Russian Tortoise Boarding in Boston, MA Area

[turtlegurl97]

Hello all,
I have a male Russian tortoise that I've had for the last couple of years or so. I'm going on a 2 week vacation for the first time in late August. I was thinking of having him board with a local herp store/place that offers boarding for a fee. I know they are knowledgeable and have been boarding reptiles for the last 5 years. But I'm still a bit nervous since it'll be my first time leaving him with somewhere else. I wasn't sure what everyone's experience with boarding their torts has been. I'm also seeing if I can have a close friend potentially house sit or at least check on him every few days for a couple weeks as well provided they're around (I know they travel sometimes in the summer too).
Thank you.

 

[Tom]

Hello all,
I have a male Russian tortoise that I've had for the last couple of years or so. I'm going on a 2 week vacation for the first time in late August. I was thinking of having him board with a local herp store/place that offers boarding for a fee. I know they are knowledgeable and have been boarding reptiles for the last 5 years. But I'm still a bit nervous since it'll be my first time leaving him with somewhere else. I wasn't sure what everyone's experience with boarding their torts has been. I'm also seeing if I can have a close friend potentially house sit or at least check on him every few days for a couple weeks as well provided they're around (I know they travel sometimes in the summer too).
Thank you.

I would do whatever possible to leave your tortoise at home in its familiar enclosure. My primary concern would be disease potential, I would not want my tortoise anywhere near a place that had other tortoises or reptiles coming and going. There are so many tortoise diseases circulating around our captive populations right now... But I would also worry about something going wrong. Wrong heat, wrong food, etc... People make mistakes.

Its best to leave your tortoise at home. Lights should be on timers, heat set on thermostats, and you can pre-set food in baggies for each day. It would only take a friend or neighbor 3 minutes to do the food and water daily or every other day.

 

[wellington]

I agree with Tom. I won't even board my dog any more after a couple bad experiences.
Even if you could only get someone to stop by every other day, I would take it before boarding. Just put out an over abundance of food on the feeding days and give two water dishes or buy one of the dog self waterers, the kind that auto refills from a bottle when water is low.
I always paid a friend to take care of mine when I needed it.