While visiting the Arroyo Grande Turtle and Tortoise Sanctuary yesterday, a man brought these guys back. He adopted them a month ago and decided that he had too many tortoises. Then he asked for a large sulcata. Apparently this is not the first time he has done this, last time he brought back a box turtle and got the little deserts.
This tiny guy has a soft plastron and is now soaking up some sun while munching the grass. He/she looks pretty dry and enjoyed a good soak yesterday when we got home.
This one is a bit bigger, and is missing one foot after a run-in with a raccoon or something prior to being adopted out the first time. I'm particularly drawn to animals with mobility issues and other things that make them less than perfect, so he/she should be a good fit.
This morning I was somewhat abruptly given a ~10" leopard tortoise, and while everyone is being quarantined and assigned separate living quarters it would be lovely to hear anything helpful about keeping both species. Which is the more delicate species? Are there pathogens normally carried by one that are particularly dangerous to the other? (Would love to know if handwashing+shoe disinfecting is enough, or if I need to worry about sharing airspace as well.) What are the major differences in their care requirements?
This tiny guy has a soft plastron and is now soaking up some sun while munching the grass. He/she looks pretty dry and enjoyed a good soak yesterday when we got home.
This one is a bit bigger, and is missing one foot after a run-in with a raccoon or something prior to being adopted out the first time. I'm particularly drawn to animals with mobility issues and other things that make them less than perfect, so he/she should be a good fit.
This morning I was somewhat abruptly given a ~10" leopard tortoise, and while everyone is being quarantined and assigned separate living quarters it would be lovely to hear anything helpful about keeping both species. Which is the more delicate species? Are there pathogens normally carried by one that are particularly dangerous to the other? (Would love to know if handwashing+shoe disinfecting is enough, or if I need to worry about sharing airspace as well.) What are the major differences in their care requirements?