My mom went away on a work conference and asked me to care for her pets for those few days.
I checked on her tortoise and noticed her shell is very misshapen. I decided to give her a little bath while I did some research. From what I've gathered... My mom is not taking proper care. I would kind of like to take over slightly but I am not very experienced and don't know if I would be doing more harm.
Background info:
She is a red foot tortoise. Approximately 10 years old I believe. We live in Alberta, Canada.
My mom mainly feeds her tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and mushrooms (I've gathered that this is terrible IMO) and also does not give any calcium or vitamin d3. Her substrate is peat moss I believe. She has a large but shallow water dish which my mom empties into the peat moss when she changes the water (is that sanitary?). She has a red lightbulb (not sure anything else about it; I think maybe it is a heat lamp?). She also has a zoo med "tortoise block" in there which she said helped with beak overgrowth a few years ago. The tank is quite large but those are the only things in it. The room she keeps the tortoise in is usually pretty warm because she keeps the door closed (could be dry in there) but from what I can see, the peat moss is really wet and muddy.
The tortoise is at least 10 years old. She isn't THAT big though. However, I don't know how large they're supposed to be at that age. Her shell is very deformed in my opinion there are deep crevices and area where it is sunken and raised. I think it is pyramiding. The shell is hard, not soft. Also her "claws" look long and curled. Her legs are very dry and scaly/rough looking compared to other tortoises I've seen. Is that just her age?
Anyway. I want to help her. Any major changes I should implement now ?
I checked on her tortoise and noticed her shell is very misshapen. I decided to give her a little bath while I did some research. From what I've gathered... My mom is not taking proper care. I would kind of like to take over slightly but I am not very experienced and don't know if I would be doing more harm.
Background info:
She is a red foot tortoise. Approximately 10 years old I believe. We live in Alberta, Canada.
My mom mainly feeds her tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and mushrooms (I've gathered that this is terrible IMO) and also does not give any calcium or vitamin d3. Her substrate is peat moss I believe. She has a large but shallow water dish which my mom empties into the peat moss when she changes the water (is that sanitary?). She has a red lightbulb (not sure anything else about it; I think maybe it is a heat lamp?). She also has a zoo med "tortoise block" in there which she said helped with beak overgrowth a few years ago. The tank is quite large but those are the only things in it. The room she keeps the tortoise in is usually pretty warm because she keeps the door closed (could be dry in there) but from what I can see, the peat moss is really wet and muddy.
The tortoise is at least 10 years old. She isn't THAT big though. However, I don't know how large they're supposed to be at that age. Her shell is very deformed in my opinion there are deep crevices and area where it is sunken and raised. I think it is pyramiding. The shell is hard, not soft. Also her "claws" look long and curled. Her legs are very dry and scaly/rough looking compared to other tortoises I've seen. Is that just her age?
Anyway. I want to help her. Any major changes I should implement now ?