Hi from New Mexico-Tortoise Noob

[Animalia]

Hello everyone! I am a brand new owner of a tortoise. I am not the original owner so I know less about him (or her) than I would like, but I am willing to learn from here. His original owner had purchased him about 1 year ago. Well, we won't talk about his severe lack of planning but he has moved to the Caribbean to attend vet school, and they did not want the tortoise to come with him so I offered to give him a second home.

I am not entirely sure what species Franklin is. I think he was supposed to be a red footed tortoise, but I am not so sure. He seems to have the wrong coloration and shell pattern for a red footed. If anyone can help me identify him that would be great. I want to make sure he is getting the proper husbandry. I suppose he is a little over a year old as I am fairly certain he was purchased as a hatchling. He is about 5 3/4 inches long, but I am not sure how much he weighs. Oh, and if he is obviously a female let me know and I can change his name.

I have so much to learn about diet, proper substrate, lighting, and behavior. I was given the instructions (feed him these pellets, give him a lettuce leaf once in awhile and feed him meat once a week.) And he came in a laundry basket. He does enjoy cactus, romaine lettuce, and chicken, but I don't do meat once a week as my initial reading indicated that was way too much protein. I have given him a small amount of chicken twice and he really dug it. He will nibble at a few of the other greens and veggies I have tried but romaine and cactus seem to be his favorites so far. I did give him a small amount of clementine orange one day, which he enjoyed, but then I read it may give him diarhhea. Oops. Luckily he seemed to stomach it well.

I currently have him in a large under bed storage box on my kitchen table. Unfortunately I have to have a lid or I risk cats using his enclosure as a litter box or dogs pestering or even hurting him. I have the coconut husk substrate, a heat lamp, and a small bowl for water and a small bowl for his tortoise pellets. This summer we have plans to build him a large outdoor enclosure so he can enjoy the warmth and natural sun but we are still having some yucky days so he is inside for the time being.

I am here to learn to be a good tortoise mommy so please don't hesitate to teach me, correct my misunderstandings, etc. I know very little about reptiles in general and their signs of health and behavior are all a little mysterious to me right now.

I just took these pictures this evening on our wood floor.

Thanks for checking out Franklin!

---

Does his shell look normal and healthy? I am not sure how to tell.

 

[Scooter]

Welcome to the forum! You have come to the right place. He is not a red foot and I have a couple ideas what he might be but I'm not sure. I just wanted to welcome you and say its great you were willing to take him in and are so eager to learn how to properly care for him. As for determining if he is a he we need pictures of his belly (the plastron). While he is indoors you need to have a UVB light for him.

 

[Itort]

I think you have an Indotestudo sp. We need to have pastron (bottom shell) picture to be sure as to species. It is a forest tort. As such it will need water bowl large enough to soak in (1.5 x shell length), moist substrat (I would suggest 50/50 mix of the coco bedding and sphagrum moss), a hide, and subdued lighting. For feeding give dark greens (such as collard, dandilions, or mustard greens), fruits, and occasionally a protein source. In the outdoor enclosure plant heavy tort friendly plants so it has a retreat for sun and heat and daily sprinkling to simulate rain. The shell looks a little rough but nothing to worry about.

 

[Animalia]

Thank you both for your responses. I will get a few pictures of his plastron so I can learn a bit more about him. I guess after so much time calling him him, that I would be a little disappointed to learn he was a girl. And with females, do you have to worry about them becoming egg bound like with birds and snakes?

So I am glad that I have been soaking Franklin just about every day. He always seemed to enjoy it and perk up after bath time and now I realize it's probably because he needs more moisture. Sorry you're stuck in the desert little guy, but we will make it work.

Thank you Larry for the suggestions to improve his enclosure. I know I have been keeping him too dry so adding the moss will help. And reading more on here I realized the poor thing needs a hide. He digs his head into the coco stuff but it's not enough to cover him.

I am hoping to have the knowledge to build a better indoor enclosure this summer and fall so when he has to come back inside for the winter he has a better set up. As far as outside goes, we have had a few days in the high sixties (and then it snowed today, thanks April Fools). Should it be in the seventies before he starts going out? And it gets well into the 90s and 100s in the summer, so I am assuming that's when he will need a fair amount of shade and cool places to be.

Should I worry about predators? Are hawks and owls a threat? Anyway, I am still reading so I am sure much of this has already been discussed elsewhere.

OK, so I was trying to find a bit more information on his type, but is there a discussion forum here that I should look at? I see the desert, greek, red foot, hermanns, etc. but I wasn't sure where Franklin fit into that.

 

[egyptiandan]

Welcome to the forum

You have yourself an Elongated tortoise, Indotestudo elongata

Danny

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

Hello and welcome!

 

[terryo]

Welcome to the forum. What a lucky tort to have a wonderful new forever home.

 

[Itort]

Thank you both for your responses. I will get a few pictures of his plastron so I can learn a bit more about him. I guess after so much time calling him him, that I would be a little disappointed to learn he was a girl. And with females, do you have to worry about them becoming egg bound like with birds and snakes?

So I am glad that I have been soaking Franklin just about every day. He always seemed to enjoy it and perk up after bath time and now I realize it's probably because he needs more moisture. Sorry you're stuck in the desert little guy, but we will make it work.

Thank you Larry for the suggestions to improve his enclosure. I know I have been keeping him too dry so adding the moss will help. And reading more on here I realized the poor thing needs a hide. He digs his head into the coco stuff but it's not enough to cover him.

I am hoping to have the knowledge to build a better indoor enclosure this summer and fall so when he has to come back inside for the winter he has a better set up. As far as outside goes, we have had a few days in the high sixties (and then it snowed today, thanks April Fools). Should it be in the seventies before he starts going out? And it gets well into the 90s and 100s in the summer, so I am assuming that's when he will need a fair amount of shade and cool places to be.

Should I worry about predators? Are hawks and owls a threat? Anyway, I am still reading so I am sure much of this has already been discussed elsewhere.

OK, so I was trying to find a bit more information on his type, but is there a discussion forum here that I should look at? I see the desert, greek, red foot, hermanns, etc. but I wasn't sure where Franklin fit into that.

Unfortunately there is not yet a specific forum for this type tort yet but the redfoot/yellowfoot forum will be of help as they have similar requirements. It's outside enclosure will need to be shady and the daily showers will be good. In the 90s and above it won't be active and spending it's time in shade and water feature to stay as cool as possible, so don't be surprised. A shade cloth or lattice cover will help with both shade and predator issue. I myself am getting some Forstens (closely related species) this weekend, so it'll be a learning experience for us all.

 

[Kymiie]

*W*E*L*C*O*M*E*
Franklin Is Really Pretty!!

xx

 

[Itort]

Thank you both for your responses. I will get a few pictures of his plastron so I can learn a bit more about him. I guess after so much time calling him him, that I would be a little disappointed to learn he was a girl. And with females, do you have to worry about them becoming egg bound like with birds and snakes?

So I am glad that I have been soaking Franklin just about every day. He always seemed to enjoy it and perk up after bath time and now I realize it's probably because he needs more moisture. Sorry you're stuck in the desert little guy, but we will make it work.

Thank you Larry for the suggestions to improve his enclosure. I know I have been keeping him too dry so adding the moss will help. And reading more on here I realized the poor thing needs a hide. He digs his head into the coco stuff but it's not enough to cover him.

I am hoping to have the knowledge to build a better indoor enclosure this summer and fall so when he has to come back inside for the winter he has a better set up. As far as outside goes, we have had a few days in the high sixties (and then it snowed today, thanks April Fools). Should it be in the seventies before he starts going out? And it gets well into the 90s and 100s in the summer, so I am assuming that's when he will need a fair amount of shade and cool places to be.

Should I worry about predators? Are hawks and owls a threat? Anyway, I am still reading so I am sure much of this has already been discussed elsewhere.

OK, so I was trying to find a bit more information on his type, but is there a discussion forum here that I should look at? I see the desert, greek, red foot, hermanns, etc. but I wasn't sure where Franklin fit into that.

Unfortunately there is not yet a specific forum for this type tort yet but the redfoot/yellowfoot forum will be of help as they have similar requirements. It's outside enclosure will need to be shady and the daily showers will be good. In the 90s and above it won't be active and spending it's time in shade and water feature to stay as cool as possible, so don't be surprised. A shade cloth or lattice cover will help with both shade and predator issue. I myself am getting some Forstens (closely related species) this weekend, so it'll be a learning experience for us all.

Here's some info on this guy: www.chelonia.org/Articles/elongatacare.htm

 

[Jacqui]

A redfoot huh? Nice to have you joining us!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Animalia:

(May we know your name?)

to the forum!!

 

[Itort]

A redfoot huh? Nice to have you joining us!

Well at least by thinking it was a redfoot, they got the husbandry real close. What bothers me is people being told to treat forest tort as grassland tort.

 

[tortoiseguy65]

As others have said, you have an elongated tortoise. My very first tortoise and one of my favorites. My male Dozer was captive hatched in 1988. He has an awesome personality and comes running when he sees me for either a head scratch or some food, more than likely the latter. They do love high humidity and they really come to life with a good rain, naturally or simulated with the hose. Your's looks to be in pretty good shape, as the growth is nice and smooth compared to many captive hatched specimens. Mine love night crawlers and it is a sight to watch them chase them down. Another favorite of my elongated and my forstenii is Star fruit, which I some times find it difficult to locate here in the Midwest. Fruits and veggies that are yellow seem to be picked out first. Mushrooms are another treat for them. Feel free to pick my brain if you have any other questions. I am sure you will find Franklin to be a wonderful new friend.

Take care,
Jeff Port

 

[spikethebest]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Animalia]

Thank you for the welcomes and information from everyone. I took a few pictures of Franklin this afternoon after bath time...and to my uneducated eye I would suspect that Franklin is indeed a female. So Franklin, my dear, I need to re-evaluate how I think about you.

I had to laugh because she also had this long piece of parsley hanging out of her mouth for all the pictures. I cut it off for her but I guess I need to make sure the pieces are all smaller when I give them to her. I was hand feeding her the other day and it was fun to pull back on the lettuce or whatever she was munching on.

Anyway, here are her plastron shots. She is still damp from bath time and I had to put new batteries in my camera.

---

Oh, and my in real life name is Jamie.

 

[DonaTello's-Mom]

Oh so cute. I'm no help on what he/she is, but how about Frankie for a girl? I had a 20lb cat named Frankie. A monster to say the least!

 

[Itort]

Yes, what you have there is an elongated female. Frankie would be a good name.

 

[Animalia]

Well, we have decided on Tulip as her new name. I wanted something suitably feminine for the little darling. Keep an eye out for my adventures in indoor enclosure building coming soon to the enclosure forum.