Hi All,
My husband and I acquired two Red Footed Tortoises on Sunday (approximately 5 years old), so I've joined this forum hoping to learn more about how we can give them the best possible care and to make friends with other tortoise owners. We live in England, and we have a few other pets already :- 2 x Labradors (Bella and Jake), 2 x Cornsnakes (Jasper and Tina) and a Rabbit (Ebony). We also got a Garter Snake at the weekend.
The tortoises are a very welcome addition to our family as we have both been interested in tortoises for a while - although not specifically Red Foots. We were planning to wait before getting any more pets, but a good friend of ours contacted us over the weekend, knowing that we were interested in tortoises/snakes, and explained that a friend of hers was going through a difficult breakup and had to move out this weekend but couldn't take her tortoises or snake with her. She was originally going to put an ad in the paper (potentially free to good home) and our mutual friend was concerned about the type of home they'd go to as she has quite an interest in tortoises herself. Unfortunately, she still lives at home and isn't allowed any pets. Our friend did ask if we would adopt them and then offered this as an alternative option to her friend.
We (including the mutual friend who brought us together with the tortoises) are concerned that they may not have had the best start to life. Granted, I'm very new to tortoise keeping myself but I've read a LOT over the weekend and it seems that Red Foots have some very specific needs (humidity, diet, space etc) and I don't believe these have been met so far. I think that there is also some evidence of pyramiding - one tortoise seems to be a little worse than the other although this may just be that he/she is larger.
I will post a more detailed thread about the tortoises (with pictures if I can work out how) and the conditions they've been kept in, as well as how we intend to keep them, in a more appropriate forum section so that we can get some proper advice and feedback. I think the best place for this would probably be the Red Footed section?
Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you all.
Kit
My husband and I acquired two Red Footed Tortoises on Sunday (approximately 5 years old), so I've joined this forum hoping to learn more about how we can give them the best possible care and to make friends with other tortoise owners. We live in England, and we have a few other pets already :- 2 x Labradors (Bella and Jake), 2 x Cornsnakes (Jasper and Tina) and a Rabbit (Ebony). We also got a Garter Snake at the weekend.
The tortoises are a very welcome addition to our family as we have both been interested in tortoises for a while - although not specifically Red Foots. We were planning to wait before getting any more pets, but a good friend of ours contacted us over the weekend, knowing that we were interested in tortoises/snakes, and explained that a friend of hers was going through a difficult breakup and had to move out this weekend but couldn't take her tortoises or snake with her. She was originally going to put an ad in the paper (potentially free to good home) and our mutual friend was concerned about the type of home they'd go to as she has quite an interest in tortoises herself. Unfortunately, she still lives at home and isn't allowed any pets. Our friend did ask if we would adopt them and then offered this as an alternative option to her friend.
We (including the mutual friend who brought us together with the tortoises) are concerned that they may not have had the best start to life. Granted, I'm very new to tortoise keeping myself but I've read a LOT over the weekend and it seems that Red Foots have some very specific needs (humidity, diet, space etc) and I don't believe these have been met so far. I think that there is also some evidence of pyramiding - one tortoise seems to be a little worse than the other although this may just be that he/she is larger.
I will post a more detailed thread about the tortoises (with pictures if I can work out how) and the conditions they've been kept in, as well as how we intend to keep them, in a more appropriate forum section so that we can get some proper advice and feedback. I think the best place for this would probably be the Red Footed section?
Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you all.
Kit
I've posted in the RF forum for more species specific advice and ill make sure I check out the UK thread too!
