Tortoises Visit Powder Springs Library

POWDER SPRINGS — Children at the Powder Springs Library saw tortoises large and small Thursday at the library’s weekly baby story time event.

Twelve tortoises from Paulding County-based nonprofit Scaley Addictions visited the library where kids were invited to pet their shells and learn more about their lifespans.

About 30 children and their parents braved the rainy weather to meet their new scaly friends. The most popular turtle at the event was Turbo, a 70-pound Sulcata tortoise that can grow up to 150 pounds.

Scaley Addictions owner Theresa Carcioppolo said the organization is a community of reptile enthusiasts that travel across the southeast hosting similar reptile education programs at schools and libraries. The goal is to educate children on how to care for reptiles as pets and how to respect them in their natural habitats.

“A lot of people don’t realize ... that you can’t take anything that we have naturally in Georgia, and bring it in as a pet,” Carcioppolo said. “If you’re going to go out and buy something, at least keep it right. I want to educate myself out of rescues.”

Other turtles at the event included two Russian tortoises, two Hermann’s tortoises, one Aldabra tortoise, two red-footed tortoises, two cherry-head tortoises and two elongated tortoises.

Powder Springs resident Jessica Mathisen brought her two children Judah, 5, and Joanna, 2, to the special educational event. Mathisen said the three of them come to every weekly story time event at the Powder Springs Library.

“We had never seen a turtle at the library before, so I was pretty excited about it,” Mathisen said. “I think it’s a really fun thing for the kids to see. It’s really neat.”

Scaley Addictions takes in any reptile, whether it is a rescue or a surrender animal that is abandoned by its previous owner. The organization also has a partnership with Cobb County Animal Control where any reptiles that are brought to the shelter are then donated to Scaley Addictions.

During the children’s regular story time, youth services librarian Laura Warner sat the children down to read turtle-themed books. The books read included Lauren Castillo’s “Melvin and the Boy,” which tells the story of a boy who adopts a turtle, and Carcioppolo’s own book, “Can I Call 9-1-1 Now?”

The story is an illustrated children’s book that stars none other than Turbo himself as the main character. Carcioppolo, a Cobb 9-1-1 dispatcher, said the purpose of the book is to educate children about when it is appropriate to call 9-1-1 and the importance of learning their address and phone number.

“As 9-1-1 dispatchers we don’t have the cool K-9, the cool uniform, the cool anything,” Carcioppolo said. “(Scaley Addictions is) a way to get (children) in, educated about 9-1-1 and about reptiles and reptile care.”

Fellow Powder Springs native Nicole O’Sullivan regularly brings her son Jack Jacquet to story time to interact with other kids and learn with “Ms. Laura” during story time.

“(My favorite part) is seeing (Jack) interact with the animals,” O’Sullivan said. “We go to the pet store, and he always sees them enclosed. So, actually getting to see them and touch them ... he’s definitely interested.”