Found tort

[LizMoon]

Hello.
About 3 months ago a friend of ours found a tortoise in the middle of the road. I live in Idaho so he must have been someone's pet. I posted about it on Facebook and put up fliers and contacted the local pet stores and vets offices. I even told the police Dept about it in case someone reported it missing( no pound or anything here). No one has come for it or called so now I have a new friend to add to all my other friends. I currently have frogs, lizards, a salamander, several fish, hermit crabs, and red claw crabs. And now a tortoise. I have no idea what I'm doing with this guy/girl though. It has refused to eat any store bought greens or processed tortoise food pellets so it hasn't eaten since winter really hit and killed my outside plants. Any help would be amazing. I don't even know what type of tort I have.

 

[jsheffield]

I think it's a Russian Tortoise.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

The care guide above will tell you pretty much everything you need to know... after you've checked it out a bit, come back with any questions you might have.

Jamie

 

[wellington]

You have a Russian tortoise. S/he can be brumated during the cold winter months and may be why he's not eating. They need to start the brumation properly and it needs to be done right in order for them to survive it. I'm going to assume you didn't do this, which is fine. However, he needs to now be kept at temps no lower then 70 at night and 80 during the day with a basking area that reaches 95-100. He also needs a brightly lite enclosure to help keep him up and start eating. Dark leafy greens and weeds which I understand you don't likely have weeds at this time. Give warm water soaks daily for about a week and then cut back to a few times a month. An enclosure that is 4x8 foot is minimum for an adult Russian

 

[LizMoon]

I think it's a Russian Tortoise.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

The care guide above will tell you pretty much everything you need to know... after you've checked it out a bit, come back with any questions you might have.

Jamie

That is what I was thinking it was

 

[LizMoon]

You have a Russian tortoise. S/he can be brumated during the cold winter months and may be why he's not eating. They need to start the brumation properly and it needs to be done right in order for them to survive it. I'm going to assume you didn't do this, which is fine. However, he needs to now be kept at temps no lower then 70 at night and 80 during the day with a basking area that reaches 95-100. He also needs a brightly lite enclosure to help keep him up and start eating. Dark leafy greens and weeds which I understand you don't likely have weeds at this time. Give warm water soaks daily for about a week and then cut back to a few times a month. An enclosure that is 4x8 foot is minimum for an adult Rus

I think it's a Russian Tortoise.

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

The care guide above will tell you pretty much everything you need to know... after you've checked it out a bit, come back with any questions you might have.

Jamie

Thank you

 

[TammyJ]

Welcome to the forum! Questions are always welcome too.

 

[LizMoon]

So my temperature is where it needs to be but my enclosure is entirely too small. It is currently residing in a 1x4 ft fish tank. The vet that I talked to had mentioned that they needed to brumate during the winter but he didn't know what kind of tortoise it is and could only give me vague advise as to go about it and the web was not helpful either without knowing the breed. I did the best I could and started heating things back up about a week ago but it's still not eating and it's not opening it's eyes but looks like it's trying to blink. Is this normal?

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum. An expert will be able to help you.

 

[wellington]

Not opening eyes is not normal. Do the daily warm soaks until he's back to normal and eating and eyes open. Drip some of the warm water over his eyes too.

 

[wellington]

I would not rely on that vet if he didn't know the species yet said it should be brumated. Makes me think the vet thinks they all brumate which is far from the truth.
Just follow the care on this forum and you will get it right.

 

[Ray--Opo]

Welcome, like Wellington suggested, daily warm soaks are important. Keep the depth of the water where the carapace (top shell) and the bottom shell (plastron) meet. Use a tub big enough for him to turn around but deep enough so he can't crawl out. Keep water warm and let him soak for at least a 1/2hr or more. Some members will mix the water 50/50 with pureed carrot baby food. So your tort will possibly drink some.

 

[Yvonne G]

You're lucky that he hasn't eaten. You've chopped up a for sure choking hazard for that tortoise. Tortoises don't have teeth. They put into their mouth whatever fits, whatever bite size piece they bite off, and it goes down the throat whole. The pieces you've chopped up will get swallowed whole and stand a good chance of getting stuck in the throat and choking your tortoise to death.

Species that brumate (the correct word to use instead of 'hiberate' when referring to a tortoise) stop eating three or four weeks before the real cold weather sets in. They do this so that their stomach and intestinal tract will be cleared of food. Any food left in the tract will rot once the tortoise's body temperature drops too low for digestion to happen. So I doubt you're going to be able to get him to eat.

We tell new tortoise keepers to not allow brumation your first winter with the tortoise, but it sounds like this tortoise is already 'in the zone,' so to speak. So my suggestion is to allow him a mini brumation. Set him up in a cardboard box filled with dry leaves or shredded paper. Close the box and place it in a quiet place where the temperature is about 40-45°F, but not below 40° and not above 45°, day and night.

After a couple weeks get him out and let him gently warm up to room temperature for a day or two, then set him in warm water to soak for about 15 minutes. After that put him into the enclosure you've set up for him according to the suggestions shown in our care sheet and he's ready to be treated normally.

 

[Tom]

Hello.
About 3 months ago a friend of ours found a tortoise in the middle of the road. I live in Idaho so he must have been someone's pet. I posted about it on Facebook and put up fliers and contacted the local pet stores and vets offices. I even told the police Dept about it in case someone reported it missing( no pound or anything here). No one has come for it or called so now I have a new friend to add to all my other friends. I currently have frogs, lizards, a salamander, several fish, hermit crabs, and red claw crabs. And now a tortoise. I have no idea what I'm doing with this guy/girl though. It has refused to eat any store bought greens or processed tortoise food pellets so it hasn't eaten since winter really hit and killed my outside plants. Any help would be amazing. I don't even know what type of tort I have.

The soil you are using looks like it has perlite in it. This is deadly to tortoises. Soil shouldn't be used for tortoise substrate. There is much to learn...

Start here:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

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Then the thread Jamie left for you.

Then this one should help explain what is happening now, along with the info the Yvonne gave you:

Tom's Brumation Thread

Every fall we get bombarded here on the forum with all sorts of questions and problems regarding hibernation and tortoises "slowing down" for winter. The purpose of this thread is to talk about all aspects of this subject, to dispel some of the myths and mysteries, and give a "how to" list of...

tortoiseforum.org

If you are not 100% sure this tortoise has not eaten one bite, then brumation is not an option. Food in the gut can kill them at brumation temperatures.