OliveW
Well-Known Member
Hello, I am a grandmother who live in North Florida, in a very rural area. I've wanted a tortoise my entire life, but as an information junkie, every time I got the itch, I'd start researching. The overwhelming responsibility always scared me away.
So, fast forward to last week and we were coming home down a long, uninhabited stretch of our dirt road when we came upon a tortoise just strolling along. Knowing that our only native tortoises are gopher ones, and this was definitely something different, we stopped at picked it up. I initially thought someone would come forward as the owner, and we would return it. A several day search, both in person and online, and nobody claimed her. Many animals get dropped off out here, unfortunately, and I now believe someone did just that. Every dog and cat we have just showed up. We have even had two domestic pigs dropped off, years apart.
Some quick research told me what type of tortoise this is, and that her main diet is from grazing. Since we have eight fenced acres, I decided to just let her have the run of it. Our fence is a ranch type, and apparently no match for a tortoise because within six hours, I got a call from our only neighbor that she was upside down in his front yard. One of his dogs makes a sport of tortoise flipping.
So, my husband threw together a quick enclosure for her, out of wood that we had laying around. It's 12' x 24' and just temporary until we can get the materials for a larger space. We plan to enclose about an acre for her. She has two dens currently, and a shallow dug water area. We have to move her temporary enclosure tomorrow, because I chose a bad spot for it. I wanted part of it to be in the shade, but forgot that there were grape vines above where she is. I caught her eating a little green one, then did a search of her enclosure and found probably 100 more. She ate 5 or 6 of them before I realized what was going on. They are immature, pea sized grapes, I hope they didn't cause any problems for her.
My corny husband named her Shelly. I don't like the name, but it's kind of stuck now. I'm having a ton of anxiety that I will make mistakes, and obviously already have. I KNOW she will long outlive me, so long as she stays healthy and that's something I'll have to take up with the kids and grandchildren as well.
I really need some help and support as I have questions. I hope you all can help. She is 10" from front to back of shell and weighs 5.2 lbs. She's extremely friendly and loves interacting with us. Obviously, I have no idea how old she is. I determined she's a girl by her perfectly flat bottom shell and tiny little tail that's barely visible.
Here are the questions I need help with -
* We take her out of her enclosure a few times a day to let her run around and graze in big areas, while supervised. Is this a good or bad idea? I'm not sure if we should just be letting her get used to her enclosure.
* Does she need soaked at her size? She loves water, but only on her terms. When I put her in a tub with a couple inches of lukewarm water, she gets mad. Then when she goes back in her enclosure, she goes straight to a corner and tries to dig her way out for awhile.
* Should she be getting some kind of calcium supplement?
* She has bad pyramiding. Of course I don't know what caused it, or how she was kept before, but is this going to negatively impact her health in the long term?
* How often should she be allowed "treats?" By that I mean vegetables on the allowed list. I know it should not be more than 10% of her diet, but I have no clue how much she is supposed to eat altogether to gauge how much/often that should be. In addition to the contraband grapes, she also ran into my garden during one of her walks and was chomping down on a cucumber before we got to her. She LOVED it, btw. We have prickly pear cactus up by our gate and I want to bring her some pieces, but she's done nothing but eat since we got her and I also fear over feeding. She grazes on grass and clover a lot more than I thought a tortoise would.
Thanks in advance for any and all advice you can offer.
So, fast forward to last week and we were coming home down a long, uninhabited stretch of our dirt road when we came upon a tortoise just strolling along. Knowing that our only native tortoises are gopher ones, and this was definitely something different, we stopped at picked it up. I initially thought someone would come forward as the owner, and we would return it. A several day search, both in person and online, and nobody claimed her. Many animals get dropped off out here, unfortunately, and I now believe someone did just that. Every dog and cat we have just showed up. We have even had two domestic pigs dropped off, years apart.
Some quick research told me what type of tortoise this is, and that her main diet is from grazing. Since we have eight fenced acres, I decided to just let her have the run of it. Our fence is a ranch type, and apparently no match for a tortoise because within six hours, I got a call from our only neighbor that she was upside down in his front yard. One of his dogs makes a sport of tortoise flipping.
So, my husband threw together a quick enclosure for her, out of wood that we had laying around. It's 12' x 24' and just temporary until we can get the materials for a larger space. We plan to enclose about an acre for her. She has two dens currently, and a shallow dug water area. We have to move her temporary enclosure tomorrow, because I chose a bad spot for it. I wanted part of it to be in the shade, but forgot that there were grape vines above where she is. I caught her eating a little green one, then did a search of her enclosure and found probably 100 more. She ate 5 or 6 of them before I realized what was going on. They are immature, pea sized grapes, I hope they didn't cause any problems for her.
My corny husband named her Shelly. I don't like the name, but it's kind of stuck now. I'm having a ton of anxiety that I will make mistakes, and obviously already have. I KNOW she will long outlive me, so long as she stays healthy and that's something I'll have to take up with the kids and grandchildren as well.
I really need some help and support as I have questions. I hope you all can help. She is 10" from front to back of shell and weighs 5.2 lbs. She's extremely friendly and loves interacting with us. Obviously, I have no idea how old she is. I determined she's a girl by her perfectly flat bottom shell and tiny little tail that's barely visible.
Here are the questions I need help with -
* We take her out of her enclosure a few times a day to let her run around and graze in big areas, while supervised. Is this a good or bad idea? I'm not sure if we should just be letting her get used to her enclosure.
* Does she need soaked at her size? She loves water, but only on her terms. When I put her in a tub with a couple inches of lukewarm water, she gets mad. Then when she goes back in her enclosure, she goes straight to a corner and tries to dig her way out for awhile.
* Should she be getting some kind of calcium supplement?
* She has bad pyramiding. Of course I don't know what caused it, or how she was kept before, but is this going to negatively impact her health in the long term?
* How often should she be allowed "treats?" By that I mean vegetables on the allowed list. I know it should not be more than 10% of her diet, but I have no clue how much she is supposed to eat altogether to gauge how much/often that should be. In addition to the contraband grapes, she also ran into my garden during one of her walks and was chomping down on a cucumber before we got to her. She LOVED it, btw. We have prickly pear cactus up by our gate and I want to bring her some pieces, but she's done nothing but eat since we got her and I also fear over feeding. She grazes on grass and clover a lot more than I thought a tortoise would.
Thanks in advance for any and all advice you can offer.