Hi everyone,
First off, I want to thank all you long-time members for sharing all your knowledge; your advice has definitely helped me and my Stampy out over the last few years. Very much appreciated.
Stampy is my redfoot boy (definitely, absolutely, 100% confirmed he is a male). I rescued him the summer of 2011 from the roommate of a friend who had the impression he was a Russian tort. Good job, Petco. He was miserable...bright light, super dry, some sort of dried and dyed pre-packaged food, horrible wheeze, you get the idea. I grew up with tortoises, so I knew I was looking at a very unhappy redfoot, and when I told this girl what she had and what he needed she said "Take him." So I did, and he got better, although he still has a bit of a wheeze, and he is much much happier. He's probably about 8-10 years old, but I really don't know.
And now life has happened in ways I didn't plan for and I'm still in an apartment in Western Mass. I do have a backyard, but it's full of old junk and scraps that are just under the surface. Stampy has outgrown any enclosure I could have for him in the apartment; at this point he really needs his own room for the winter and an outdoor pen for the summer. The real problem is that now he lives on my floor, which I know is just about the worst place he could be even in the hottest and most humid of summers. And I feel pretty crappy about it, honestly, as he's such smart, funny, curious boy and he deserves to live like a redfoot should live. I love him to pieces and I can't stand the idea of not waking up to him wanting breakfast, but it would be selfish to keep him like this.
So please advise me on what to do next! How do I even begin going about finding a quality home for an active, still-growing-but-already-quite-large tortoise? Craigslist scares the crap out of me...I need to know he's going to be happy and safe and not just sold by whomever I give him to. Are there rescue or conservation places out there? Is there anyone on this site in the area of Western Mass who wants to add a male redfoot to their menagerie? And maybe let me visit every now and then?
Thank you all!
First off, I want to thank all you long-time members for sharing all your knowledge; your advice has definitely helped me and my Stampy out over the last few years. Very much appreciated.
Stampy is my redfoot boy (definitely, absolutely, 100% confirmed he is a male). I rescued him the summer of 2011 from the roommate of a friend who had the impression he was a Russian tort. Good job, Petco. He was miserable...bright light, super dry, some sort of dried and dyed pre-packaged food, horrible wheeze, you get the idea. I grew up with tortoises, so I knew I was looking at a very unhappy redfoot, and when I told this girl what she had and what he needed she said "Take him." So I did, and he got better, although he still has a bit of a wheeze, and he is much much happier. He's probably about 8-10 years old, but I really don't know.
And now life has happened in ways I didn't plan for and I'm still in an apartment in Western Mass. I do have a backyard, but it's full of old junk and scraps that are just under the surface. Stampy has outgrown any enclosure I could have for him in the apartment; at this point he really needs his own room for the winter and an outdoor pen for the summer. The real problem is that now he lives on my floor, which I know is just about the worst place he could be even in the hottest and most humid of summers. And I feel pretty crappy about it, honestly, as he's such smart, funny, curious boy and he deserves to live like a redfoot should live. I love him to pieces and I can't stand the idea of not waking up to him wanting breakfast, but it would be selfish to keep him like this.
So please advise me on what to do next! How do I even begin going about finding a quality home for an active, still-growing-but-already-quite-large tortoise? Craigslist scares the crap out of me...I need to know he's going to be happy and safe and not just sold by whomever I give him to. Are there rescue or conservation places out there? Is there anyone on this site in the area of Western Mass who wants to add a male redfoot to their menagerie? And maybe let me visit every now and then?
Thank you all!