Puffy skin

[SinLA]

I’m really sorry if you’re being bombarded with people telling you that your Tortoise is not being kept properly. This is not your fault, you are not a bad person, it is your fault because you did not know, and you’re following direction, that pet stores, and schools and other places that have let people think that a tortoise can be kept in a fish tank, it cannot it’s simply cannot .

Your Tortoise is not fine and you have a picture to show it. You can see from looking at her that gigantic roll of fat is not normal. If that isn’t “proof” to you that there is something wrong then I don’t know why you’re coming asking for advice. The fact that she can physically move does not mean her enclosure is large enough - you can buy a pony and keep it in a bathroom. It will physically be large enough for the pony to move and turn around but that doesn’t mean, it has enough room to live, even if it goes outside for a bit.

Your Tortoise IS going to die, and it’s going to do so because you are not keeping it in a healthy manner and you literally can see that right in front of you which is why you came asking for advice.
Again you are not a bad person because you did not know and you did what you thought you was best. But you can see she doesn’t look healthy and she doesn’t look normal and you are now being provided with information that you can use to provide her a better life if you now choose to not follow that direction then that makes you, well, a not great Tortoise owner at least.

In the end, she is your property. You could throw her in the trash bin if you wanted. none of us can make you take care of her properly. You came here for advice because she clearly has some thing wrong and we are providing you guidance on how to fix that if you can get upset or you can try and make her life better the decision is yours

In the end you may say to yourself you don’t have 4‘ x 8‘ to give her, but that doesn’t change with her needs are.

If you were keeping a pony in a bathroom and you said well, I don’t have a stable to keep her in the response would not be OK then keep her in the bathroom. The response would be you either need to provide her the right conditions for her to live or you need to find a better place for her to live.

Just because a tortoise can fit in a tank does not mean it is the right conditions to keep them

I’m really really sorry that up until now you thought that that was correct and I’m really sorry if you feel badly that people are telling you, you were told wrong information and that you followed that wrong information.

But now is the tipping point. You now have the information that tells you What you need to care for her you can get angry and walk away and watch her die because that is what will happen. Though it may take a very very long time to happen, but we are telling you, and you can see with your very own eyes that she is not healthy . How are you? Respond now is what determines if you are a good pet owner or not, not what has happened up till this point don’t let feeling badly about what people are saying cloud your decision on. What is the right thing to do for her is make changes to help her

 

[juliette1953]

Your Tortoise is not fine and you have a picture to show it. You can see from looking at her that gigantic roll of fat is not normal. If that isn’t “proof” to you that there is something wrong then I don’t know why you’re coming asking for advice. The fact that she can physically move does not mean her enclosure is large enough you can buy a pony and keep it in a bathroom. It will physically be large enough for the pony to move and turn around but that doesn’t mean, it has enough room to live.

Your Tortoise IS going to die, and it’s going to do so because you are not keeping it in a healthy manner and you literally can see that right in front of you which is why you came asking for advice.

I’m really sorry if you’re being bombarded with people telling you that your Tortoise is not being kept properly. This is not your fault, in the sense that you are a bad person, it is your fault because you did not know, and you’re following direction, that pet stores, and schools and other places that have let people think that a tortoise can be kept in a fish tank, it cannot it’s simply cannot .

Well it can. You or Tortoise absolutely can stay living the rest of his life in that tank but it’s going to be a short life and it’s going to be an unhealthy one.

Again you are not a bad person because you did not know and you did what you thought you was best. But you can see she doesn’t look healthy and she doesn’t look normal and you are now being provided with information that you can use to provide her a better life if you now choose to not follow that direction then that makes you a not great Tortoise owner.

She's is 21 years old and always has a clean bill of health from the vets on her 6 monthly cheques
The enclosure for over night is adequate as she's in the garden all the time free roaming

 

[NamedNut]

She's is 21 years old and always has a clean bill of health from the vets on her 6 monthly cheques
The enclosure for over night is adequate as she's in the garden all the time free roaming

If she’s in the garden “all the time” then why does she need a basking bulb on for 12 hours?

What’s the weather like where you live, for each season of the year?

 

[juliette1953]

If she’s in the garden “all the time” then why does she need a basking bulb on for 12 hours?

What’s the weather like where you live, for each season of the year?

Shec

If she’s in the garden “all the time” then why does she need a basking bulb on for 12 hours?

What’s the weather like where you live, for each season of the year?

She has it on the days she's inside

 

[SinLA]

She's is 21 years old and always has a clean bill of health from the vets on her 6 monthly cheques
The enclosure for over night is adequate as she's in the garden all the time free roaming

Any vet who gives you a clean bill of health when she looks like that probably doesn’t know a lot about tortoises. Just look at her picture compared to the other photos of tortoises. You KNOW something is wrong which is why you came here.

You can see she has a gigantic roll of fat, and you can see you’re not gonna find any Tortoise photo on here that looks like her, except for ones who need help.

If you came here, just wanting somebody to tell you a magic food to give her to make her not be fat then you’re not in the right place.

Here people here know what they are talking about Honestly probably a lot more than most vets. When I brought my tortoise to my vet, he told me he treats lots of tortoises, and he did not even know what species he was. My Vet is an amazing vet for my dogs and cats, but he was not a good vet for a tortoise.

In the end, it’s clear that you’re going to do what you’re gonna do so I don’t think there’s any point in the rest of us trying to help further. I truly wish you the best of luck, and I am so so very sad for your Tortoise.

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

She's is 21 years old and always has a clean bill of health from the vets on her 6 monthly cheques
The enclosure for over night is adequate as she's in the garden all the time free roaming

Any vet who gives you a clean bill of health when she looks like that probably doesn’t know a lot about tortoises. Just look at her picture compared to the other photos of tortoises. You KNOW something is wrong which is why you came here.

You can see she has a gigantic roll of fat, and you can see you’re not gonna find any Tortoise photo on here that looks like her, except for ones who need help.

If you came here, just wanting somebody to tell you a magic food to give her to make her not be fat then you’re not in the right place.

Here people here know what they are talking about Honestly probably a lot more than most vets. When I brought my tortoise to my vet, he told me he treats lots of tortoises, and he did not even know what species he was. My Vet is an amazing vet for my dogs and cats, but he was not a good vet for a tortoise.

In the end, it’s clear that you’re going to do what you’re gonna do so I don’t think there’s any point in the rest of us trying to help further. I truly wish you the best of luck, and I am so so very sad for your Tortoise.

Likewise. How horrible it is to see someone so unwilling to accept help for a helpless animal in need. They don’t deserve to keep pets.

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

She has a red heat lamp and a white light on a 12 hr timer
Her diet is a mixture of dry food kale peppers apples cucumber etc

And by the way. You should never use a red heat lamp for them, nor feed them any fruit or pepper. The kale and cucumber you are feeding your tortoise should be in moderation, not a staple, but I give up here. You have the care sheets with all the information you need if you can be bothered to properly care for your tortoise.

 

[juliette1953]

And by the way. You should never use a red heat lamp for them, nor feed them any fruit or pepper. The kale and cucumber you are feeding your tortoise should be in moderation, not a staple, but I give up here. You have the care sheets with all the information you need if you can be bothered to properly care for your tortoise.

I came there for advice not to be slagged of

 

[ShellingtonTheFirst]

I came there for advice not to be slagged of

We‘ve all given you ALL of the advice you need and you’ve thrown it back in our fine. Usually, responsible people accept their responsibility for another life and would be willing to accept that actually, they got it wrong. I’m pretty sure all of us here, including myself, at one time did. The only difference is that we didn’t think we were smarter than actual experienced keepers and people who have researched these animals for decades and decide to disregard all of the information offered to them.

Your tortoise is in a box. He can barely turn around. His home isn’t adequate at all. He’s also massively overweight due to the fact he’s unable to get proper exercise and the fact that his diet is entirely incorrect. Your equipment is wrong and potentially harmful. You have been given links to proper care sheet, offered advice, yet even when I asked you twice what your temps are you replied with “They’re fine.”

Well, nothing else of your husbandry is fine, so why would they be? It just proves you’ve come here looking for an easy answer to a complicated problem and you can’t accept the fact your tortoise needs change, now. At this point, just rehome him to someone willing to give him a good, not ‘adequate’, life.

I’m done here. Peace out, and sorry for your tortoise. Poor thing.

 

[SinLA]

I came there for advice not to be slagged of

The advice was - your tortoise is very fat because of the conditions you are keeping it in, here are ways you can fix it. Your response is "don't slag me off".

You know something is wrong, we provided advice, you choose to take it personally as an insult. None of that helps your tortoise.

You can read this without taking it as a personal offense, its the best place to start:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

The only thing that merits you being slagged off is if you aren't interested in helping your tortoise, but just want to be insulted because people pointed out you are doing things wrong simply because you didn't know. NONE OF US KNEW ANYTHING before we started seeking advice.

If you choose to be in a snit and not help your tortoise as a result, THAT merits you being slagged off. Simply doing things that led your tortoise to be grossly obese is just not knowing. No one is slagging you off for that. It is what happens going forward that matters.

Read the care sheet. Change or don't change, that's on you. But the ONLY one that suffers here is your tortoise. None of us are impacted by whatever you choose or do not choose to do, other than being sad for your tortoise. But we're sad for lots of tortoises - we see this all the time, we're used to it.