robinson468
New Member
We accidentally became tortoise owners. My wife's aunt had a tortoise show up in her backyard a few days ago. It had somehow managed to get past 2 fences to get by her swimming pool and she discovered it there walking around the pool. Her family is moving to Missouri next week and we said we would take the tortoise and figure out what to do.
After googling photos we think we have a male Russian tortoise. I've been checking Craigslist for Lost Tortoise Ads but no luck there so far. Of course my 2 boys fell in love and want to keep him. My wife and I are fond of him as well so we thought we would give it a go.
After watching numerous well-meaning Youtube videos I came across this forum and I'm so glad I did. There is a wealth of info here and I think this is just what we need.
Ideally we would have researched first, and then got a tortoise but circumstances don't always cooperate. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions after I sift through the care sheet and numerous posts here. We have a lot to learn and we're quite overwhelmed at the moment.
We had him in a tub in our bathroom the first night. Then we spent all day yesterday digging out an above ground planter that's in our backyard and cleaning it up. We added peat moss and some straw and some rocks to climb around on. I bought about 5 different kinds of leafy greens and some squash and we have a water dish that's a flat plate. It's hot in Bakersfield now and that's my big concern. We shaded the planter with an umbrella and moistened the peat moss just a bit. I'm going to keep researching here and try to figure out what I need to do to best take care of him.
I'm always hesitant to ask questions in forums. The "Do-a-search" police can be brutal in many forums I've previously been involved with. I plan to keep reading and implementing improvements to the enclosure and diet as I go. If anyone should have any suggestions of things that should be addressed sooner than later I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
Rob
After googling photos we think we have a male Russian tortoise. I've been checking Craigslist for Lost Tortoise Ads but no luck there so far. Of course my 2 boys fell in love and want to keep him. My wife and I are fond of him as well so we thought we would give it a go.
After watching numerous well-meaning Youtube videos I came across this forum and I'm so glad I did. There is a wealth of info here and I think this is just what we need.
Ideally we would have researched first, and then got a tortoise but circumstances don't always cooperate. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions after I sift through the care sheet and numerous posts here. We have a lot to learn and we're quite overwhelmed at the moment.
We had him in a tub in our bathroom the first night. Then we spent all day yesterday digging out an above ground planter that's in our backyard and cleaning it up. We added peat moss and some straw and some rocks to climb around on. I bought about 5 different kinds of leafy greens and some squash and we have a water dish that's a flat plate. It's hot in Bakersfield now and that's my big concern. We shaded the planter with an umbrella and moistened the peat moss just a bit. I'm going to keep researching here and try to figure out what I need to do to best take care of him.
I'm always hesitant to ask questions in forums. The "Do-a-search" police can be brutal in many forums I've previously been involved with. I plan to keep reading and implementing improvements to the enclosure and diet as I go. If anyone should have any suggestions of things that should be addressed sooner than later I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
Rob
