- Joined
- Aug 3, 2010
- Messages
- 3
First, hello everyone! My name is Lana and I am new here. I found this forum because yesterday my boyfriend, Matt, and I were driving up a main, fairly busy road when we spotted a minivan stopped in the oncoming lane. In front of it was a pretty large tortoise! We are located in Northwest Indiana, and even being from Texas it's not a sight I'm acquainted with seeing! My instincts kicked in and I told Matt to pull over, I hopped out, ran across the road and snatched it up. I'm glad we came along when we did, because it was only a couple hours from dark, and with a road that poorly lit I wouldn't doubt she'd have been hit!
We took her home with us later and looked up to see what she was. She was very active yesterday. I weighed and sexed her this morning-- she's about 14 to 15 pounds. We are assuming someone just dumped her after she got too big. After reading about nutrition, I'm going to guess she wasn't fed properly (too much, maybe?) because her shell is very knobby. We kept her in an large dog exercise pen in the basement, with an old bed sheet until we can get something else proper, so our four cats wouldn't bother her. I flipped on the dehumidifier as well.
My question is-- where do we go from here? Haha. We considered calling animal control, but... our animal control isn't all that fabulous (I volunteer at the shelter, and was recently hired into the clinic it works with, and reptiles definitely are not their forte).
We thought about keeping her, but after a little research our priority is to find her a home with someone who can adequately provide for her. We definitely cannot at this present time. I'm hoping you guys can offer us some suggestions on where to look! We have a couple of vets that I noticed were listed on these forums around us, but right now we're tight on money until I start my new job next week with the animal clinic.
In the meantime, I'm also wanting to know how to best make her comfortable... So here's a couple of questions, and I'm also open to other suggestions!
It's pretty humid in our basement, even with the dehumidifier (it's ancient, so it's probably not doing the best job), and the floor is pretty cold. I do have a large heating light that I used to brood chicks, but I read that they shouldn't be too hot, either. We could put her outside, but I'm concerned for her safety; all we have is the exercise pen, and she could easily dig out of it. We're surrounded by a marsh with no backyard fence, so I'm worried she might get out and topple down the hill and into the water. If we bring her upstairs, I'm not TOO concerned about the cats hurting her-- but I also don't know what her health state is. Is the basement the best bet for her right now?
If I go to the feed store, what sort of food should I pick up for her? I was reading that her staple should be hay, dried grass, or something of that manner.
I'll post some pictures of her soon.
Thanks so much for any of your suggestions!
Lana
We took her home with us later and looked up to see what she was. She was very active yesterday. I weighed and sexed her this morning-- she's about 14 to 15 pounds. We are assuming someone just dumped her after she got too big. After reading about nutrition, I'm going to guess she wasn't fed properly (too much, maybe?) because her shell is very knobby. We kept her in an large dog exercise pen in the basement, with an old bed sheet until we can get something else proper, so our four cats wouldn't bother her. I flipped on the dehumidifier as well.
My question is-- where do we go from here? Haha. We considered calling animal control, but... our animal control isn't all that fabulous (I volunteer at the shelter, and was recently hired into the clinic it works with, and reptiles definitely are not their forte).
We thought about keeping her, but after a little research our priority is to find her a home with someone who can adequately provide for her. We definitely cannot at this present time. I'm hoping you guys can offer us some suggestions on where to look! We have a couple of vets that I noticed were listed on these forums around us, but right now we're tight on money until I start my new job next week with the animal clinic.
In the meantime, I'm also wanting to know how to best make her comfortable... So here's a couple of questions, and I'm also open to other suggestions!
It's pretty humid in our basement, even with the dehumidifier (it's ancient, so it's probably not doing the best job), and the floor is pretty cold. I do have a large heating light that I used to brood chicks, but I read that they shouldn't be too hot, either. We could put her outside, but I'm concerned for her safety; all we have is the exercise pen, and she could easily dig out of it. We're surrounded by a marsh with no backyard fence, so I'm worried she might get out and topple down the hill and into the water. If we bring her upstairs, I'm not TOO concerned about the cats hurting her-- but I also don't know what her health state is. Is the basement the best bet for her right now?
If I go to the feed store, what sort of food should I pick up for her? I was reading that her staple should be hay, dried grass, or something of that manner.
I'll post some pictures of her soon.
Thanks so much for any of your suggestions!
Lana