first tortoise

[lacey121]

Hi ya'll, my name is Lacey and im a new tortoise owner as of two days ago. I've worked at a small animal clinic for aobut 3 years now, and i'm close to graduating a vet. tech program. I've owned reptiles for as long as i can remember, but i'm very new to tortoises.

A friend of mine knew someone who had a tortoise and wasn't taking too great of care of her and didn't really want her anymore. She had her for about 2 1/2 years and kept her in an aquarium she could barely turn around in, sand as substrate, and she only had a heat lamp. She was being fed pet store tortoise food (two diferent types of pellets), 'grape tomatoes', and lettuce. She also seems to be pyramiding, but i think it might be the early stages? She might have a URI, when she breathes it sounds pretty wheezy, and she had fecal material stuck to her feet, bottom of her shell, and all over her vent and tail.

I brought her to work yesterday with me, we cleaned her up best we could and gave her a warm soak. We are trying to see if we fix the husbandry issues if that will help. If not, we are going to start her on some antibiotics.

I live close to New Orleans and it is about 75 degrees around here during the day right now, at night it dips to about 55 degrees. I made her a 10x10 enclosure outside, i have a little dog house that i put in there too, i did have aspen shavings in there to help keep insulated but she tried to eat the shavings, so i took them out. I planted some hibiscus and mondo grass in there, and i also put a couple of flat stones/rocks for basking. i have a heat lamp out there right now to help with it being a little lower temps than they like. i made her enclosure out of rebar and some type of wire from home depot along with some visqueen (spelling? not sure) and zip ties. i know the area i made for here is not ideal but it's the best i could do right now. she hasnt tried to climb or dig yet. i take her inside at night because i do not have a top covering yet, plus its warmer inside than out. hopefully i can figure out how to post pics on here and get some tips??

I have switched her food to alfalfa and timothy hay, mustard greens, and wilted flowers (mainly rose and hibiscus) for right now. she doesnt really eat anything besides the mustards.. and the previous owner gave me all the food she had for her, so i decided to atleast offer the tomatoes for a little while, she loves them it's the only thing she seems excited about. so i need some suggestions on what to do? should i switch her slowly to better foods and add some of the other diet she was getting? or be strict and keep giving whats better? (im hoping the foods i 'switched' her to are okay foods for her?)

she 13#11oz. i renamed her Fiona. sorry this was such a long winded post, please give me any suggestions about anything i could do better with??

thanks!
-lacey

 

[lkwagner]

Tomatoes are not good for them. Only once and a long while as a "treat". If you're going to buy store bought greens, endive and escarole are best for them. If I was you I would start offering a mix of different grasses, dark leafy greens, cactus pads and even order some mazuri.
Maybe even do a fecal on her since those tomatoes can cause parasites since they cannot digest the sugars.

Welcome to the forum! It looks like you're doing a great job so far, I bet he/she loves being outside compared to that small tank!

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome Congrats on your new tort. Much better life then he had. Sounds like you are doing really good by him. The pellets aren't bad if they are tortoise pellets, you can soak and use them, along with dark leafy greens and spring mix. Also, cactus, Mazuri pellets when you need more, grasses and weeds. Do not give store bought flowers that are used for bouquets. Of he likes the tomato and doesn't really want the others, maybe just squeeze a little tomato juice in the better stuff and see if that will trick him into eating better. Then eventually eliminate the tomato.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Hi Lacey, welcome to the Forum. All things considered your tortoise doesn't look too bad. Temperatures are a big part of correct husbandry. Lack of appetite, activety, wheeziness are all signs that she is being kept too cold. I recommend that you keep her at 80F at night and let her roam in the 75 degrees during the day. She'll find a sunny spot to warm up outside or use the hide you made that has a heat lamp. She should have a spot that is around 100F to really get warmed up. Stop feeding the tomatoes. The acid is not good for their digestive tract. Offer leafy greens such as collards and turnips or plantain. Mine loves chicory, mallow, sow thistle. Mazuri Grassland Tortoise chow from Purina is a good choise to balance the tortoises nutritional needs. It might help wean her off some of the other foods and get her eating healthier. There is a lot of useful info here on the Forum. I suggest you look at the stickies in the "Diet" section and in the "Health" section. Keep us posted.

 

[AZtortMom]

Welcome to TFO echoing what was stated earlier, congrats on your new tort and I'm so happy you were able to provide her with a much better home. I would follow the great advice that has been given so far especially the the Mazuri food and the warmer temp. The better diet is key too. Enjoy your new friend. Again, welcome

 

[EllieN]

Welcome! I'm a relatively new tort owner myself, so what I'm about to say came from other members of this forum. One day I will be wise like some of them, but until then I'm soaking up everything they have to say. So, I have a question. Is the heat lamp inside the dog house? From the picture it looked like it might not be. In order to leave her in the outside enclosure at night you have to have heat in her hide (the dog house) that never gets below 65 degrees, once the URI is cleared up. Until that's gone, you are doing the right thing by taking her in at night and keeping her temps above 80. If you don't have a reliable thermometer to measure the temps in her various spaces, you need to get one. You can find good suggestions on what to get by searching this forum.

To ease her transition to the right foods, you could give her organic baby lettuces to get her used to eating greens. They love dandelion, too. Like everyone else has said, get some Mazuri. If you're feeling sorry for her because she isn't getting tomatoes any more, you could try pumpkin puree. I'll bet she'll love that, and you can use it as an occasional treat in place of tomatoes. Don't give it to her more often than once every couple of weeks, because it's not that good for them (but it's way better than tomatoes). Since it comes in a can that has way more than she can eat at one time, freeze it in ice cube trays and store the cubes in an airtight bag in the freezer. Every couple of weeks you can thaw one and give it to her.

Most importantly of all, you should read Tom's threads. I am practically forum-illiterate, so I don't know where to tell you to find them Hopefully you can find them, or someone else will give you a link.

 

[lacey121]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! She looooooves it outside! constantly walking around and basking on her rocks, she looks a bit perkier.

I did go ahead and do a fecal float when i brought her to work and didnt see any parasites, but since i gave her tomatoes after that i'll recheck another stool.

Also, i do have a heat lamp out there its right outside of her dog house and it's pointed into the opening, it just wasnt set up when i took that pic.

Is Mazuri something i can get at a pet shop, or more of an online thing? I will deffinately stop the tomatoes and try all the recommendations ya'll made! She is very stubborn about which foods she will eat lol, but i'll look into Tom's threads and also the diet section on this forum and see what i can come up with for her!


i have a couple more questions, i have a kiddie pool and i was wondering if that was a bad idea to add to her enclosure? the only i problem i see is that it's kind of tall for her, i could dig a hole and place it in but then it would still be hard to get out of. should i try that and put some kind of ramp in it? or would that be too risky for potential flipping over? i noticed that she hasn't been drinking her water real well so i'm wondering if this would help out maybe she just wants a huge 'water bowl' like this? or is this just not a good idea?

 

[srod]

Hi and welcome! Nice to see someone else from new orleans! Glad you've given fionna a new home! Looks like she will do fine in your hands. The only place locally that I know that sells mazuri is a pet shop in chalmette. They charge $12/lb so might be cheaper if you buy online or in bulk. Also if you need some fresh opuntia cactus and plantain leaves to feed fionna, I have plenty to share!

BTW the weather was awesome today!!

 

[lacey121]

The weather was awesome!! Wish I didn't have.work today lol.

Is.that the newer shop that opened out there? I.think its called bjs exotics??
That's really nice of you, i'm sure she would love some fresh opuntia cactus and plantain leaves! Do you grow your food? I need to look into that

 

[EllieN]

The kiddie pool would make a better indoor enclosure than outdoor pond, for the exact reasons you mentioned. You never want to give them a pond/puddle/water dish that they can't easily climb out of, and it shouldn't be deeper than the bottom of their carapace (again, all of this comes from other posts on this forum. I'm not an expert. Yet). It seems a favorite thing to use for a watering hole on this forum is a sunken plant saucer. That's what I plan to use when Puckie gets bigger.

 

[lacey121]

Awesome, thanks! I'll just use the kiddie pool for her soaking instead!

 

[srod]

The weather was awesome!! Wish I didn't have.work today lol.

Is.that the newer shop that opened out there? I.think its called bjs exotics??
That's really nice of you, i'm sure she would love some fresh opuntia cactus and plantain leaves! Do you grow your food? I need to look into that

Weather was awesome today too!
Yes, its the shop called BJs. They sell the big bags of mazuri or you can ask them to sell it to you by the pound.
Been waiting for spring to start planting stuff. I have a bit of tortoise seed mix that I bought from Carolina pet supply that I'll be planting in the outside enclosure soon. I've grown some of it before within the indoor enclosure, its pretty good stuff. But I have access to a lot of naturally grown opuntia cactus and plantain leaves on a property my family has owned for decades. If you need any let me know - you can also take some to plant your own.