This is my Melee! My 14 month old Elongated tortoise. She is still unsexed, but I’m using she/her until I find out otherwise.
She came to me from MattJReptiles on facebook. This breeder was suggested to me from the Turtle and Tortoise Classified group on facebook, and the entire process went very smoothly. Matt sent me pictures of the adults he keeps and the babies I would get to choose from, answered all the questions I had pulled from this website, explained how shipping would work, and even sent update texts towards the end of the process.
Melee arrived packed snuggly in a ShipYourReptiles box with a bonus container of tortoise diet that really came in handy.
So Angry. So Dry.
I gave her a little lookyloo and she was free of bugs, had a nice pink tongue, and nice bright eyes after a warm soak. I weighed her the first night and about once a week that first month because she was a little slow on the uptake, foodwise. I think it was around 135g and 3.22in day 1, but the data didn’t transfer over when I switched phones.
She started off in a 3’x1.5’ BabyCage for the first month. It was a very basic setup with a waterdish, sphagnum moss in a partially submerged tunnel for humid hide, fake foliage for shade, and UVB-CHE overhead. She now lives in a 4’x4’ enclosure I made from a pvc pipe frame with waterproof tarps and lots of tape. I also use an old Ipod on a tripod and the Presence app as a camera in her enclosure so I can spy on her throughout the day. It’s great because I now have about 4 hours of 1 minute clips of her eating, dragging dirt and her food though her water dish, and knocking over the camera. I use a shallow saucer for water now, but once she gets a little bigger I’m going to give her a deeper pool to play in, and eventually she'll have her own enclosure in the garden like my box turtle.
Last day in the BabyCage
She recently got her first vet check at the Baeyens-Hauk Veterinary Hospital, and passed with a clean bill of health! She is the epitome of yellow-headed tortoise beauty and grace, if I can mine through all the video I have I'm going to post some of her stomping through the enclosures, it's really cute.
All Smiles after a poop
I also wanted to mention that my state has laws on captive wildlife. They have limits on the types of animals people are allowed to keep and quantities. From reading places like Herps of Arkansas and other forums I get the feeling that no one cares as far as small animals are concerned, but I’m nothing if not a rule following nerd. I ended up applying for an Importation Permit from Arkansas Game and Fish (afgc.com), which cost $50. The application had to be mailed, so it took a few weeks to get it, fill out, then send back. but eventually I got an emailed and paper version of the permit. It turned out to be a page with a QR code and identifiers for me and the animal I intended to get. The application also asked that a “Health Certificate” be included with the application, but the breeders I spoke to don’t provide those, so I called the Permit office and someone told me I could just get a vet check after I actually had the animal. The permit also expires June 30th every year, regardless of when you buy it.
In the end, no one asked to see a permit through the purchase and shipping process, so I probably didn't actually need one unless I intended to have an animal shipped from overseas or had been dealing with a larger animal, but better safe than tortoise-less.
She came to me from MattJReptiles on facebook. This breeder was suggested to me from the Turtle and Tortoise Classified group on facebook, and the entire process went very smoothly. Matt sent me pictures of the adults he keeps and the babies I would get to choose from, answered all the questions I had pulled from this website, explained how shipping would work, and even sent update texts towards the end of the process.
Melee arrived packed snuggly in a ShipYourReptiles box with a bonus container of tortoise diet that really came in handy.
So Angry. So Dry.
I gave her a little lookyloo and she was free of bugs, had a nice pink tongue, and nice bright eyes after a warm soak. I weighed her the first night and about once a week that first month because she was a little slow on the uptake, foodwise. I think it was around 135g and 3.22in day 1, but the data didn’t transfer over when I switched phones.
She started off in a 3’x1.5’ BabyCage for the first month. It was a very basic setup with a waterdish, sphagnum moss in a partially submerged tunnel for humid hide, fake foliage for shade, and UVB-CHE overhead. She now lives in a 4’x4’ enclosure I made from a pvc pipe frame with waterproof tarps and lots of tape. I also use an old Ipod on a tripod and the Presence app as a camera in her enclosure so I can spy on her throughout the day. It’s great because I now have about 4 hours of 1 minute clips of her eating, dragging dirt and her food though her water dish, and knocking over the camera. I use a shallow saucer for water now, but once she gets a little bigger I’m going to give her a deeper pool to play in, and eventually she'll have her own enclosure in the garden like my box turtle.
Last day in the BabyCage
She recently got her first vet check at the Baeyens-Hauk Veterinary Hospital, and passed with a clean bill of health! She is the epitome of yellow-headed tortoise beauty and grace, if I can mine through all the video I have I'm going to post some of her stomping through the enclosures, it's really cute.
All Smiles after a poop
I also wanted to mention that my state has laws on captive wildlife. They have limits on the types of animals people are allowed to keep and quantities. From reading places like Herps of Arkansas and other forums I get the feeling that no one cares as far as small animals are concerned, but I’m nothing if not a rule following nerd. I ended up applying for an Importation Permit from Arkansas Game and Fish (afgc.com), which cost $50. The application had to be mailed, so it took a few weeks to get it, fill out, then send back. but eventually I got an emailed and paper version of the permit. It turned out to be a page with a QR code and identifiers for me and the animal I intended to get. The application also asked that a “Health Certificate” be included with the application, but the breeders I spoke to don’t provide those, so I called the Permit office and someone told me I could just get a vet check after I actually had the animal. The permit also expires June 30th every year, regardless of when you buy it.
In the end, no one asked to see a permit through the purchase and shipping process, so I probably didn't actually need one unless I intended to have an animal shipped from overseas or had been dealing with a larger animal, but better safe than tortoise-less.