My new friend!

[lbailey4487]

I finally got my new friend from a rescue in NC! Any way to tell how old he is? The former owner said 2 years. I’m guessing older? I don’t have the best pictures of him yet. He’s still upset from the move and keeps digging under the substrate.

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum! Cute tortoise.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Oh congratulations!! Did you decide to set up indoors or outdoors in the end? Don’t suppose you’d be up to sharing a pic of your new enclosure?he’ll definitely take some time to settle in

And yeah definitely looks older than 2, that looks like a potentially full grown, wild caught adult

 

[lbailey4487]

I am building a bigger indoor and an outdoor enclosure. For just the moment, he’s in the 3 X 5 tortoise table. My teacher friend and principal had me write up a grant for materials to make even larger enclosures than planned, so I’m waiting to see how that turns out. If I don’t hear from them within about a week, I’m setting up a 4 X 8 raised garden bed that I have at home inside and buying the materials for the 10 X 12 outdoor one a piece each payday in order to have it ready for spring. After around the end of this month or early next, he will have to stay indoors most of the time. Right now he’s either scared or sulking, so I figured I have a minute.

 

[lbailey4487]

Oh congratulations!! Did you decide to set up indoors or outdoors in the end? Don’t suppose you’d be up to sharing a pic of your new enclosure?he’ll definitely take some time to settle in

And yeah definitely looks older than 2, that looks like a potentially full grown, wild caught adullt.

 

[Ink]

It takes a tortoise awhile to get use to a new enclosure

 

[lbailey4487]

And I do fear he’s a wild-caught adult. The former owner who surrendered him to rescue bought him and a female at Petsmart in March 2022. Apparently she was told he was only a few months old, as I now know is common in pet stores. Now I have no way to know how old he is! I’m also very sad for him. I’d never support wild caught torts being sold, but you get all kinds in the rescue world. I’m now just determined to give him the best life I can!

 

[lbailey4487]

This is his temporary home before I plugged everything up, etc. He’s also got several plants in there now. I’ll have to get some better pictures tomorrow.

 

[lbailey4487]

It takes a tortoise awhile to get use to a new enclosure

Yes, poor guy had a confusing day yesterday. Taken from his home, long trip, plunked down in a new place…. We are giving him time to chill now.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

This is his temporary home before I plugged everything up, etc. He’s also got several plants in there now. I’ll have to get some better pictures tomorrow.

Bless him!! I can say with 99.9% certainty that if his former owners got him from pet smart, he was already an adult, he’s definitely wild caught. Don’t feel bad though, youve not got him from the store directly which is what counts!

I think the only potential thing I wanted to give you a heads up on after re reading some of your threads, is the fact that him travelling between classroom to your home may well be quite stressful for him, we do generally advocate for the fact they don’t make good class pets. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure the set ups you plan to make are lovely! It’s just tortoises are very territorial oriented creatures, even going from an indoor to an outdoor set up can be stressful for them at times, so alternating between your class and home might not be the ideal life for himI would try to encourage you to set him up at your home.

I think I linked you these before but just incase you missed them, this goes over the indoor set up side of things, everything is covered with loads of visual examples! Being an adult he’s going to be needing a minimum of 8x4 foot, which may be tricky in your classroom

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

Also if you haven’t already, I’d go over this one to make sure you avoid the wrong bulbs etc

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Keep us in the loop with how he’s getting on!

 

[lbailey4487]

Bless him!! I can say with 99.9% certainty that if his former owners got him from pet smart, he was already an adult, he’s definitely wild caught. Don’t feel bad though, youve not got him from the store directly which is what counts!

I think the only potential thing I wanted to give you a heads up on after re reading some of your threads, is the fact that him travelling between classroom to your home may well be quite stressful for him, we do generally advocate for the fact they don’t make good class pets. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure the set ups you plan to make are lovely! It’s just tortoises are very territorial oriented creatures, even going from an indoor to an outdoor set up can be stressful for them at times, so alternating between your class and home might not be the ideal life for himI would try to encourage you to set him up at your home.

I think I linked you these before but just incase you missed them, this goes over the indoor set up side of things, everything is covered with loads of visual examples! Being an adult he’s going to be needing a minimum of 8x4 foot, which may be tricky in your classroom

Housing adult Russian and Hermans indoors

Hello there! In this thread I’m going to include some information an example of an appropriate indoor set up for an older Herman/russian. As much as it’s encouraged to have tortoises in a safe outdoor enclosure, I understand being from the uk myself, that some climates make it difficult to...

tortoiseforum.org

Also if you haven’t already, I’d go over this one to make sure you avoid the wrong bulbs etc

Common keeping errors

Hello everyone! I’d been a long time lurker on this site long before joining just under a year ago now, over that time I’ve seen these husbandry issues come up time and time again, sometimes with dire consequences☹️ I thought this thread might serve as a good visual guide for these common...

tortoiseforum.org

Keep us in the loop with how he’s getting on!

Hello, again! I’d already reviewed both of these posts plus Tom’s lengthy starter post many times (and will likely review many more)! Both were very helpful—many thanks! As to room in my classroom, in that I am blessed. I have an entire regular-sized classroom but only 2-7 kids in it at any one time. Once I have time to organize a bit more, the tortoise could easily have 1/4 the room. Home has actually been the trickier part, as I have dogs I want to keep separate from even a secure enclosure for at least a while. I have thought about stress with moving between habitats and have asked around. I’ve pretty much been told it depends on the tort. Guessing that’s probably true. This little guy was pretty outgoing at the rescue. He hid most of yesterday and this morning but came out at lunchtime, ate, and took a nap under his basking lamp. He seemed cautious of the kids peeking in but stayed outside his shell and in the main area for most of the afternoon. I’m going to play it by ear as I get to know him. As I live right by the school and could gain emergency access, my plan right now is to make my classroom his main home and bring him home only on breaks or if there is a risk of inclement weather. But I also plan to watch him closely and see how he responds to everyone, the school environment, etc. Then I can make changes as to what seems best for him.
Thanks again for all the help! One unrelated question—how do I get him used to soaking? I’m guessing he’s not had them regularly other than maybe taking himself in his water dish.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Hello, again! I’d already reviewed both of these posts plus Tom’s lengthy starter post many times (and will likely review many more)! Both were very helpful—many thanks! As to room in my classroom, in that I am blessed. I have an entire regular-sized classroom but only 2-7 kids in it at any one time. Once I have time to organize a bit more, the tortoise could easily have 1/4 the room. Home has actually been the trickier part, as I have dogs I want to keep separate from even a secure enclosure for at least a while. I have thought about stress with moving between habitats and have asked around. I’ve pretty much been told it depends on the tort. Guessing that’s probably true. This little guy was pretty outgoing at the rescue. He hid most of yesterday and this morning but came out at lunchtime, ate, and took a nap under his basking lamp. He seemed cautious of the kids peeking in but stayed outside his shell and in the main area for most of the afternoon. I’m going to play it by ear as I get to know him. As I live right by the school and could gain emergency access, my plan right now is to make my classroom his main home and bring him home only on breaks or if there is a risk of inclement weather. But I also plan to watch him closely and see how he responds to everyone, the school environment, etc. Then I can make changes as to what seems best for him.
Thanks again for all the help! One unrelated question—how do I get him used to soaking? I’m guessing he’s not had them regularly other than maybe taking himself in his water dish.

That all sounds great! Hope you didn’t mind me saying, it’s just we’ve seen some dire ‘class tortoise’ situations that really don’t workbut it’s so refreshing to see a teacher putting in the research to make sure the tortoise is having all his needs met whilst being enjoyed by your students! And at least as you live near the school, he won’t be travelling long periods for when do you have to house him at yours. But yeah like you say, monitor how he gets on, they do indeed all have very different little personalities

With the soaking, some of them actually always kick up a fuss about it, some learn to relax lol, again just a personality thing, if he appears restless/stressed don’t let it put you off, his soak time is very beneficial, them being fussy actually makes pretty good exercise for them and encourages them to poopso either way I wouldn’t worry, but given some time and more handling, perhaps he’ll chill, ours switches up her moods from day to day with it

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

I have thought about stress with moving between habitats and have asked around. I’ve pretty much been told it depends on the tort.

This is also best to be done on a routine. Tortoises love routines and they help to minimize stress. When I moved my tortoise to an outdoor enclosure for the day and back in for the night, I always tried to do it the same time of the day every day, so he learns to except it.