My tortoise journey continues (met some tortoises!)

[TortoiseDreamer]

Hi everyone! I’ve really been enjoying this forum and while I’m not sure who will really care to read this I was excited to come on and share you guys my continued journey towards getting a tortoise. The most exciting news is that a reptile rescue in my state got in an 8ish yr old male Hermann’s! He’s on a 60 day health hold that ends May 27th. It’s a bit of a drive for me but I think this rescue is very knowledgeable and takes good care of their tortoise guests, so it seems like a good option since my heart is really with rescuing animals. Recently my petsmart got a tortoise in. I believe it’s a Russian, but the tag simply says “testudo” and lists Russian, Hermann’s, and Greek under it and no employ could confirm which it was for me ??‍♀️ Anyway, when they got it out for me to look at it was sucked into its shell completely! Not sure that that’s normal for a tortoise to sit in its cage tucked in its shell...? It seemed very lethargic and shy. What’s crazy is a while ago I met and got to hold 2 Hermann’s at our petco and they were alert and very healthy seeming compared to this guy... obviously pet stores do not care for them properly most of the time, but due to several considerations it may be the route we have to take. I’m excited to see what I end up with lol!

 

[ZenHerper]

Welcome!

Feel free to post photos to this thread if you want help identifying species.

Pet stores usually carry wild-caught tortoises. They have endured a lot of fear and other stresses. So this would be a sort of rescue as well.

Probably the most important thing to do ahead of adopting or purchasing is to get a proper habitat set up. This is a straight-forward and successful way to go about doing that:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

 

[TortoiseDreamer]

Welcome!

Feel free to post photos to this thread if you want help identifying species.

Pet stores usually carry wild-caught tortoises. They have endured a lot of fear and other stresses. So this would be a sort of rescue as well.

Probably the most important thing to do ahead of adopting or purchasing is to get a proper habitat set up. This is a straight-forward and successful way to go about doing that:

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

www.tortoiseforum.org

Yes that’s very true. I have plenty of plans for my enclosure, I’ve been studying for months so I’m well prepared there at least!

 

[wellington]

Just be sure you are getting all your care info from this forum. Its the only place with correct info and is updated as new things are discovered or experimented.
My chain pet stores only get Russians.
Excited for you to get your first tort. Always keep an eye on craigslist too for rescues. Most of them are improperly cared for.