mugen003
New Member
Hello everyone, I'm really looking for guidance here with a very unusual situation, my dad found this little guy/girl hiding outside our house and we are confused as to what to do because we live in an area where tortoises are just not a thing (Central Mexico in what is basically a forest), we don't live near a coast or river known for having any similar wildlife, my dad has been living here his whole life, over 50 years and has never seen one, now, I did a little research and found out that some tortoises do live in forest or at least similar areas but then again I think that my dad would at least would have heard of them in one way or another but he just hasn't so we're almost certain that this little fella was either someone's pet or someone just happened to let it go on purpose and it made its way to our house, also, we live relatively far away from the main roads so I'm assuming that it has been living in the wild for at least some days, which leads me to a bunch of questions (since you may noticed by now I know nothing about tortoises, I didn't even know that there were differences between tortoises and turtles so I might even be in the wrong sub, I apologize for that if that is the case), can someone help me identify the species? maybe I'm completely wrong and it actually belongs in the wild in that case I'll just let it go on its own, if that wasn't the case, what can I do for him/her in the meantime, basic stuff like food that can eat (I offered it some lettuce but I'm uncertain if it even tried to eat it) and maybe some ideas for a temporary enclosure, I say temporary because, while I would love to keep it I don't feel confident enough to take care of it and wouldn't want it to get hurt in any way, my plan at the moment (if it turns out that it doesn't belong in my area as regular wildlife) is to keep it for some days while I try to find someone who can actually take proper care of him/her, my last resort would be to try to give it to my local veterinary, but, I call it my last resort because the place that I'm talking about specializes on cows, horses, chickens, etc. and also, from what I have seen they don't have a clear reputation when it comes to animal care for pets since they mostly work with farm animals but then again that may ultimately be my only option since any other clinic is out of my budget and pretty far away from where I live.
I'm really looking forward for any advice that this community can offer, and sorry for the wall of text.
(It's pretty late over here so is going to take me some time to respond, I'll try to respond any comment as soon as posible once I get back from work)
NOTE: I also posted this on the r/tortoise subreddit in case that someone sees this on that site
I'm really looking forward for any advice that this community can offer, and sorry for the wall of text.
(It's pretty late over here so is going to take me some time to respond, I'll try to respond any comment as soon as posible once I get back from work)
NOTE: I also posted this on the r/tortoise subreddit in case that someone sees this on that site