Prairie Mom
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2014
- Messages
- 4,336
Hi friends,
I'm so grateful forums like this exist! Yesterday, I'm pretty sure I arrived just in time to find someone abandoning this tortoise on a busy wintery street (yes, it's freezing & we had snow already). I've never cared for a reptile before, but am not new to rescuing animals. I've spent hours researching and am still a bit uncertain of what I have here. She seems to resemble a desert tortoise and even some pictures I found of a Sulcata. We've given her a small warm soak which she seemed to really appreciate and drank a bit. I've offered her some celery leaves I have on hand, but she's not going for those too much. We've made a temporary home in an extra large Tupperware tub. I have some garden seed starting lights that she can use until we get things set up better.
I have some basic questions/concerns...
- What kind of a tortoise do I have here?
-***I am very concerned that she may have some Calcium deficiency. I'm hoping (fingers crossed!) that we are catching it early enough to do some real good. There are just two spots on either side of her top shell that seem to be slightly less hard than the rest of her shell. I've rehabilitated a tree squirrel who also has very large calcium/D3 requirements and seems to eat a lot of the same veg. I was able to ensure the squirrel received enough VitD3 by putting liquid pet bird vitamin drops in its food and water. Can I do this for the Tortoise?? I'm so eager to make sure she's getting the calcium she needs back into her system.
-Does this tortoise hibernate? If so, I'm not comfortable allowing that right now. Any thoughts?
-And finally how often should a healthy tortoise eat? urinate? poop?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
Thanks for taking the time to read my long thread,
Prairie Mom
I'm so grateful forums like this exist! Yesterday, I'm pretty sure I arrived just in time to find someone abandoning this tortoise on a busy wintery street (yes, it's freezing & we had snow already). I've never cared for a reptile before, but am not new to rescuing animals. I've spent hours researching and am still a bit uncertain of what I have here. She seems to resemble a desert tortoise and even some pictures I found of a Sulcata. We've given her a small warm soak which she seemed to really appreciate and drank a bit. I've offered her some celery leaves I have on hand, but she's not going for those too much. We've made a temporary home in an extra large Tupperware tub. I have some garden seed starting lights that she can use until we get things set up better.
I have some basic questions/concerns...
- What kind of a tortoise do I have here?
-***I am very concerned that she may have some Calcium deficiency. I'm hoping (fingers crossed!) that we are catching it early enough to do some real good. There are just two spots on either side of her top shell that seem to be slightly less hard than the rest of her shell. I've rehabilitated a tree squirrel who also has very large calcium/D3 requirements and seems to eat a lot of the same veg. I was able to ensure the squirrel received enough VitD3 by putting liquid pet bird vitamin drops in its food and water. Can I do this for the Tortoise?? I'm so eager to make sure she's getting the calcium she needs back into her system.
-Does this tortoise hibernate? If so, I'm not comfortable allowing that right now. Any thoughts?
-And finally how often should a healthy tortoise eat? urinate? poop?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
Thanks for taking the time to read my long thread,
Prairie Mom
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