Hi, so I'm a sixteen year old girl. For Christmas, my dad surprised me with a tortoise. I'd been pestering him to get an animal, and he knows that turtles are my favorite, but other than that I literally had no inkling that I would have to take care of one. He got me the tortoise, but no cage, UV lights, or anything else that it needs. For 3-4 days prior to Christmas, my father had the tortoise living in his car. We live in San Francisco and it gets cold out here, so that was very dangerous. He didn't even know that reptiles can't generate body heat, which goes to show how clueless he is. He has no idea what breed the tortoise is, thinks its a boy but doesn't know for sure, or the age, though I'm pretty sure he's a baby. His name is Billy, and though he's unexpected, I have already come to love the little guy and am determined to care for him as good as I can, despite being ill prepared. I've been doing some research about pet tortoises and I'm really excited to see him grow up! After Christmas up until 2 days ago, Billy had just been wandering around our flat. Now he has a really nice, big tank with a heating lamp, UV lights, and a little pool for him to soak in, but we haven't put a habitat or anything in yet. I've been feeding him romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, some carrots (he doesn't seem to like them much), and grass/dandelion stems (his favorite so far).
My questions are, who can determine the breed for me? The pet store? Frankly I'm not too trusting of pet stores now, because I think it's really irresponsible to let someone walk out with a pet and no means to care of it, without even letting the buyer know something so basic and necessary as the breed of that pet. But if the pet store can't determine it, who can? One of his characteristics are he likes to climb. He's actually a really good climber, it's funny. When I take him outside he just roams and eats grass. He doesn't go to water on his own, but when I put him in it he seems happy. By knowing the breed, will I then know what and how often to feed him, what his habitat should be like, how long he'll live, and how large he'll get? And has the traumatic week and a half he's been through affected his health at all? Could it shorten his life span or stunt his growth? I hope not
Also, any general advice on caring for tortoises of any breed would be very appreciated. I want to give him a great life!
(Note: I know what my dad did seems creul, but I promise you he meant well. He just wanted the turtle to be a "surprise". He did the same thing with a kitten he got me when I was nine. He's really bad with animals, or anything that can't speak for itself. He doesn't see how what he did was wrong, because he did mean well. My father is one of the kindest, most loving, and most giving people I've ever known, but he's very very dense in some areas. May have mental issues from a traumatic upbringing that affects his ability to understand certain things that most people would have no problem with. I don't think he's capable of grasping the concept that animals are people too, and deserve to be cared for properly like any human child. But anyway, that's the way he is and I can't change it. The tortoise is now in safe hands, so please don't say anything about my dad in your feedback, it will do no good)