I want to release my Tortoise Help please

[Devvrat Singh]

Hello everyone I have got a Indian Star Tortoise named Vasu (female) which my Father brought home from a farm when I was a 7 years old and when the tortoise was few months old. It,s been 10 years and Vasu is with us in our home.
Earlier I was Ignorant but now I am concerned about Vasu,s future and she has never seen or met another Tortoise and I want to release her. Somewhere she can meet other tortoises of her kind. She is from a very rare breed in our region.
We all are attached to her very much as she is attached to us and my whole family
is against releasing her but I want to release her and I can,t find somewhere suitable I don't know whether the people in sanctuary can take care for her well or not or whether she can still adapt in wild if we release her please suggest your opinion what should I do.Vasu

 

[SinLA]

You cannot release any animal that spent its life in captivity into the wild. It will almost certainly die a horrible death that way, she has no idea how to survive out there

 

[wellington]

Releasing her is animal abuse! She will not survive. It is usually in most places against the law and you will put her and the other tortoises at a great health risk.
Find her someone that will actually care for her and let her love her life being safe in captivity which is all she knows!

 

[Devvrat Singh]

Then i will give her to a good sanctuary Thanks for your suggestion what we have done surely is a crime.

Releasing her is animal abuse! She will not survive. It is usually in most places against the law and you will put her and the other tortoises at a great health risk.
Find her someone that will actually care for her and let her love her life being safe in captivity which is all she knows!

Then i will give her to a good sanctuary Thanks for your advice but can she survive even in a sanctuary without us

 

[Devvrat Singh]

not in the wild but somewhere she can get enough exposure to learn a few things to survive like in a zoo

 

[Megatron's Mom]

Your family does not want to give her up. Why not get them to join this site and they can do better and care for her properly. She does not want to meet other tortoises. She likes being stress free from other tortoises.

 

[Tom]

Hello everyone I have got a Indian Star Tortoise named Vasu (female) which my Father brought home from a farm when I was a 7 years old and when the tortoise was few months old. It,s been 10 years and Vasu is with us in our home.
Earlier I was Ignorant but now I am concerned about Vasu,s future and she has never seen or met another Tortoise and I want to release her. Somewhere she can meet other tortoises of her kind. She is from a very rare breed in our region.
We all are attached to her very much as she is attached to us and my whole family
is against releasing her but I want to release her and I can,t find somewhere suitable I don't know whether the people in sanctuary can take care for her well or not or whether she can still adapt in wild if we release her please suggest your opinion what should I do.View attachment 372302View attachment 372302Vasu

This is a beautiful tortoise. They are not rare though. Many people breed them here in the US, and also in Europe and all over Asia.

Animals kept in captivity cannot be release to the wild because they sometimes acquire diseases in captivity that can kill the entire wild population. Often these diseases are undiagnosed and the tortoises can be asymptomatic.

I like the suggestion from Megatron's Mom about learning to care for the tortoise properly and offering it a wonderful happy home to live in where it will be loved and cared for. Could that work? It sounds like your family likes the tortoise.

Here is some care 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

 

[Devvrat Singh]

We will keep her but still there will always be a weight on my heart that she could have lived a better life if she could have learned to survive in the wild. She can have kids i don,t know where to find her a suitable partner and i am excited to know how will she react when seeing another tortoise after so many years.

 

[wellington]

We will keep her but still there will always be a weight on my heart that she could have lived a better life if she could have learned to survive in the wild. She can have kids i don,t know where to find her a suitable partner and i am excited to know how will she react when seeing another tortoise after so many years.

Tortoises should never be in pairs. Seeing another tortoise will just put stress on her, why would you want to do that to her!
If you give her a proper enclosure, diet, heat, uvb, hydration, she will be perfectly happy. You didn't do anything wrong by getting her. But what you want to do with and to her is wrong.
They aren't people and will not miss having babies. They don't stick around and care for them anyway.
They don't want a tortoise friend, that just causes them stress and possible illness or death.
Tortoises live must of their life alone and that's what makes them happy.
Start thinking of the tortoise and like a tortoise. Don't put them in the category of a dog who is a pact animal, and also not what you feel, but what the life of a tortoise really is.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

We will keep her but still there will always be a weight on my heart that she could have lived a better life if she could have learned to survive in the wild. She can have kids i don,t know where to find her a suitable partner and i am excited to know how will she react when seeing another tortoise after so many years.

She’s been raised in captivity, if born free in the wild she would have been adapted and happy living there, however she hasn’t been, captivity is all she knows and she’s perfectly happy with that provided her needs are being met. She doesn’t have the capacity to understand she’s missed out on a ‘wild life’.

She doesn’t need to breed, it’s not making her unhappy in not doing so!
In the wild, they’ll obviously seek out mates by instinct to mate then be done with one another, they go off and live very secluded lives! They absolutely don’t need a partner and in fact housing her with a mate in captivity will be very stressful for them both! In the great outdoors they have the ability to go their separate ways, in captivity they will simply start becoming territorial

Perhaps like suggested, get your family members on this forum to help us advise them on all her care needs! I appreciate the sentiment of wanting an animal to live a natural a life as possible, but you’re talking about a captive raised tortoise here. Providing she has the appropriate enclosure size, diet, lights/heat, she’s more than happy I can assure you!❤️

 

[TammyJ]

Thanks for coming here with your thoughts and worry about your beautiful tortoise. Everyone here who has seen the picture of her is impressed by how beautiful she is! She has obviously been well cared and loved, so why not keep caring for and loving her? That's what she knows, and any change will make her unhappy, unless it is to be given to another nice family who will care for her as you have for so long! She wants to stay with you, her human family. Please consider that. Thank you!

 

[Devvrat Singh]

Thanks for coming here with your thoughts and worry about your beautiful tortoise. Everyone here who has seen the picture of her is impressed by how beautiful she is! She has obviously been well cared and loved, so why not keep caring for and loving her? That's what she knows, and any change will make her unhappy, unless it is to be given to another nice family who will care for her as you have for so long! She wants to stay with you, her human family. Please consider that. Thank you!

Thank you for your beautiful reply. All of you are very very supportive i never thought there will be a whole community of people who are expert tortoise keepers. We will definately keep her and i have already started researching how to make her life better in our home with improvements in diet and more exposure to sunlight. Thank Youuu ))

 

[TammyJ]

That's wonderful!!! Lucky tortoise! Thank you.

 

[Yvonne G]

We will keep her but still there will always be a weight on my heart that she could have lived a better life if she could have learned to survive in the wild. She can have kids i don,t know where to find her a suitable partner and i am excited to know how will she react when seeing another tortoise after so many years.

Don't release her. She will surely die! Your profile says 'Brampton.' The only Brampton I could find is in Canada. There are NO tortoises native to Canada.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Thank you for your beautiful reply. All of you are very very supportive i never thought there will be a whole community of people who are expert tortoise keepers. We will definately keep her and i have already started researching how to make her life better in our home with improvements in diet and more exposure to sunlight. Thank Youuu ))

This is wonderful to hear❤️
We’ll always be here to offer advice and support! Keep us in the loop🥰

 

[Devvrat Singh]

Don't release her. She will surely die! Your profile says 'Brampton.' The only Brampton I could find is in Canada. There are NO tortoises native to Canada

Don't release her. She will surely die! Your profile says 'Brampton.' The only Brampton I could find is in Canada. There are NO tortoises native to Canada.

Actually i am from Rajasthan, India which is basically a semi arid dry region which now on summers is 45 C average daily and the tortoise is native to this place(also illegal to keep). so i faked the address but now iam going to jail.

 

[wellington]

Actually i am from Rajasthan, India which is basically a semi arid dry region which now on summers is 45 C average daily and the tortoise is native to this place(also illegal to keep). so i faked the address but now iam going to jail.

Not because of any of us, so I wouldn't worry.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Actually i am from Rajasthan, India which is basically a semi arid dry region which now on summers is 45 C average daily and the tortoise is native to this place(also illegal to keep). so i faked the address but now iam going to jail.

So from my understanding she was illegally took from the wild as a hatchling?😣not an ideal situation but you’re not to blame here, you were a child after all.

Because she’s been taken from her natural environment from such a young age, to release her now would be a death sentence. Hence taking any animal from the wild is highly discouraged, and in this case illegal. Ethical captive breeding is different.

If I were in your position I’d be making sure the tortoise has a large secured outside area with plenty of places they can go to find shade, provide plenty of water and place appropriate food out for them to come graze.

If you can’t secure an area then please supervise and follow her around outside to keep her safe❤️

 

[Tom]

We will keep her but still there will always be a weight on my heart that she could have lived a better life if she could have learned to survive in the wild. She can have kids i don,t know where to find her a suitable partner and i am excited to know how will she react when seeing another tortoise after so many years.

Life in the wild is extremely harsh and unforgiving. Predators everywhere, diseases, parasites, starvation, drought, flood, fires, weather extremes. Life in your yard with protection fro predators, shelter, fresh clean water, and plentiful fresh food every day, is much nicer.

Tortoises don't "have kids". They dig a hole in the ground, deposit their eggs, and walk away. They get no enjoyment from it and have no understanding of it.