Leopard newbie - advice needed

[liblen87]

Hi, this is going to be a long post as there's quite a bit of a back story to explain how we ended up with the lovely Wally...

My partner bought a Mediterranean spur-thighed when he was 15 (16 years ago) and after he bought Squirtle, his mum got the bug and over time built up to having 10 tortoises (spur-thighed, leopard and horsefields). When my partner was 16, they went to pick up a spur-thighed from an elderly lady who had all different species free roaming in her house. The lady gave a leopard, 'Wally' to my partner as he was living with the spur-thighed that his mum was having. When they were given Wally, he had a deformed shell. He was taken to a reptile specialist vet who said that he suspected a lot of the deformity was from birth. He said that he will not reach full size and will probably not live as long as most leopards.

When my partner moved out, we were not able to have Squirtle with us due to lack of space and unstable finances. Since then there has been family drama leading to my partner and his family not having contact for years. My partner had set everything up for Squirtle at our house and I was finally able to get his mum to agree to let me pick her up although she said I had to take the one she was living with as they had lived together for the last 2 years. I agreed as we wanted her back and assumed it would've been one of the other spur-thighed but it wasn't, it was Wally 😓

We picked him up on Saturday and at that time weren't even sure what species he was (I'm new to this) but have discovered he is a leopard. I've learned so much since Saturday but to be honest I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with how to set up the correct enclosure for him. He has lived in a tortoise table (approx. 3ft in length) for the last 15 years which I know is not suitable for him at all. He has been inside all his life.

He's currently still with our spur-thighed as I want to make sure I have all the correct information before I start spending money as I can't afford to do the wrong thing.

I like the idea of him having a heated shed outside with a run attached to it. We are in the UK, so would have to make sure the shed is of a suitable size for him to be in for full days when it's very cold.

Please be kind, I just want the best for him after years of him not receiving the correct care. Just to add we don't know how old he is but we are assuming he is over 20. I've included a picture of him because he's lovely and you can see his deformity.

 

[wellington]

Wow, pretty color. The crookedness, that's from birth/hatching?
To keep him outside during winter, you will need a large shed, that is well insulated and heated with a portable oil filled radiator style heater on a thermostat.
A basking area that has a incandescent flood bulb that reaches 95-100F.
Tube fluorescent for uvb when he can't go outside.
I live in Chicago, USA and have a third stall of a garage that was built to be a shed. My leopards are housed there all winter along with a Russian. Then they use that as their summer night time area to sleep and can go outside whenever they want.

 

[Tom]

Hello and welcome.

Here is all the correct care info. Look to the bottom for a leopard care sheet:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[liblen87]

Wow, pretty color. The crookedness, that's from birth/hatching?
To keep him outside during winter, you will need a large shed, that is well insulated and heated with a portable oil filled radiator style heater on a thermostat.
A basking area that has a incandescent flood bulb that reaches 95-100F.
Tube fluorescent for uvb when he can't go outside.
I live in Chicago, USA and have a third stall of a garage that was built to be a shed. My leopards are housed there all winter along with a Russian. Then they use that as their summer night time area to sleep and can go outside whenever they want.

Thank you.

Regarding his crookedness, I have no doubt that some of it is due to poor/incorrect husbandry as it's never been correct. I've known him for 14 years but knew nothing about tortoises so assumed that he was getting what he needed, which I now feel awful about. The vet that saw him thought it was birth deformity but how he would look had he had spot on care, we will never know.

 

[liblen87]

Hello and welcome.

Here is all the correct care info. Look to the bottom for a leopard care sheet:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

That's great, thank you 😊

 

[wellington]

Thank you.

Regarding his crookedness, I have no doubt that some of it is due to poor/incorrect husbandry as it's never been correct. I've known him for 14 years but knew nothing about tortoises so assumed that he was getting what he needed, which I now feel awful about. The vet that saw him thought it was birth deformity but how he would look had he had spot on care, we will never know.

Hey, a lot of us, me included, got bad info before we found this forum. Even the years I have been on, since late 2011, things have changed that if it had been known sooner, my leopard likely wouldn't be so badly pyramided.
If he was crooked from hatchling though, it may have been able to be corrected but then again likely not.
He is a cutie though even with his deformity. Hopefully you can get him on a better path. He likely won't improve shell wise, but health wise.

 

[Ink]

I'm so glad you were able to get him and get the correct care. Welcome to the forum. Wally is pretty.

 

[liblen87]

Hey, a lot of us, me included, got bad info before we found this forum. Even the years I have been on, since late 2011, things have changed that if it had been known sooner, my leopard likely wouldn't be so badly pyramided.
If he was crooked from hatchling though, it may have been able to be corrected but then again likely not.
He is a cutie though even with his deformity. Hopefully you can get him on a better path. He likely won't improve shell wise, but health wise.

Yes I hope so, he's a sweetheart. He's been 'ours' since Saturday so desperately trying to learn quickly so that he gets what he needs ASAP!

 

[Ink]

Just read the care sheet. Ask questions before you you buy anything if you are questioning it. There's a post on the forum that has a lot of tortoise with different scutes. You might like looking at that.

 

[liblen87]

Just read the care sheet. Ask questions before you you buy anything if you are questioning it. There's a post on the forum that has a lot of tortoise with different scutes. You might like looking at that.

Yes I think I'm going to compile a shopping list and then post it to check it before I buy anything.