New tortoise parent

[brid]

Is there any way to determine the approximate age of my tortoise? I assume she’s wild caught and can tell she’s female, but would like to know about how old she is.

She’s been with me for 3 days now and has yet to eat. She seems pretty comfortable when I have handled her, but hides a lot when she’s in her home. Is this all normal until she gets settled in?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Hi! Welcome to the forum

Tortoises don't like change, so it takes a while for them to settle in. But I am not sure whether it causes loss of appetite. It is hard to approximate tortoises age, but I believe someone more knowledgeable than me can tell you whether she is sexually mature. What do you feed her? What are her measurements (carapace length and weight)? What are the specs of her enclosure:

• Substrate
• Dimensions
• Is it a closed chamber
• Temperature (hot side, cool side, ambient, main hide)
• Humidity (hot side, cool side, ambient, main hide)
• Does she have a waterdish to soak in?

It is recomended for new members to read these:

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

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[brid]

She’s 5.5” long and 5.5” across and weighs 436 grams.

So far she’s been offered dead nettle and some mustard greens. I am waiting for a bag of Mazuri tortoise LS to get here that I will supplement with a few times a week. I believe she was on those colorful pellets before and carrots/celery but I know that’s not an adequate diet.

Substrate - mix of coco coir and keeper’s choice (I will be changing this in a few days after learning that cypress mulch is no good and plan to use a 50/50 mix of organic topsoil and peat moss)

Dimensions - 4’ x 3’ open top tortoise table with a closed box on one side. I know this needs to be bigger at some point and would like to make my own since I couldn’t find any to buy at an appropriate size. This was the largest one.

Temps - 98 under basking light, 70 on the cool side, 80-85 ambient depending on time of day, 78 main hide

Humidity ranges from 42 - 66% (I have 2 thermometer/hygrometers at each end)

She has a shallow 10” round water dish to soak in

 

[EppsDynasty]

@brid ..
Right on for answering the vital information questions. Too many people come here to ask questions but get ....ahhh very grumpy (I'll say) when questioned. It is as if they are the only ones who can "ask" questions. If correct care guidance and accurate information is what you seek, and need this is the place.

 

[brid]

@brid ..
Right on for answering the vital information questions. Too many people come here to ask questions but get ....ahhh very grumpy (I'll say) when questioned. It is as if they are the only ones who can "ask" questions. If correct care guidance and accurate information is what you seek, and need this is the place.

I would much rather hear all the things I’m doing wrong so I can make it right! I have two bearded dragons who each came to me with horrible setups. I didn’t realize this when I got them so I ended up redoing everything and spent a ton of money but it was worth every bit to see them happy and healthy.

 

[brid]

Hi! Welcome to the forum

Tortoises don't like change, so it takes a while for them to settle in. But I am not sure whether it causes loss of appetite. It is hard to approximate tortoises age, but I believe someone more knowledgeable than me can tell you whether she is sexually mature. What do you feed her? What are her measurements (carapace length and weight)? What are the specs of her enclosure:

• Substrate
• Dimensions
• Is it a closed chamber
• Temperature (hot side, cool side, ambient, main hide)
• Humidity (hot side, cool side, ambient, main hide)
• Does she have a waterdish to soak in?

It is recomended for new members to read these:

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

The Best Way To Raise Any Temperate Species Of Tortoise

I chose the title of this care sheet very carefully. Are there other ways to raise babies and care for adults? Yes. Yes there are, but those ways are not as good. What follows is the BEST way, according to 30 years of research and experimentation with hundreds of babies of many species. What is...

tortoiseforum.org

Well after reading that, please disregard my reply stating I’ll be switching to organic topsoil and peat moss for substrate. I still have to switch out what I’m using because it contains peat moss and coco fiber. I also use a repti tuff halogen lamp for the basking/heat source. I’ll have to switch that out as soon as possible. Thank you for linking those resources, it’s super helpful!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Well after reading that, please disregard my reply stating I’ll be switching to organic topsoil and peat moss for substrate. I still have to switch out what I’m using because it contains peat moss and coco fiber. I also use a repti tuff halogen lamp for the basking/heat source. I’ll have to switch that out as soon as possible. Thank you for linking those resources, it’s super helpful!

Like many stuff on this forum, those are great resources for beginners doing research! We are always glad to help!

Disregarding the things you are changing. She doesn't seem overly underweight, but can still comfortably gain some weight. You could try feeding her a bigger variety of weeds. This is a great resource for plant identification: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/a-z/?l=al

Please come back to us with updates, especially if things don't start to turn out for the better. Especially the eating, tortoises shouldn't really lose much weight.

 

[SinLA]

Congrats, she is lovely! She is small-ish for an adult female, but definitely that can be her full adult size, especially if she didn't have the best health while maturing.

Welcome to the forum!