Adopted neglected tortoise - help please!

[newtortoisemum24]

Hi all,

I’ve just adopted a neglected tortoise - long story short my husband was at a bird auction and someone was trying to sell said tortoise, then he was told that his poor little guy hasn’t been fed or watered for months!!

He has no heat lamp (I’m going to get one as soon as the shops open in the morning), I’ve given him a long soak in the sink and have put some fresh leaves and strawberries in with him now.

Does anyone have any advice please on nursing him back to health?

Also have no clue whether he is a he ! Also what breed / age so any info would be helpful, TIA

 

[wellington]

That is a Russian tortoise. They should not have fruit.
Get a incandescent FLOOD bulb for basking of temps that reach 95-100.
The rest of the 4x8 minimum enclosure should range from 75-80 and nights can be all lights and heat off as long as the house temp stays in the 60's
A straight tube flourescent for uvb.
A clay saucer for water and orchid/fir bark for substrate.
Broad leafy weeds or grocery greens of escarole, arugula, endive, some kale, mustard and collard greens can be added. Spring mix too without most of the spinach.
Soak him daily for an hour each time in warm water to get him hydrated.

 

[S2G]

Thats a russian (horsfields). Looks like a sub adult. Id have to check the tail from this pic to be sure on sex. Id get it in a decent enclosure quick & let it warm up. To see how it does. Theyre incredibly tough. So some hydration & a warm up will prob get it going. If it starts wondering around try to find some safe weeds forgaging if you can. You want a 95-100F basking spot & day/night temps listed in this sheet....send a pic once he/she comes out of their shell so we can check it out.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

Hi all,

I’ve just adopted a neglected tortoise - long story short my husband was at a bird auction and someone was trying to sell said tortoise, then he was told that his poor little guy hasn’t been fed or watered for months!!

He has no heat lamp (I’m going to get one as soon as the shops open in the morning), I’ve given him a long soak in the sink and have put some fresh leaves and strawberries in with him now.

Does anyone have any advice please on nursing him back to health?

Also have no clue whether he is a he ! Also what breed / age so any info would be helpful, TIA

All good info so far, and I concur.

Here is more helpful info:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

Questions are welcome.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello and welcome from a fellow uk member! Bless you for taking them in!❤️it is indeed a Russian tortoise, wonderful little personalities🥰

As adults they ideally need a minimum of an 8x4 enclosure, roaming is vital to tortoise health, it aids digestion and strengthen their muscles. they can’t get away with smaller if allowed to free roam, I’d highly discourage indoor free roams.
As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that our climate makes it difficult to house outdoors, an outdoor enclosure is great for them to enjoy on summer days though! I would generally discourage free roaming outside of a safe enclosure.

Care advice for these guys is painfully behind, fb pages, YouTube, pet stores, they’re all repeating the same outdated advice, this forum is made of people who have spent years finding the best ways to care for them that actually result in healthy tortoise.

I’m going to include some information below on an example of an appropriate indoor set up, it includes the correct levels and equipment etc, including the appropriate indoor uv, hopefully it helps give you an idea🙂

Basking light should be an incandescent floodlight(example attached) on a 12 hour timer.

Basking temperature directly under the floodlight should be 95-100f. The rest of the enclosure should be ranging 75-80 during the day.

You may also wish to add ambient lighting on the same timer, providing shady areas with hides and safe plants.

Then CHE/CHE’s(ceramic heat emitters) always on a thermostat, for night heat if your house drops below 60’s at night. Set the thermostat for a night temperature place the probe in their cooler end, plug the che into it and the thermostat into the mains, it’ll be plugged in 24/7 but will only turn on when the temperature drops. We’re a cold climate so I think you’ll need these.

Uv should be a t5 fluorescent tube, avoid the compact and coil uv bulbs, they don’t give out enough uv and can hurt the tortoises eyes. The uv can be on a 4 hour timer from noon. I’ve attached examples of the two brands to go for and some examples of how to mount them. I’d personally go with the Arcadia proT5 kit 12%, it comes with the reflector fitting ready to mount it.

With lighting always avoid anything labelled halogen or mercury vapour.

For substrates, either coco coir, dampened and packed down by hand as a base, with a layer of orchid(fir not pine) bark or forest floor on top, or just the orchid bark/forest floor. Never use anything with sand mixed in, no top soils and no kinds of moss. The problem with top soil is unless you’ve composted it yourself, you don’t know what kind of plants have gone into it, it could be something toxic. Sand can irritate the eyes and be an impaction risk, moss is an impaction risk too.

You want to aim to have the bottom layer of substrate damp, to do this pour lukewarm water into the corners, not loads but enough to dampen the entire bottom layer. To stop that top layer getting a little too dry/dusty, mix the substrate now n then. Check your monitors and substrate to do the pours as and when needed.

I’d personally recommend you make your own base to go as big as you possibly can for the space you have. The closer you can get to an 8x4 size the better.

When making your base, just make sure the material is safe, some use flower beds, or take a large bookcase, take out the shelves and lie flat, or just make their own, for all these options I’d line with cheap pond liner to protect the base, making sure the liner goes up the sides too and make sure those sides are deep enough! They can be professional escape artists😂

I’ve also included examples of stands people make/buy to hang their lighting, use a temperature gun to determine how high the basking bulb needs to be, the uv I suggested needs to be mounted 18-20 inches from the substrate.

For a water dish a shallow terracotta saucer is considered safest, they have grip in the event your tortoise flips themselves, most pet store options are a known hazard.

I’d also always recommend getting your hands on a temp gun, they’re SO handy when setting up a new environment or for checking your monitors are correct🙂

For the diet side of things, no fruits, leafy greens and weeds are the way to go and variety is key! I think you’ll find the website below very handy to look through, in the wildflowers section there’s SO many plants that grow perfectly in our uk climate! You could buy some seeds offline and place then in organic soil(no chemicals or fertiliser) in an outdoor planter the tortoise doesn’t have access to, forage from them as they grow😁if foraging else be very wary! There are toxic look a likes so always double check, it’s also important to know it’s a place that doesn’t use any kind of weed killer or fertiliser. Safest bet is growing your own tbh😊

The Tortoise Table - Home

The Tortoise Table plant database and resource site for Tortoise owners

www.thetortoisetable.org.uk

I know it looks a lot to go over! But its definitely worth it❤️any further questions please ask! I don’t mind breaking things down for you🙂

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome to the forum! Looks like that's one lucky little tortoise.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I did just want to add in case it was a little buried in my load of information😂
You’re guy isn’t a fruit eating species, so no more strawberries for the little fella or any other fruits🙂

 

[COmtnLady]

Welcome to The Tortoise Forum!

Before you invest in things, ask questions here. It will help save you a lot of effort and funding.

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