randominique
New Member
I've been nervous to post this, but I just want my tortoise to get all the care he needs.
Hello, I am Dominique, and I am 13 years old. I got Sneem (weird name, I know
) when I was 9 years old in the fall of 2020. I love him to death, but he has been mistreated and neglected in the 4 years I've had him.
He used to be kept in the small glass tank that my dad got from the pet store. I have moved him to a larger enclosure, although I don't think that it's large enough for him. Here's the Amazon link to the enclosure:
The temperatures in his enclosure are 72-74 degrees Farenheit outside of his basking lamp, and somewhere around 90-100 degrees by his basking lamp. Sneem also has a UV light.
I never realized that Sneem's enclosure should be cleaned once every month. I was told, "who cleans his cage in the wild?" and would only clean his cage every couple (2-5) months.
Sneem has never left his cage unless it is to get a soak, which I give him every 1-2 weeks and is 10-30 minutes long. He is scrubbed with a soft-bristle toothbrush. I know that this is not enough, and I feel terrible for being so lazy. He used to be bathed every day or every couple of days until my nanny left in 2022. I would like to take him outside and have been asking him about getting an outdoor pen, and while my dad says it is a good idea I am still yet to get one.
Worst of all is probably his food situation. For a while, he only ate iceberg and romaine lettuce. I didn't know that this wasn't good for them, so now he eats romaine, collard greens, and other vegetables I can find at the grocery store (I'm blanking on exact names, we got a spring mix packet last week if it helps). On school days, I feed Sneem at 6:00-7:00 AM and I give him a pile of food the size of his shell. Sometimes I'll be rushing to school and forget to feed him, resulting in him sometimes eating only 5 days a week. I am unsure if this is okay, and I feed him extra the next day. On weekends, I wake up late or get terribly lazy and feed him at around 9:00-10:00 AM. On days that I wake up late or fall under the excuse of "I'll do it in a bit," he is fed at 11:00-12:00, and sometimes even 1 PM. I have been trying to be more diligent with feeding Sneem and have been feeding him at 9:00-10:00 AM more often. His food plate (a charcuterie board, I don't know why he eats off of a charcuterie board but my dad placed it in his cage when we first got him and I never had a reason to change it) tends to get covered in feces, pee, and urates. I don't know why, but I won't clean it the second I see waste on it. Sometimes I'll tell myself "It's not that dirty, I'll clean it tomorrow or something" and end up cleaning it only when it is caked with feces. Thankfully, he normally doesn't eat off of his food bowl and I either hand feed him or place his food by his basking light. A couple days ago this happened. I feel rotten I am trying to be more diligent with cleaning his food bowl.
I am mad at myself for neglecting Sneem, and also mad that my parents would get me a tortoise without the proper research. I know that they meant well and just wanted me to be happy, but a couple online searches and they would have found out that the information the pet store gave us was actually harmful for my tortoise. I feel like a lot of this could have been prevented if they helped out more (I am the only one who cares for Sneem now, my dad and nanny used to help but now it's just me) and knew more about taking care of Russian Tortoises.
I posted a shortened version of this anonymously in a venting channel on Discord and was told that I have been neglecting and abusing Sneem and that I should either fix things up or rehome him because "this is just sad." It has served as a wake-up call but since I saw that post, I have been feeling incredibly guilty, sad, and empty. It's made it a bit hard to focus in school and even before the posts I would get pangs of guilt that would make me unable to focus well. My parents tell me that it's fine and that I've been trying my best, but I feel like they should also be researching on Russian tortoises.
Please tell me what I should fix. Your replies will really help out.
Bonus photos of Sneem:
Sorry that there aren't too many photos, I do not have too many photos of him. I have a couple of videos of him eating and things like that, but it's on my phone.
Hello, I am Dominique, and I am 13 years old. I got Sneem (weird name, I know
) when I was 9 years old in the fall of 2020. I love him to death, but he has been mistreated and neglected in the 4 years I've had him.He used to be kept in the small glass tank that my dad got from the pet store. I have moved him to a larger enclosure, although I don't think that it's large enough for him. Here's the Amazon link to the enclosure:
https://www.amazon.com/PawHut-Tortoise-Habitat-Enclosure-Openable/dp/B0BT9CV5HD?tag=exoticpetnetw-20
The temperatures in his enclosure are 72-74 degrees Farenheit outside of his basking lamp, and somewhere around 90-100 degrees by his basking lamp. Sneem also has a UV light.
I never realized that Sneem's enclosure should be cleaned once every month. I was told, "who cleans his cage in the wild?" and would only clean his cage every couple (2-5) months.
Sneem has never left his cage unless it is to get a soak, which I give him every 1-2 weeks and is 10-30 minutes long. He is scrubbed with a soft-bristle toothbrush. I know that this is not enough, and I feel terrible for being so lazy. He used to be bathed every day or every couple of days until my nanny left in 2022. I would like to take him outside and have been asking him about getting an outdoor pen, and while my dad says it is a good idea I am still yet to get one.
Worst of all is probably his food situation. For a while, he only ate iceberg and romaine lettuce. I didn't know that this wasn't good for them, so now he eats romaine, collard greens, and other vegetables I can find at the grocery store (I'm blanking on exact names, we got a spring mix packet last week if it helps). On school days, I feed Sneem at 6:00-7:00 AM and I give him a pile of food the size of his shell. Sometimes I'll be rushing to school and forget to feed him, resulting in him sometimes eating only 5 days a week. I am unsure if this is okay, and I feed him extra the next day. On weekends, I wake up late or get terribly lazy and feed him at around 9:00-10:00 AM. On days that I wake up late or fall under the excuse of "I'll do it in a bit," he is fed at 11:00-12:00, and sometimes even 1 PM. I have been trying to be more diligent with feeding Sneem and have been feeding him at 9:00-10:00 AM more often. His food plate (a charcuterie board, I don't know why he eats off of a charcuterie board but my dad placed it in his cage when we first got him and I never had a reason to change it) tends to get covered in feces, pee, and urates. I don't know why, but I won't clean it the second I see waste on it. Sometimes I'll tell myself "It's not that dirty, I'll clean it tomorrow or something" and end up cleaning it only when it is caked with feces. Thankfully, he normally doesn't eat off of his food bowl and I either hand feed him or place his food by his basking light. A couple days ago this happened. I feel rotten
I am trying to be more diligent with cleaning his food bowl.I am mad at myself for neglecting Sneem, and also mad that my parents would get me a tortoise without the proper research. I know that they meant well and just wanted me to be happy, but a couple online searches and they would have found out that the information the pet store gave us was actually harmful for my tortoise. I feel like a lot of this could have been prevented if they helped out more (I am the only one who cares for Sneem now, my dad and nanny used to help but now it's just me) and knew more about taking care of Russian Tortoises.
I posted a shortened version of this anonymously in a venting channel on Discord and was told that I have been neglecting and abusing Sneem and that I should either fix things up or rehome him because "this is just sad." It has served as a wake-up call but since I saw that post, I have been feeling incredibly guilty, sad, and empty. It's made it a bit hard to focus in school and even before the posts I would get pangs of guilt that would make me unable to focus well. My parents tell me that it's fine and that I've been trying my best, but I feel like they should also be researching on Russian tortoises.
Please tell me what I should fix. Your replies will really help out.
Bonus photos of Sneem:
Sorry that there aren't too many photos, I do not have too many photos of him. I have a couple of videos of him eating and things like that, but it's on my phone.
it’ll encourage him to ask his own questions too which we’re all happy to help answer
