Okay, so, I guess I rescued a tortoise today! ... But I have little idea on how to care for one.
Some back story: The previous owners have had "Zoom" for about 3 years now. (The tortoise is about 3 and a half years old now.) They purchased "her" at a local pet store (that has since closed down) called Scamps that was pretty infamous for taking terrible care of their animals. The store sold her as a "Desert Land Tortoise."
A friend of mine from school told me about her (and about how they'd been thinking about finding her a new home) on Halloween, so I've been researching tortoises ever since.. Kind of, anyway. Browsing these forums, glancing at Sulcata care sheets, wondering what species of tortoise would make the best "pet" for me and my situation (I like tortoises... Lol!)... Anyway. Zoom belonged to the friend's younger brother, who was taking terrible care of her. Neglecting to clean her enclosure, mostly. I went down to the friend's house today JUST to look, since I'd promised to help them rehome her (and maayyybe act as a halfway-house in the meantime). Her conditions were absolutely appalling! So, needless to say, I dragged the friend back up to my house (she'd been wanting to meet the snakes and beardie) to help me whip up some temporary situation for the little tort.
They've been feeding Zoom romaine lettuce, cactus pad, and tortoise bites (the mushy ones--by "Nature Zone," I think). She's been housed (most recently, anyway) in a 20H aquarium. No lights, a little unregulated heat pad stuck to the bottom for heat, and a very dirty piece of "Repticarpet" for substrate. When she got here, she was covered in feces. She used to have lighting (whether it was UVB or not, I have no clue) but, because the house was "too hot," the brother removed it during the summer and hadn't replaced it... Probably the biggest surprise was there's no sign of pyramiding (that I can see) on this little tort's shell!
I would've gotten a picture of the previous enclosure, but I didn't have my camera with me at the time...
The "temporary" enclosure I put together for Zoom is a 106 qt Rubbermaid tub. Paper towel substrate, a cardboard shoe box for a hide, and an incandescent bulb for heat (60 watt, I think--forgot to check..). She doesn't seem to be hungry at the moment, but I have beardie salad (Current batch is: Collard greens, Cactus pad, parsnip, snap peas, a bit of okra, and, in this batch, a bit of beet greens, all cut/ripped into bite-sized pieces) and the aforementioned "Tortoise Bites". I have Repcal w/ D3 (No Phosphorus) and Herptivite multivitamins to mix in. The salads also normally contain squash (Acorn or Butternut), and I try to add dandelion greens whenever we can get out of town to get them... I also use mustard greens and green beans, often switching these with or using them in addition to the parsnip and snap peas. I'm working on the UVB issue... I've been wanting to upgrade the beardie to a Mercury-Vapor Bulb, anyway, and his UVB bulb (Reptisun 10.0) still has a few more months of life (I usually dump them after 6 months, and this one's 3-4 months).
Also, I have no idea what species it is. My first guess, by the name, was Sulcata... But she looks nothing like Sulcatas I've seen on the 'net (or baby sulcatas I've seen in pet stores). The only other things I can think of are Russian tortoise (size) or Desert tortoise (name)... But I am NOT a tort person, so I'll leave ID'ing her up to you experts... =P
So, what exactly am I supposed to do here?? Temp/humidity requirements, diet, etc? How to set up the enclosure properly? Anything else you can think of for a complete newbie to torts??
Thanks!!! =)
(Attached pictures are belly (AFTER taking a toothbrush to her) and overhead (before the bath) shots, as well as one of his enclosure. Haven't gotten around to measuring his shell length just yet, but I'd hazard a guess at 5-7 inches.)
Some back story: The previous owners have had "Zoom" for about 3 years now. (The tortoise is about 3 and a half years old now.) They purchased "her" at a local pet store (that has since closed down) called Scamps that was pretty infamous for taking terrible care of their animals. The store sold her as a "Desert Land Tortoise."
A friend of mine from school told me about her (and about how they'd been thinking about finding her a new home) on Halloween, so I've been researching tortoises ever since.. Kind of, anyway. Browsing these forums, glancing at Sulcata care sheets, wondering what species of tortoise would make the best "pet" for me and my situation (I like tortoises... Lol!)... Anyway. Zoom belonged to the friend's younger brother, who was taking terrible care of her. Neglecting to clean her enclosure, mostly. I went down to the friend's house today JUST to look, since I'd promised to help them rehome her (and maayyybe act as a halfway-house in the meantime). Her conditions were absolutely appalling! So, needless to say, I dragged the friend back up to my house (she'd been wanting to meet the snakes and beardie) to help me whip up some temporary situation for the little tort.
They've been feeding Zoom romaine lettuce, cactus pad, and tortoise bites (the mushy ones--by "Nature Zone," I think). She's been housed (most recently, anyway) in a 20H aquarium. No lights, a little unregulated heat pad stuck to the bottom for heat, and a very dirty piece of "Repticarpet" for substrate. When she got here, she was covered in feces. She used to have lighting (whether it was UVB or not, I have no clue) but, because the house was "too hot," the brother removed it during the summer and hadn't replaced it... Probably the biggest surprise was there's no sign of pyramiding (that I can see) on this little tort's shell!
I would've gotten a picture of the previous enclosure, but I didn't have my camera with me at the time...
The "temporary" enclosure I put together for Zoom is a 106 qt Rubbermaid tub. Paper towel substrate, a cardboard shoe box for a hide, and an incandescent bulb for heat (60 watt, I think--forgot to check..). She doesn't seem to be hungry at the moment, but I have beardie salad (Current batch is: Collard greens, Cactus pad, parsnip, snap peas, a bit of okra, and, in this batch, a bit of beet greens, all cut/ripped into bite-sized pieces) and the aforementioned "Tortoise Bites". I have Repcal w/ D3 (No Phosphorus) and Herptivite multivitamins to mix in. The salads also normally contain squash (Acorn or Butternut), and I try to add dandelion greens whenever we can get out of town to get them... I also use mustard greens and green beans, often switching these with or using them in addition to the parsnip and snap peas. I'm working on the UVB issue... I've been wanting to upgrade the beardie to a Mercury-Vapor Bulb, anyway, and his UVB bulb (Reptisun 10.0) still has a few more months of life (I usually dump them after 6 months, and this one's 3-4 months).
Also, I have no idea what species it is. My first guess, by the name, was Sulcata... But she looks nothing like Sulcatas I've seen on the 'net (or baby sulcatas I've seen in pet stores). The only other things I can think of are Russian tortoise (size) or Desert tortoise (name)... But I am NOT a tort person, so I'll leave ID'ing her up to you experts... =P
So, what exactly am I supposed to do here?? Temp/humidity requirements, diet, etc? How to set up the enclosure properly? Anything else you can think of for a complete newbie to torts??
Thanks!!! =)
(Attached pictures are belly (AFTER taking a toothbrush to her) and overhead (before the bath) shots, as well as one of his enclosure. Haven't gotten around to measuring his shell length just yet, but I'd hazard a guess at 5-7 inches.)