Hello from Bolivia

[lauraespinosa01]

Hello! My name's Laura and I live in Bolivia with my two beloved tortoises. Chloe is a 2-3 year old red foot and Ruby is a 2-3 month old yellow foot. They are both rescues.

A little over a year ago my husband and I went to a local pet shop to get supplies for his fish aquarium. I noticed they had a red foot tortoise in a cardboard box - no food, no water, no substrate. I had water turtles when I was a teenager so my heart melted when I saw the tortoise suffering in a box. We bought it and I had to quickly learn about land tortoises! But I think she has thrived - she's grown considerably, eats tons, and seems all around beautiful and happy.

I got Ruby just a week ago. When visiting a rural village I visited a home where a three-year-old girl had a tiny wild-caught tortoise. They had made a hole in her shell to thread a string through and had her tied under a table. (You can see the hole in one of the photos below). Her eyes didn't open and she was covered in dried dirt. She felt like a feather in my hand and didn't move or anything. They agreed to sell her so I immediately removed the string and got her in some warm water. She drank water for 45-minutes straight! Then opened her eyes and started walking around and exploring. It took her awhile to figure out how to eat but she now has a great appetite. Best of all, she gets along with Chloe. Ruby will sidle up next to her to sleep and any time I take her out of their enclosure Chloe will crane her neck and look all over until Ruby is back.

Currently we live in an apartment so my husband made a glass enclosure that has substrate, UV and heat lights, a water dish, etc. Within a few years, before they get very big, we plan to move to a house with a yard so they can live outside. We live in Bolivia so they're in their natural environment. The one thing I've struggled with is what substrate to use because I have live plants in it and it tends to be too moist. But I'm visiting the USA in August so I'm thinking I'll get cypress mulch and give that a try.

Hope this isn't too many photos! I look forward to participating more in the forum now!

 

[cmacusa3]

Welcome to the forum, This is an amazing rescue!! They look great and I love the enclosure.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Laura, and welcome to the Forum!

Your husband did a real nice job on the enclosure. I like how it 'fits' into the space it's in.

 

[HappyHermanns]

Hello! My name's Laura and I live in Bolivia with my two beloved tortoises. Chloe is a 2-3 year old red foot and Ruby is a 2-3 month old yellow foot. They are both rescues.

A little over a year ago my husband and I went to a local pet shop to get supplies for his fish aquarium. I noticed they had a red foot tortoise in a cardboard box - no food, no water, no substrate. I had water turtles when I was a teenager so my heart melted when I saw the tortoise suffering in a box. We bought it and I had to quickly learn about land tortoises! But I think she has thrived - she's grown considerably, eats tons, and seems all around beautiful and happy.

I got Ruby just a week ago. When visiting a rural village I visited a home where a three-year-old girl had a tiny wild-caught tortoise. They had made a hole in her shell to thread a string through and had her tied under a table. (You can see the hole in one of the photos below). Her eyes didn't open and she was covered in dried dirt. She felt like a feather in my hand and didn't move or anything. They agreed to sell her so I immediately removed the string and got her in some warm water. She drank water for 45-minutes straight! Then opened her eyes and started walking around and exploring. It took her awhile to figure out how to eat but she now has a great appetite. Best of all, she gets along with Chloe. Ruby will sidle up next to her to sleep and any time I take her out of their enclosure Chloe will crane her neck and look all over until Ruby is back.

Currently we live in an apartment so my husband made a glass enclosure that has substrate, UV and heat lights, a water dish, etc. Within a few years, before they get very big, we plan to move to a house with a yard so they can live outside. We live in Bolivia so they're in their natural environment. The one thing I've struggled with is what substrate to use because I have live plants in it and it tends to be too moist. But I'm visiting the USA in August so I'm thinking I'll get cypress mulch and give that a try.

Hope this isn't too many photos! I look forward to participating more in the forum now!

They are soo cute!!!!!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Hello from San Diego. It is so great to see how you have managed your animals in the set up shown. I hope you will be able to learn as much here at TFO, as you have already shown and shared with your own good example. Great job!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Laura

 

[HappyHermanns]

Hello! My name's Laura and I live in Bolivia with my two beloved tortoises. Chloe is a 2-3 year old red foot and Ruby is a 2-3 month old yellow foot. They are both rescues.

A little over a year ago my husband and I went to a local pet shop to get supplies for his fish aquarium. I noticed they had a red foot tortoise in a cardboard box - no food, no water, no substrate. I had water turtles when I was a teenager so my heart melted when I saw the tortoise suffering in a box. We bought it and I had to quickly learn about land tortoises! But I think she has thrived - she's grown considerably, eats tons, and seems all around beautiful and happy.

I got Ruby just a week ago. When visiting a rural village I visited a home where a three-year-old girl had a tiny wild-caught tortoise. They had made a hole in her shell to thread a string through and had her tied under a table. (You can see the hole in one of the photos below). Her eyes didn't open and she was covered in dried dirt. She felt like a feather in my hand and didn't move or anything. They agreed to sell her so I immediately removed the string and got her in some warm water. She drank water for 45-minutes straight! Then opened her eyes and started walking around and exploring. It took her awhile to figure out how to eat but she now has a great appetite. Best of all, she gets along with Chloe. Ruby will sidle up next to her to sleep and any time I take her out of their enclosure Chloe will crane her neck and look all over until Ruby is back.

Currently we live in an apartment so my husband made a glass enclosure that has substrate, UV and heat lights, a water dish, etc. Within a few years, before they get very big, we plan to move to a house with a yard so they can live outside. We live in Bolivia so they're in their natural environment. The one thing I've struggled with is what substrate to use because I have live plants in it and it tends to be too moist. But I'm visiting the USA in August so I'm thinking I'll get cypress mulch and give that a try.

Hope this isn't too many photos! I look forward to participating more in the forum now!

About your substrate and plants...
We recently started using mainly soil.. I have plants in ours too (and want more in there) so I basically made a (terrible looking) pot out of newspaper to keep that plant seperate..and put that into the substrate. That way when you have to change the substrate it would be easier to take the plants out. (Though you would probably need to reinforce the newspaper each time. I'm sure it would be starting to break down). That way there are no hard edges and you don't have to worry about them digging into the sides of the pot.. and also it acts as a bit of a barrier from the other substrate, maybe.. We are still testing it out, but it seemed like a good idea.
I don't know if that idea helps you but I thought it was worth a shot.

oh, and I can't believe they put a hole in that baby's shell!!
So glad you happened to go and see him that day!

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome Laura !

 

[KaitlinKeefe_]

Welcome!

beautiful babies! nice job on the rescue!

 

[lauraespinosa01]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!
And thanks to HappyHermanns for the suggestion - I was thinking of putting all of the plants in buried flower pots to contain the moisture. After my trip to the US I'll empty their enclosure completely and try doing that and some different substrate layers.

 

[HappyHermanns]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!
And thanks to HappyHermanns for the suggestion - I was thinking of putting all of the plants in buried flower pots to contain the moisture. After my trip to the US I'll empty their enclosure completely and try doing that and some different substrate layers.

I thought of trying that too! Let me know how it goes. I will have plenty of opportunities to try different things

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum from wifey, Tidgy and me.
I've fallen into Lake Titicaca.
Twice.