Help with a rescued Tortoise

jonc22

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Hi
I've just taking on a tortoise, I think shes a Spur Thigh but am not totally sure. I didn't really want another one as I already have a big Leopard Tortoise but when I went to see her I couldn't leave it. She was living in a Viv with no substrate bedding or lights, her nail are way over grown and her beak. They also said she asnt been eating apart from the odd piece of rocket anyway I've let her out in the garden and I've noticed she will eat the odd bit of grass and the only other thing she will eat a bit of is watercress. I've got her booked in to the vets this week to get her nails and beak sorted but because I love in the middle of nowhere the vets don't really deal with animals like this. Is there anything I can do to help her and help her relax and settle in more and improve her diet. I don't think she's had much of a life outside this dark Viv so she still trying to hide in a corner all the time.
These where the pictures I was sent of her
 

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Tom

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Hi
I've just taking on a tortoise, I think shes a Spur Thigh but am not totally sure. I didn't really want another one as I already have a big Leopard Tortoise but when I went to see her I couldn't leave it. She was living in a Viv with no substrate bedding or lights, her nail are way over grown and her beak. They also said she asnt been eating apart from the odd piece of rocket anyway I've let her out in the garden and I've noticed she will eat the odd bit of grass and the only other thing she will eat a bit of is watercress. I've got her booked in to the vets this week to get her nails and beak sorted but because I love in the middle of nowhere the vets don't really deal with animals like this. Is there anything I can do to help her and help her relax and settle in more and improve her diet. I don't think she's had much of a life outside this dark Viv so she still trying to hide in a corner all the time.
These where the pictures I was sent of her
Start here, and look for the temperate species care sheet near the bottom:
 

SinLA

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Hi
I've just taking on a tortoise, I think shes a Spur Thigh but am not totally sure. I didn't really want another one as I already have a big Leopard Tortoise but when I went to see her I couldn't leave it. She was living in a Viv with no substrate bedding or lights, her nail are way over grown and her beak. They also said she asnt been eating apart from the odd piece of rocket anyway I've let her out in the garden and I've noticed she will eat the odd bit of grass and the only other thing she will eat a bit of is watercress. I've got her booked in to the vets this week to get her nails and beak sorted but because I love in the middle of nowhere the vets don't really deal with animals like this. Is there anything I can do to help her and help her relax and settle in more and improve her diet. I don't think she's had much of a life outside this dark Viv so she still trying to hide in a corner all the time.
These where the pictures I was sent of her
Thank you so much for taking her in. Read the link that Tom provided its truly the best place to start even though it is LOT!
 

wellington

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I actually don't see where the beak is over grown very much. The nails you can trim them like you would a dog's nails. If your vets don't know tortoises or even reptiles, you might do more damage than good bring her there.
Feed on a flat rock or piece of slate to help file the beak. Post better pics of it too. Maybe I'm not seeing what you are seeing.
Give her time to adjust, adults take longer than hatchlings and mistreated ones probably even longer.
Chop the foods up small. The ones you know she will eat and ones you want her to eat, mix and spritz with water. Slowly add more of the better foods and less of the not so good foods. Slowly introduce all foods you can.
Good luck, glad you rescued her, she needed it.
 

Yvonne G

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She probably would benefit from a nice, long soak in warmish water. If you show us the plastron we can tell if it's a hermanni or greek
 

jonc22

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I will get a better picture of her. I tried to cut her nails but not sure how short to cut them incase I make them bleed plus they are bent and twisted a bit. She's in the vets in the morning but I will see how it goes before I let them cut her beak
 

Michael Bird

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If you decide to trim the nails yourself, I would use the same process that you would use with a dog that has severely overgrown nails. Just trim a small amount at a time and wait a week or so between trimmings. That way you don't have to worry about trimming too much off all at once, and the quick inside the nails has a chance to recede a bit from the overgrown ends so that you don't cut into the quick and cause bleeding once you do start getting the nails trimmed down closer to a healthy length. (I don't know if tortoise nails respond the same way as dog nails do, but that's still what I would do, just to be safe.)
 

jonc22

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This is her before she goes the vets
 

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TammyJ

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She really does not look too bad. Proper care would probably be all that she needs.
 
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