Adopted 25 yr old DT in Laughlin, NV

ascott

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10 Year Member!
Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
16,138
Location (City and/or State)
Apple Valley, California
Hello everyone,

I recently got a house where the previous owner had raised a DT for the last 25 yrs he has his own underground lair on the side of the house made of a 2x4 shoot going down into the ground and a huge mound he has built in front to stop water from flooding his cave. The previous owner gave me his feeding schedule of every morning at 8 am he comes out and stares in the sliding glass door waiting for his food which I was told to give him 2 1/4 in. slices zucchini chopped into cubes, 2 1/4 in. slices cucumber chopped into cubes, 1 leaf of Romaine and 1 leaf of Kale torn into scraps, so I have now for about 3 months he devours it every day at 8 am like clockwork then disappears into his underground lair.

So I have a few questions...

1. I did some reading about diet and I read that romaine lettuce or any lettuce has no nutrients for him and should be not used and Kale should be used more sparsely and to use more like turnip greens mustard greens or collard greens instead, also I read that cucumber and zucchini should be used sparingly and that butternut squash or Acorn squash is better. Now if he has been living on this same diet for so long is there any reason I should change it or just stay with it?

2. All the pictures I see of these Tortoises they are all so clean looking my DT is very, very dusty like he has never touched water before and I read that people are soaking them in water should I be giving this guy water to bathe in or should I hose him down with slow running water in the mornings when he is done eating? Now also the previous owner did not have anything about water on his feeding schedule he wrote down for me, so do these guys not drink water either? I tried to put a shallow dish of water by his food 1 day and he just walked over it, spilled it, then ate his food and left.

Any way I will get some pics of him up soon as he comes out again to better show you his dusty appearance.

but here is a pic of his lair entrance...
View attachment 180221


Thanks for any responses


Beautiful tort....and after reading the entire thread there thus far, the food offerings that you are giving are something that tortoise likely counts on as part of his routine....you also say that he has access to other parts of the yard where there is patches of items he grazes on right? Well, the grazing is likely where he gets some nutrition and the food offerings you give/prior owner gave are good for the soul....and likely keep him happy and do no harm...romaine, green leaf, red leaf lettuces are all fine and they do indeed have nutritional value...also, the food items that he is use to are high water content items which is likely why he is fine in regards to hydration....adding the water soaking dish I a beneficial item and they do love to walk into and soak in the water, they also like to muck about in a low running sprinkler, tortoise height water....

Sometimes the best thing we can do for a tortoise who has established his "world" within out yards is to allow the tort to remain doing what has worked...sometimes the nicest/kindest thing we can do is to simply offer up the things the tortoise can use to be healthy and let them do what they have been doing and in this tortoise case, all appears good....

Oh yeah, this is a burrowing species...so a dusty tortoise is a sign of a happy tortoise...also, a lot of the "clean" looking tortoise you see here have been wet down or waxed for appearance and is in no way what they naturally are designed to look like which is indeed a dirt loving/living animal...

Please also take care with your dog within the same space as the tortoise....what we see as jealous, curious, friendly and all the nice human words we use are all signs that a dog is interested in the tortoise and if ever left alone together, the tortoise always will lose...many tortoise have had limbs chewed off, shells chewed on and bit into and cracked clean in half....more times by the family dog that is not bad but is naturally curious and use their teeth and jaws to satisfy that curiosity...
 

Razan

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5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2015
Messages
378
Location (City and/or State)
Riverside, CA
What kind of dog do you have? Please never leave a dog alone with a tortoise. So many many times we read about the friendliest family dog ever, so unexpectedly, killed a tortoise. Completely out of character for this dog...Very sad preventable incidents.

On a lighter note, your tortoise is beautiful ! Thank you for posting pictures. :tort:
 
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