For the past few weeks, my friend who lives in Connecticut has been informing me of her friend’s tortoise’s... situation. They purchased their tortoise from petco, and it is currently being housed in a 20 gallon, being fed once every 3 days with no lighting. This tortoise has been fed goldfish, and not the snack that smiles back.
The main problem arises with the fact that this tortoise has been outside every day in below freezing weather, sometimes with snow, and forgotten overnight very frequently.
Even worse, is that the owner doesn’t care at all. Here are some samples of the conversations my friend has had with the owner. Note that this has been going on for weeks.
We had been discussing it for a while, but this really set it in stone. If the tortoise is still alive and in good enough condition to ship, my friend is going to try and ship her to me.
I have already told her to soak this tortoise immediately upon arrival, and to keep her warm.
When (if) I get her, is there anything I should do besides close monitoring, heavy soaking, and treating her for a respiratory infection (high temps, high humidity, baytril flush if necessary)? I’ll probably soak in carrot baby food too, because I have no idea how malnourished this tortoise is. I’ll probably set up a 50 gallon bin for now, and set up a 28 square foot kiddy pool soon.
I will update you guys as I get more information. I really hope there’s still time to save it.
The main problem arises with the fact that this tortoise has been outside every day in below freezing weather, sometimes with snow, and forgotten overnight very frequently.
Even worse, is that the owner doesn’t care at all. Here are some samples of the conversations my friend has had with the owner. Note that this has been going on for weeks.
We had been discussing it for a while, but this really set it in stone. If the tortoise is still alive and in good enough condition to ship, my friend is going to try and ship her to me.
I have already told her to soak this tortoise immediately upon arrival, and to keep her warm.
When (if) I get her, is there anything I should do besides close monitoring, heavy soaking, and treating her for a respiratory infection (high temps, high humidity, baytril flush if necessary)? I’ll probably soak in carrot baby food too, because I have no idea how malnourished this tortoise is. I’ll probably set up a 50 gallon bin for now, and set up a 28 square foot kiddy pool soon.
I will update you guys as I get more information. I really hope there’s still time to save it.