New - need help identifying tortoise and care info

[hellowren]

Hi there. My friend recommended this forum to me because of a predicament I'm in.
This is my little (11yo) brother's tortoise Dino My parents bought it for his birthday last year (was about $150-200 just for the tortoise), and from the start there were issues. He wouldn't eat the little rainbow pellets the store gave us to feed him, just lettuce and fruits and stuff, and occasionally he'd eat them if we hid them among the fresh stuff. Now he won't really eat anything, but my mom has noticed that the straw in his cage has been disappearing, so we think he might be eating that. He will still sometimes eat bananas and lettuce, but not much.

One thing is - we can't remember what kind of tortoise he is. Does anyone know? He's fairly big, but not huge. That little yellow mushy thing in the pic with him is the tippy-tip of a banana I bit off to feed him, if that gives any sort of size reference (I didn't think about this as I took the picture, sorry).

My brother rarely plays with him anymore because he's a hypochondriac and the guy at the pet store scared him to death talking about salmonella, so they're probably going to give him to me because I want him. We're not sure how old he is. He was only a little bit smaller when we got him at the pet store, and that was a year ago.


Any information you guys can give would be appreciated
Thanks a bunch!

OH! We live in Oklahoma.
And my name is Wren

 

[dmmj]

Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy your visits here.
I am pretty sure you have a wood turtle there.

 

[Laura]

needs a toe nail trim...
not sure what kind it is.. :-( but as soon as you find out.. do lots of reading and help this poor guy!
if you think its eating the straw. Id remove it.. it isnt good for him.

 

[acrantophis]

Yup. That is a south American wood turtle. Looks good. Good luck

 

[Jacob]

Welcome To the forum!
Im guessing Wood turtle along with the other members

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[JoesMum]

Your tort needs constant access to water by what I have googled



Can you tell us more about the enclosure that you are keeping him in (pictures would be good)... Temperatures, lighting, food and water.

Hopefully someone with direct experience will be along soon

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Wren:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

Your turtle should have a habitat that is half water and half land. They spend a lot of time in the water, so they need quite a large area of it.

What I have done in the past is to take a very large plastic tub/tote and place a brick under one end of it so its on a slant, then you fix it so there's water in the lower end and a substrate that can be wet in the upper end. I used quite a few rocks to keep the substrate from sliding down into the water.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

Yup. That is a south American wood turtle. Looks good. Good luck

I agree. That is a South American wood turtle, Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima manni, also known as an Ornate wood turtle or painted wood turtle.

NOT to be confused with the North American wood turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, which is a relative to the bog turtle.

 

[hellowren]

Thank you everyone for your input!
I think the people at the pet store told us it was something like a red footed tortoise or something?

To answer the questions about the living arrangement:
He is in a fairly large aquarium covered by a screen with dirt and the coconut shavings they sold us. He has a heat lamp, but just a big bowl of water. He does like to get in it a lot, but we just went by what they told us to get at the store (it was a specialty store called Alligator Alley that sells mostly snakes, turtles, etc, so we trusted them).
I don't have any pictures right now because he is at my mother's house.

Now that I know what he eats and stuff, and what kind he is, I can do more research and bring him to my house and redo his tank. I don't want to use a big tub, because I have cats so it needs to stay somewhat enclosed or else they will be in there napping with him, lol.

 

[hellowren]

I'm getting a bunch of different information about diet.

What should he be eating? How often?

 

[dmmj]

They have basically the same dietary needs like box turtles. Protein, bugs usually work, fruits vegetables greens, lots of different things they can have.

 

[Madkins007]

I would strongly recommend never going back to that pet shop for reptile stuff.

Ornate wood turtles are great pets if you are into that category. Here is a good starter care sheet- http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-caowood.htm

Many people (including me) do not like the time, effort, and cost of setting up and running a wet habitat, so do your research before you spend too much and weigh your options. If you go into it with your eyes open and ready for it, it can be a lot of fun!

Good luck!

 

[hellowren]

Now that I'm seeing all of this, I don't think I have the time (or the money) to do the upkeep needed for him to be happy. They were initially wanting to sell him but I spoke up and said I wanted him, but now I don't think it would be best for me or the turtle.
Sucks. I was really looking forward to having a reptile again. I'm just used to low maintenance critters.

Thank you everyone for all of your help!

 

[acrantophis]

I agree. That is a South American wood turtle, Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima manni, also known as an Ornate wood turtle or painted wood turtle.

NOT to be confused with the North American wood turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, which is a relative to the bog turtle.

Speaking of north american wood turtles I just came across a perfect one browsing outside my father in laws, outdoor box turtle pen. I don't know how to post it in this thread but I posted it recently in other pics. It was the most perfect wood turtle. We just let it wander off.

 

[TORTOISEMAN1]

Hello and welcome!