Need advice to take better care of my tortoise.

Abe97

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I was just wondering what species my tortoise belongs to and if she's healthy and all. I've had her for about 10 years now. Unfortunately, growing up (I got her at 8, I'm 18 now), 99% of the time, I fed her romaine lettuce. I neglected her alot when I was a kid. When I hit my teenage years, I smartened up a little and changed her diet, but it was still mostly romaine lettuce.

For the first 4 years of having her, I put her in cardboard boxed with reptile sand. She got really deppressed because she couldn't walk around alot as the boxes were usually medium sized but still too small. When I hit my teens, I created openings on the cardboard boxes, so she can walk around my room, freely. Unfortunately I put up with her pooping and peeing all around my room for a few years until I got a kid-blowup-pool for her. She liked it.

At this point, I am tired of neglecting this poor tortoise. I don't want to give her away, because I created a bond with her that I don't want to lose (and I doubt many people in Canada know how to take care of her.) I saved up some money and I'm willing to invest so much more for my tortoise, I want her to be happier. She seems healthy and walks around alot, she's very lively. But I know I could do so much better than I have already.

According to you guys, does she look healthy? What species is she? She's almost 13 years old now. Her name is Turtle.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate this!

IMG_0009.JPG IMG_0010.JPG IMG_0011.JPG
 
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SarahChelonoidis

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Can she lift herself up? The way she is holding her legs in those photos concerns me.

Has she been getting sunlight these past 10 years? What about an indoor UVb bulb? Any calcium supplements?

I'm not good with Testudo IDs... I always forget which species/subspecies have the flared marginals like that. Are you sure she's a she? @HermanniChris ?
 

HermanniChris

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Its shape definitely looks male but I would need to see a plastron (bottom) photo to see the tail in order to know what sex it is. One thing is for sure, it's a beautiful Testudo graeca marokkensis which is a subspecies of the Greek tortoise.
 

Abe97

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IMG_0013.JPG Here she is holding herself up to get some endives
Can she lift herself up? The way she is holding her legs in those photos concerns me.

Has she been getting sunlight these past 10 years? What about an indoor UVb bulb? Any calcium supplements?

I'm not good with Testudo IDs... I always forget which species/subspecies have the flared marginals like that. Are you sure she's a she? @HermanniChris ?

She can definitely lift herself up. She's actually surprisingly strong for her size. She gets sunlight every day during the summer (Itake her outside) and I have a UVb lamp and bulb for her to bask in every morning. Also, I'm not sure if it's a female or a male, but I took a guess years ago that it was a female bcause of it's short and fat tail and such.
 
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Abe97

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Its shape definitely looks male but I would need to see a plastron (bottom) photo to see the tail in order to know what sex it is. One thing is for sure, it's a beautiful Testudo graeca marokkensis which is a subspecies of the Greek tortoise.

Best Shot I can get of her plastron.

IMG_0015.JPG
 

Yvonne G

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Hmm looks male to me. :)

That's what I thought too. In the Testudo species the males' cloaca is in the slash shape while the females is more of a star shape. Maybe because of his previous care his "maleness" like the concave plastron and big, fat tail, is stunted
 

Abe97

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Wow! I've been lying to myself all these years, it's male then.
 

Tom

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Here is a care sheet I typed up for russians. Care and diet is essentially the same.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/

This might help too:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

And here are some food suggestions:
Mulberry leaves
Grape vine leaves
Hibiscus leaves
African hibiscus leaves
Blue hibiscus leaves
Rose of Sharon leaves
Rose leaves
Geraniums
Gazanias
Lavatera
Pansies
Petunias
Hostas
Honeysuckle
Cape honeysuckle
Leaves and blooms from any squash plant, like pumpkin, cucumber, summer squash, etc...
Young spineless opuntia cactus pads

Weeds:
There are soooooooo many...
Dandelion
Mallow
Filaree
Smooth Sow thistle
Prickly Sow thistle
Milk thistle
Goat head weed
Cats ear
Nettles
Trefoil
Wild onion
Wild mustard
Wild Garlic
Clovers
Broadleaf plantain
Narrow leaf plantain
Chick weed
Hawksbit
Hensbit
Hawksbeard

Other good stuff:
"Testudo Seed Mix" from http://www.tortoisesupply.com/SeedMixes
Pasture mixes or other seeds from http://www.groworganic.com/seeds.html
Homegrown alfalfa
Mazuri Tortoise Chow
ZooMed Grassland Tortoise Food
 

HermanniChris

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Yup it's a male. This is a type of Greek that comes from very arid environments so low humidity is a must as well as a drier substrate.

He looks very good though I must say.
 

Abe97

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Thanks guys, I really appreciate the advice! I will be posting much more on this forum, hopefully you guys will see, in the near future, how Turtle will be living in a much better environment.
 

Gillian M

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Hi Abe and a very warm welcome to the forum!

Please read the so-called "Beginners' Thread" as well as different care sheets, so as to be able to take good care of your tort. I too have had a Greek tort, but I've had him for 4.5 years only. Moreover, I'd never dealt with pets, let alone torts. I did A LOT of research on the net, after l which I joined this forum. I would not have been able to take care of :<3: OLI otherwise. It would have been all guesswork and there is nothing more I:( hate! And keep asking questions. You'll hopefully get the help you need.

Good luck to you and:tort: Turtle.:)
 

Abe97

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Hi Abe and a very warm welcome to the forum!

Please read the so-called "Beginners' Thread" as well as different care sheets, so as to be able to take good care of your tort. I too have had a Greek tort, but I've had him for 4.5 years only. Moreover, I'd never dealt with pets, let alone torts. I did A LOT of research on the net, after l which I joined this forum. I would not have been able to take care of :<3: OLI otherwise. It would have been all guesswork and there is nothing more I:( hate! And keep asking questions. You'll hopefully get the help you need.

Good luck to you and:tort: Turtle.:)

Thank you for the words of encouragement! People usually think it's ok to neglect a tortoise because it doesn't seem as emotional as say a dog, but it's not true. I've already built an indoor enclosure for my tort out of wood and changed it's diet to something more healthy and nutritious. Turtle (my tortoise :p) is happy as ever. Because of his new enclosure he catched light from the sunrise and he wakes me up every morning now at the same time! Things are better and I try to spend more lap time with my tort too. I'm so happy I found this forum, thank you for welcoming me Gillian :)
 

Nephelle

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I was just wondering what species my tortoise belongs to and if she's healthy and all. I've had her for about 10 years now. Unfortunately, growing up (I got her at 8, I'm 18 now), 99% of the time, I fed her romaine lettuce. I neglected her alot when I was a kid. When I hit my teenage years, I smartened up a little and changed her diet, but it was still mostly romaine lettuce.

For the first 4 years of having her, I put her in cardboard boxed with reptile sand. She got really deppressed because she couldn't walk around alot as the boxes were usually medium sized but still too small. When I hit my teens, I created openings on the cardboard boxes, so she can walk around my room, freely. Unfortunately I put up with her pooping and peeing all around my room for a few years until I got a kid-blowup-pool for her. She liked it.

At this point, I am tired of neglecting this poor tortoise. I don't want to give her away, because I created a bond with her that I don't want to lose (and I doubt many people in Canada know how to take care of her.) I saved up some money and I'm willing to invest so much more for my tortoise, I want her to be happier. She seems healthy and walks around alot, she's very lively. But I know I could do so much better than I have already.

According to you guys, does she look healthy? What species is she? She's almost 13 years old now. Her name is Turtle.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate this!

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Abe, I just wanted to say that I think your honesty is refreshing and impressive in your description of Turtle's care throughout your growing up. The animals I had when I was young were shorter lived, but as I grew older I learned that I could have changed a lot about the way I cared for them. I didn't get the chance to do that with mine, and I think it's wonderful that you are here now to learn how to improve the rest of Turtle's long life :)

The fact we get to live with these guys for so long means we will go through a lot of growing and changing with them. For me, I think that's about as an emotional of a bond as you can get :)

Best of luck to you both!!

:<3::<3:
 
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