Hi, I need help with my baby Greek tortoise. I don't know much about tortoises and I’ve only had mine for 21 days, and she was healthy at first, but for the past 5 -6 days she stopped eating and became very sick.I’m new to tortoise care. The seller told us they were easy to care for, but after researching online I realized they need much more care than I knew. She rarely drank water since I got her, except sometimes during baths, and mostly stayed hydrated from cucumber. I usually feed her watercress and lettuce. I also noticed her tongue looks white, which I learned can be a sign of dehydration I tried to get her to drink but it didn't work .Now she is breathing very heavily, almost gasping every few seconds. She barely moves, and her eyes are slightly swollen. We live in an apartment and don’t have an outdoor space for her, so I keep her near the window for sunlight and let her out of the tank to move around when I can. I don’t have proper heating or temperature-control equipment so I think that might caused her to get sick all tho it was sudden because she was okay with it before.
I searched online and learned warmth might help, so I made warm compresses using warm water in plastic bags covered with cloth and I but her above it to keep her warm. Since starting that yesterday, she moved a little more than before. Today I tried soaking her in warm water, but she couldn’t even keep her head raised, so I stopped because I was worried it would make things worse. Today I replaced the compresses because it says doing it for a day is enough so now I tried placing small warm bags beside her so she can move away if she gets uncomfortable, but she still won’t eat or drink. I’m doing my best to help her, but I’m really worried she may not survive.Unfortunately, there are no vets near us, so I can’t get medical treatment for her. I’m also a student with exams coming up, and I can’t focus because I’m so worried about her.If there is anything else I can do to help her, please tell me
. I really don’t want her to die. If I had known she needed more care than I could provide, I wouldn’t have gotten her. I'm trying my best to help her with what I can and know. These tiny creatures are so precious, and it would break my heart to lose her like this 
.
I searched online and learned warmth might help, so I made warm compresses using warm water in plastic bags covered with cloth and I but her above it to keep her warm. Since starting that yesterday, she moved a little more than before. Today I tried soaking her in warm water, but she couldn’t even keep her head raised, so I stopped because I was worried it would make things worse. Today I replaced the compresses because it says doing it for a day is enough so now I tried placing small warm bags beside her so she can move away if she gets uncomfortable, but she still won’t eat or drink. I’m doing my best to help her, but I’m really worried she may not survive.Unfortunately, there are no vets near us, so I can’t get medical treatment for her. I’m also a student with exams coming up, and I can’t focus because I’m so worried about her.If there is anything else I can do to help her, please tell me
. I really don’t want her to die. If I had known she needed more care than I could provide, I wouldn’t have gotten her. I'm trying my best to help her with what I can and know. These tiny creatures are so precious, and it would break my heart to lose her like this .
All of us are suddenly struck by what we have taken on at first, then we learn and get really good at caring for these beautiful creatures. You will do fine. Soon it will stop being overwhelming and you will a very good tortoise keeper!
