New member,

Miles1321

New Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2016
Messages
2
Hi my name is Bonnie, i live in the uk and have a 9 year old tortoise i rescued 7 years ago, when i rescued it i was told it was a Mediterranean spur thigh, but after a health check at my local reptile shop and a trip to the vet, i am now confused to what i actually have, they think its a marginated. I rescued said tortoise from a friend who wasnt looking after it at all, i am unsure of sex as have had conflicting answers, i think female. She came with no certificate or papers, so i am unable to confirm anything. Im looking for any advice people can give me, in her last health check she is a healthy weight, good shape with shell bar her not being able to walk like other torts. Her shell grew too big by her back legs so instead of walking upright she kind of pushes the back of her shell along the floor with her legs. It has no effect on her everyday life and she moves faster than any tort ive ever seen. She is big 9 inches long (just shell) 5 wide 3 high. I've researched and researched and researched in order to give her the best possible life, she lives in my living room, on the floor during the day and i have set up the under the stairs cupboard as her night time enclosure, as she was going mental and physically hurting herself trying to escape from her vivarium and tortoise table, it just cost too much in vet fees to keep her in them. She once war all the skin away from the side of her neck trying to dig her way out the corner of the tort table and viv. I hope one day to make her a full outdoor heated enclosure where she has as much freedom and natural surroundings as poss, but obv as im not entirly sure what she is. that makes it difficult.
 

Jodie

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Jul 11, 2014
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Welcome to the forum. Post some pictures and someone will tell you what she is. Include pictures of plastron and tail, and someone can verify sex.
 

SarahChelonoidis

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5 Year Member
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Apr 20, 2015
Messages
1,895
Location (City and/or State)
Toronto, Canada
Welcome! We'd love to see pictures of her.

How do you manage the UVB light requirements in the living room? Does she have a few bulbs about the room?
 

Miles1321

New Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2016
Messages
2
She has a few favorite places she settles during the day like under the table the telephone is set up on and beside the unit the tv is on there are uvb bulbs set up in both places, during the summer if its warm enough she goes in the garden for natural sunlight, she loves it out there and has lots of natural food to hunt down that i have grown especially for her, although her favorite is dandelion and some of the flowers in our borders that werent intentionally grown for her but are safe for her to eat. Much to my partners disgust lol, one morning we put her out after a long period of unsuitable weather for her, we had a lovely border so full of colour from all the various plants, within a few hours she had eaten all the flowers, so we were just left with the green demolished stems and leaves. If we have the fire on she tends to sit in front of it until she gets a burst of energy and then runs around the room for 30-40 minutes, she loves being loose and if we sit on the floor she will come over and cuddle into us she likes a bum scratch( on the shell near tail) she lifts her back up and wiggles from side to side, she also likes light tapping on the top of her head and she will stretch her neck out as far as possible for us to do it. My partner laughs shes more like a dog than a tortoise as she follows us around. Ive never had any issues with her being loose we have 5 cats also we keep up with the housework and hoovering, once she tried to eat a bit of thread from the sofa, but thats as far as shes gone, she gets on with cats great and with either cuddle up to them for warmth or bash them out the way so she can nick their warm bit on the floor. The cats pay no mind to her, apart from the last kitten we got used to ride her around the living room, never been any aggression. I will post pics later as i need to take some recent ones, i got lots of videos of her funny antics, but the last photo i took was probably a few years ago.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
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Jan 23, 2008
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Welcome to the Forum, Bonnie. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your tortoise.
 
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