Hi everyone,
I just want to introduce the latest addition to our family and ask for some help from you guys. We have basically inherited a tortoise named Alfie from my great aunt who sadly passed away recently. To cut a long story short, I have absolutely no experience of looking after a tortoise of my own, even tho I'm familiar with Alfie (tho I do have 2 crested geckos ) and even if I did, Alfie has never had what you could call a typical pet tortoise life, so I want to make sure I don't stress him out by suddenly changing everything (is that even possible for a tortoise?) my aunt had always loved tortoises, ornament, fridge magnets, jumpers etc and had wanted one since she was small, and finally when she was in her 70s (12 years ago) she bought Alfie, after replying to an ad in the local paper, she went into town to meet a man and pick him up, she brought him home on the bus in her coat and when they got home he was put on the floor and that was it, he wandered freely about the house and garden during the summer and in winter he hibernated in a big box filled with blankets. She only ever seemed to feed him salad, lettuce, cucumber, carrot and tomatoes tho he only seemed to eat the cucumber and he enjoys dandelions when he's in the garden but I seriously doubt he has ever had the diet he needs, I bought the appropriate food but she was adamant he didn't like it (tho he is now tucking into the very same food ) I'm not even sure what species he actually is, my aunt was told he is a Mediterranean but I'm not sure. At the moment I've got a large plastic drawer set up for him during night time and when I'm out or it's not convenient to have him wander, I have 3 children (11,10 and 7) so for his own safety and obviously hygiene issues if I don't spot a poop , he simply cannot have the freedom he's used to. So I guess I'm just hoping that some of you more experienced tortoise owners can offer some advice on where to go from here, or at lest help me with the identification so I can research better because I might not have planned on owning a tortoise, but he was very important to my aunt, she would chat to him and tell us stories about "his adventures" I want to make sure he's happy and comfortable with us now, so any help would be very much appreciated
I just want to introduce the latest addition to our family and ask for some help from you guys. We have basically inherited a tortoise named Alfie from my great aunt who sadly passed away recently. To cut a long story short, I have absolutely no experience of looking after a tortoise of my own, even tho I'm familiar with Alfie (tho I do have 2 crested geckos ) and even if I did, Alfie has never had what you could call a typical pet tortoise life, so I want to make sure I don't stress him out by suddenly changing everything (is that even possible for a tortoise?) my aunt had always loved tortoises, ornament, fridge magnets, jumpers etc and had wanted one since she was small, and finally when she was in her 70s (12 years ago) she bought Alfie, after replying to an ad in the local paper, she went into town to meet a man and pick him up, she brought him home on the bus in her coat and when they got home he was put on the floor and that was it, he wandered freely about the house and garden during the summer and in winter he hibernated in a big box filled with blankets. She only ever seemed to feed him salad, lettuce, cucumber, carrot and tomatoes tho he only seemed to eat the cucumber and he enjoys dandelions when he's in the garden but I seriously doubt he has ever had the diet he needs, I bought the appropriate food but she was adamant he didn't like it (tho he is now tucking into the very same food ) I'm not even sure what species he actually is, my aunt was told he is a Mediterranean but I'm not sure. At the moment I've got a large plastic drawer set up for him during night time and when I'm out or it's not convenient to have him wander, I have 3 children (11,10 and 7) so for his own safety and obviously hygiene issues if I don't spot a poop , he simply cannot have the freedom he's used to. So I guess I'm just hoping that some of you more experienced tortoise owners can offer some advice on where to go from here, or at lest help me with the identification so I can research better because I might not have planned on owning a tortoise, but he was very important to my aunt, she would chat to him and tell us stories about "his adventures" I want to make sure he's happy and comfortable with us now, so any help would be very much appreciated
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