Very First Tortoises.

[holliewould]

I obtained three tortoises today all in the effort to reduce the amount of animals a good friend had obtained. She suddenly found herself VERY overwhelmed once they were counted up. Something like 30 or so animals in a small trailer, so I offered to take the tortoises and cannot be happier. I do know that their diet consisted of 100% lettuce and other greens that she obtained from her job at a restaurant. As well, I do know they never EVER had water in their 5' x 3' pen. According to her, they obtained all of their hydrating needs from the vegetables she fed them. I personally don't feel comfortable with leaving any pet without water, so they have a shallow concrete bird bath in a 50' x 25' enclosed yard.

I am new to tortoises, so let me tell you a bit about them. Attached are the Sulcata's right after I pulled them from a good soaking. They do have some pyramiding, but I have seen worse on the forums. Their shells are very dry, and seemed to have absorbed the water and dried out almost immediately after the soak. I want to wean them 100% from the restaurant vegetables. Right now they have eaten everything wild in my yard. I am in the Florida keys and have a lot of plants they adore, especially cactus. The largest one, Large Marge, has been non stop walking around. She is about 15 lbs. I would say. The smaller Sulcata (2lbs.) has been doing nothing but eating the weeds. Finally, the last tortoise is a Red Foot, or Cherry Head? and same for her (2lbs.) has been just eating away.

I am very excited to get these awesome creatures into fine health. They were taken care of, but they were in a VERY small area and have obviously been on a terrible diet, to which I do not blame my friend. Anyway, I am glad to have found this forum as I have learned a great deal from lurking. Thank you for listening, and any/all advice or criticism is welcome.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome, Holliewould!

 

[holliewould]

Welcome, Holliewould!

Why Thank you!

 

[Laura]

they both look like sulcatas.. and they don't look too bad.
sunshine and calcium.. be careful with that they are walking on. they may try to eat it as well.
get a cuttle bone, in the bird section, and let them eat that..
good save!

 

[holliewould]

Will they automatically know to eat the cuttle bone? I will pic up several of them today. Oh man I don't want them eating the rocks. Will that kill them if they eat the pea gravel?

 

[wellington]

If they eat the stone it could block them, get very sick and yes, could possibly die. They don't look bad, for the care they had gotten. Good luck. You will find every question you have, answered here. Hello and WELCOME

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome. Sounds like you are on the right track. You should probably separate the redfoot. Eventually you will probably have compatibility problems. Good luck.

 

[holliewould]

If they eat the stone it could block them, get very sick and yes, could possibly die. They don't look bad, for the care they had gotten. Good luck. You will find every question you have, answered here. Hello and WELCOME

Nah they aren't bad at all. She was taking care of them to the best of her ability. When I offered to take them, only then did I realize they needed more care and room to roam, thanks to this forum. I have been an avid lurker. They are young tortoises still. Two of them are 3 years of age and the 15 pounder is 6 years old. I have so much to learn still so I am not quite sure where their weight should be at if taken care of properly at these ages.

One thing she mentioned is they eat their own poop and other animal feces which tells me that they may be lacking something very important. What that is yet, I am not sure, but I want to get it into their diets ASAP.

And thanks for the Welcome

 

[holliewould]

Hello and welcome. Sounds like you are on the right track. You should probably separate the redfoot. Eventually you will probably have compatibility problems. Good luck.

I have already thought of that. I do have another area, the same size 50' x 25' sectioned off, but it's just not quite tortoise proof yet. The red foot is a bit small so she's just tooling around. All three are extremely active right now.

 

[Laura]

yes,, keep the sulcatas seperate from the redfoot. different diets, needs, temperments, germs....

 

[holliewould]

yes,, keep the sulcatas seperate from the redfoot. different diets, needs, temperments, germs....

Gotcha. Umm I have a question. They were all together in a little area which was a very small area for years. Now that they are in the larger area, the largest Sulcata, which I was told is a female, follows the smaller Sulcata tortoise around. I also saw "her" mounting the smaller Sulcata and making some huffing sounds but I still did not see a penis. Do you think this larger one, which is a good 3 to 4 times larger than the other two, is asserting dominance in their new home? I am now considering putting the larger one in his/her own habitat. He/she only has been mounting the smaller Sulcata and not the red foot. I just brought them home today so I am not too sure what is going on. I do know they are solitary creatures so separation is imminent, but because of the major size difference and such, and because the red foot and other smaller Sulcata are on separate paths, I am thinking the larger one would do good in his/her own area??? I will post pics of the underside just in case i can get a gender ID for this large later this evening.

 

[Vishnu2]

Welcome to the forum. As you already mentioned there are a lot of people here to help you. I am little surprised Tom didn't have more to say. He is one of the most helpful when it comes to Sulcata's. You can read some of his threads under his signature. Please feel free to ask loads of questions. I don't know much about Sulcata tortoises. I am a Star Tort/ Russian person. But, I am curious to what others say. Good luck and great save!!!

 

[Jacqui]

Looks from the picture, like your friend did a great job of raising them. When being placed in new situations, the entire group dynamics can change and a reordering of or just a re-affirming of ranking can happen. While this may just be a temporary thing, it often does not cease and can add mental and physical damage to the one being picked on or harassed. The poop eating is just a natural part of being a tortoises and making the best use of anything they can find to eat to add variety and trace minerals to their diet. So you kinda need to get use to them doing that or ignoring it... along with picking up the droppings as quickly as you can.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[jessrich87]

Welcome!

 

[Eweezyfosheezy]

Great looking torts!

 

[jpmcclure]

Will they automatically know to eat the cuttle bone? I will pic up several of them today. Oh man I don't want them eating the rocks. Will that kill them if they eat the pea gravel?

Welcome aboard Holliewould. My sulcata, Thor was eating pea gravel. He then started to not eat, poop and was real lethargic all of a sudden. He's doing ok but he's still not 100%. He's had the rocks in him (creating a blockage) for 2 weeks. Tomorrow is is final X-ray and if they're still there, he goes for surgery. I haven't seen any pass. His poops have been very watery so I'm regretfully thinking he'll be having surgery this week. They'll cut a section from his underside, remove them and replace the shell. These vet trips have become extremely costly so yes..I'd say they will eat the rocks (especially of something's lacking in their diet perhaps) and yes..get the pea gravel outta there. It will save your guys/gals a lot of stress emotionally and you emotionally & financially. Even if they wouldn't eat it, I'd say it's best to err on the side of caution. I hope no one/tort has to go thru what we're going thru right now. It's very hard to watch him go thru this. I have heard others stories who were lucky enough to have them poop them out but we've not been as fortunate. Just my opinion from my experience. I'm still very new here and learning things the hard way. Good luck to you and those are beautiful animals. Hope my experience helps you.

 

[remitort071312]

Welcome aboard Holliewould. My sulcata, Thor was eating pea gravel. He then started to not eat, poop and was real lethargic all of a sudden. He's doing ok but he's still not 100%. He's had the rocks in him (creating a blockage) for 2 weeks. Tomorrow is is final X-ray and if they're still there, he goes for surgery. I haven't seen any pass. His poops have been very watery so I'm regretfully thinking he'll be having surgery this week. They'll cut a section from his underside, remove them and replace the shell. These vet trips have become extremely costly so yes..I'd say they will eat the rocks (especially of something's lacking in their diet perhaps) and yes..get the pea gravel outta there. It will save your guys/gals a lot of stress emotionally and you emotionally & financially. Even if they wouldn't eat it, I'd say it's best to err on the side of caution. I hope no one/tort has to go thru what we're going thru right now. It's very hard to watch him go thru this. I have heard others stories who were lucky enough to have them poop them out but we've not been as fortunate. Just my opinion from my experience. I'm still very new here and learning things the hard way. Good luck to you and those are beautiful animals. Hope my experience helps you.

I wish Thor the best of luck and hope he starts feeling better, I would be a mess if my lil Remi was going through that, I was told by the vet when I first got her she wouldn't live a week, but I was determined to save her. She was 2mths old when I was told she wouldn't make it a week and now she's almost 4months old but I was really depressed over it. Now she's doing so awesome and eats like a lil cow.

 

[jpmcclure]

Wow!! What an accomplishment. What was wrong with Remi?

 

[remitort071312]

Wow!! What an accomplishment. What was wrong with Remi?

Well I'm not sure how much the vet actually knew about torts, but she said she was very very very dehydrated I only had her a week when I got her, but I read on the forum that its a good idea to take them to the vet when they are around other torts incase they have any parasites so I took some of her feces to the vet with me and they did a smear but she said bc her scutes where so poor looking that se was very dehydrated. I didn't believe her bc my Remi was perfect in my eyes she was however sluggish so I misted and soaked her extra times a day as much as she could stand with out stressing her out and I switched her light to a reg basking bulb for the 2nd half of the day and used her MVB bulb for the 1st half of the day (5hrs each). This to me seemed like common sense, I was not given any advice from the vet pretty much don't be surprised when she dies. I'm glad I picked Remi out from all the other sulcatas bc I prob saved her life. The other ones looked very healthy. The vet told me that some times torts are genetically not able to live. Well I hope to bring her back to that vet some day when she's much bigger and say shes a fighter!