Meet Peanut

[Jennpaints]

Rescued this little elongated tortoise today, my son renamed it Peanut.

The lady I got it from was feeding it Broccoli and Grapes mostly and told me it was two years old (appears to be a hatchling). Big sigh.

With the right heat and humidity, he/she is fairly active and eating.

New to elongated tortoises so this should be interesting!

Pictured in previous enclosure below…

 

[TammyJ]

It's quite adorable!

 

[zovick]

Rescued this little elongated tortoise today, my son renamed it Peanut.

The lady I got it from was feeding it Broccoli and Grapes mostly and told me it was two years old (appears to be a hatchling). Big sigh.

With the right heat and humidity, he/she is fairly active and eating.

New to elongated tortoises so this should be interesting!

Pictured in previous enclosure below…

View attachment 364267

Looking at the shell growth, it could be two years old. It doesn't really look too bad, actually.

Probably needs the humidity amped up as well as a wider variety of foods in its diet.

Good luck with it.

PS: I used to play baseball in Pasadena once or twice a week while I was going to the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery from 1967 to 1971. It was a really nice little town. I would bet it has grown quite a lot since those days.

 

[wellington]

I agree, not bad looking. Unfortunately we don't have many on here with this species.
Hopefully someone can help with its temps, diet, humidity, etc.

 

[g4mobile]

What a beauty! I have a 5 1/2 y/o Burmese Star and 6 month old Elongated tortoise. Their diets are pretty much the same and I'm feeding different weeds, grasses, hibiscus leaves and flowers (especially roselle hibiscus). I also feed Mazuri 5M21 original tortoise diet as a supplement. Your elongated can eat fruit now and again and mine absolutely loves papaya. I only feed fruit once per month as a treat. Nice to see another Elongated tortoise owner on the forum!

Have you got a weight on your tortoise yet?

​

 

[Tom]

Nice! Congrats.

I'm a fan of this species, but my climate is all wrong for them. House it like a red foot. Warm and humid. Don't use sphagnum peat moss. They will eat it. Orchid bark substrate will work best.

 

[Jennpaints]

Looking at the shell growth, it could be two years old. It doesn't really look too bad, actually.

Probably needs the humidity amped up as well as a wider variety of foods in its diet.

Good luck with it.

PS: I used to play baseball in Pasadena once or twice a week while I was going to the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery from 1967 to 1971. It was a really nice little town. I would bet it has grown quite a lot since those days.

It definitely could be a 1-2 based on the coloration now. I keep redfoots (separate) so this guy will also get plenty of appropriate humidity and a varied diet.

Pasadena isn’t that exciting, lol. We do live near the water and it’s commutable to other areas. I used to live in Annapolis but it’s way cheaper this way.

 

[Jennpaints]

Nice! Congrats.

I'm a fan of this species, but my climate is all wrong for them. House it like a red foot. Warm and humid. Don't use sphagnum peat moss. They will eat it. Orchid bark substrate will work best.

Absolutely, removed all the moss immediately near it on the way home. I’m convinced it was dyed because its face was turning bright green… came off during a fresh soak.

I keep redfoots so I definitely will make sure this little fella has appropriate humidity and diet.

Thanks Tom!

 

[Jennpaints]

What a beauty! I have a 5 1/2 y/o Burmese Star and 6 month old Elongated tortoise. Their diets are pretty much the same and I'm feeding different weeds, grasses, hibiscus leaves and flowers (especially roselle hibiscus). I also feed Mazuri 5M21 original tortoise diet as a supplement. Your elongated can eat fruit now and again and mine absolutely loves papaya. I only feed fruit once per month as a treat. Nice to see another Elongated tortoise owner on the forum!

Have you got a weight on your tortoise yet?

​

Thanks for the tip on the papaya. It’s one of the things I keep in rotation for my redfoots.

 

[zovick]

Absolutely, removed all the moss immediately near it on the way home. I’m convinced it was dyed because its face was turning bright green… came off during a fresh soak.

I keep redfoots so I definitely will make sure this little fella has appropriate humidity and diet.

Thanks Tom!

The green on the face might also come from eating lots of broccoli (or kale). Figured I'd bring up the kale possibility in case the prior owner was feeding it and didn't mention it to you.

 

[ParkourMexican]

Hope Peanut is doing well!

I currently keep 4 elongateds housed individually as mine can get pretty aggressive and they are not all the same size. It is amazing how territorial they are especially at a young age.. all mine are still juveniles but
I have seen them all ram each other during soaks and the more aggressive ones have actually rammed me while I was adjusting things in their enclosure.
What I feed mine: Being forest tortoises I feed mine fruits and veggies more frequently than once a month. Zucchini, acorn/spaghetti/yellow squash, carrots, sweet potato, and nopal are my go to veggies.
Turnip greens, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, escarole, and endive are my primary grocery store greens of choice.
Mazuri 5M21 is the pellet that I am using currently but I have used the LS formula in the past with success as well as the zoo med gourmet tortoise diet.
They love earthworms and I sometimes offer them as a treat. Otherwise I include dehydrated black soldier fly larvae in with their salads about once a month.
Mushrooms dusted in calcium.

Since Arcadia came out with their "Optimised52" grass bricks I have been mixing it with the moistened pellets at a 1:2 ratio by dry weight (i.e. 1oz grass to 2oz pellets). Their poops have looked a lot healthier after I introduced it.

 

[g4mobile]

Hope Peanut is doing well!

I currently keep 4 elongateds housed individually as mine can get pretty aggressive and they are not all the same size. It is amazing how territorial they are especially at a young age.. all mine are still juveniles but
I have seen them all ram each other during soaks and the more aggressive ones have actually rammed me while I was adjusting things in their enclosure.
What I feed mine: Being forest tortoises I feed mine fruits and veggies more frequently than once a month. Zucchini, acorn/spaghetti/yellow squash, carrots, sweet potato, and nopal are my go to veggies.
Turnip greens, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, escarole, and endive are my primary grocery store greens of choice.
Mazuri 5M21 is the pellet that I am using currently but I have used the LS formula in the past with success as well as the zoo med gourmet tortoise diet.
They love earthworms and I sometimes offer them as a treat. Otherwise I include dehydrated black soldier fly larvae in with their salads about once a month.
Mushrooms dusted in calcium.

Since Arcadia came out with their "Optimised52" grass bricks I have been mixing it with the moistened pellets at a 1:2 ratio by dry weight (i.e. 1oz grass to 2oz pellets). Their poops have looked a lot healthier after I introduced it.

I am a new Elongated Tortoise owner and this is great information. Thank you. Mine rams me when I'm changing things around in his/her enclosure as well. They are such a cool species.