or that like anything, but now that my animals are not with me, not being able to check up on them multiple times a day, every single day, I really know how absolutely lucky I was to have them with me, all under one roof, safe and happy and loved.
Once we get into the new rental, I never want my babies separated from me ever again.
Every single one of my animals has a story to tell, I feel like they all came into my life for a reason and I’m devastated to know that seven of those lives got cut short.

I’m going to begin with the ones that we lost, because I feel like those are the ones that my heart needs to tell about.

For our first day, I’d like to start off with probably one of our animals that you guys were most attached to too, Quasie.

Quasie didn’t have the best start at life. Apparently he was purchased impulsively at a reptile show and kept for who knows how long in an inappropriate enclosure with inappropriate food.
We then met someone in a parking lot who wanted to just throw him away.
He really didn’t give us much info other than what I’ve already said. Quasie had something called pyramiding, which is essentially his body growing incorrectly due to inappropriate care. He was 12 pounds and so sick. We never did find out how old he was.
Sulcata tortoises get to be 100 to 200+ pounds, they have lifespans as long, if not longer than a human. They seriously are a long term commitment and so many people get them because they’re cute little babies. That’s what happened to Quasie.

Right away, he was a huge hit with everyone that met him. Male sulcatas can be quite territorial jerks. Quasie was never like that.
He loved following people around, making us follow him around too. Every time I’d be working out in the yard, he’d come lay down next to me and get his scratches. He loved being wrapped in blankets and put on your lap. It was cute and easy when he was 15, 20 pounds but once he got to be over 70, it wasn’t so easy anymore. But he demanded his cuddles and so he got them.

Several years ago, someone took him off our property and dumped him into the river “setting him free“. Quasie was lost for three weeks struggling to survive until finally he swam up to a boat to find rescue. A desert tortoise SWAM to a boat to be rescued. It was a miracle.
He was very sick after that, from being in the brackish water for so long. Even up until right before he passed we were dealing with the fallout of that event. He had issues with his back legs, and he was very traumatized and didn’t want to take his baths like he used to. But after vet visits and huge bills, we got him to where he wasn’t in pain anymore and was living a good life, even with his new disabilities. That’s all that matters.
He loved our 2 smaller tortoises, VoldeTort and Tortellini. He always went to their pen and laid next to it. He really loved Tortellini. And when I would put VoldeTort in the pool with him for soaks, he would stay in longer. They were bath buddies.

He was no longer doing events just because he was so big and it was almost impossible to corral him so he just lived his best life at home having the whole yard to himself and his own shed.
Quasie was so special and loved by everyone.
For a long time I wasn’t known as Tori, I was known as “Quasie’s Mom”.

Because we were moving to a new home with a smaller yard, we had a home lined up for him.
It was at a horse farm. I think he would’ve loved it.
He never got a chance to go there, but the owner of the property so graciously offered to lay him to rest there.
OK, now I’m crying.
It kills me that he never got to see the place, but it’s something, knowing that he gets to spend the rest of eternity there, it’s a beautiful place and he would’ve loved it.

Anyway, if any of you have any pictures of him or any memories of him, please add them to the comments of this post. I know how much so many of you loved him.
I’m gonna go cuddle the animals that we still have with us in our temporary housing right now and hold them tight. Make sure you hold your animals tight tonight too, you never know what tomorrow brings so cherish those babies every day

I’ve put an update on the GoFundMe I cannot thank everyone enough for the love we’ve received. I don’t think I’ve hugged...
01/14/2025

I’ve put an update on the GoFundMe

I cannot thank everyone enough for the love we’ve received. I don’t think I’ve hugged this many people in the past 10 years, that I have in the last several days, and I’ve meant every single one.
I love all of you.

I’ve always just thought about myself as a girl who loves and animals and likes to help others love them too.
I never understood what the big deal was.
But these past few days you all have shared with me how we’ve touched your lives over the years. I don’t think I realized what an impact our work truly had and how many people we’ve touched.
I’m blessed to have you all.

For a quick update on what’s going on and where we are going from here (short term), please check out the following link and look at the update.

Today I have some things to pickup and drop off at a few places and I’ll be on the phone with insurance people.
Last night and this morning I’m just now getting around to reading all the comments on all our posts.
Thank you guys for the love.
Later this week I’ll try to start responding to all the messages.

Thank you thank you thank you

My worst nightmare Our home caught fire. We lost some anim… Tori Leibrock needs your support for Help us house and care for our surviving pets

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Millville, NJ
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