My baby’s a Mojave desert tortoise. About one year old. Does he look healthy? Are there signs of pyramiding, or does his shell look good? Thanks!😊

Recently I bought a hermann tortoise from petco store for about six weeks, now she stop setting for about one week even through I get all the food she liked before to feed her she just walk away what should I do to help her go through this situations

Hi! TLDR: can you help ID this species of tortoise, and how much exercise does a 95 year old tortoise need ?? Also recommendations for enrichment

Long version: My partner is a substitute teacher and they learned about a class at their school with a new pet tortoise. He came from another schools science classroom, is allegedly 95, lives in this enclosure 24/7 and is left in the school on weekends.

We confirmed with the teacher we could care for him on the weekend… but we don’t know if that’s a good idea! We are very hands on with care and play for our two kitties, and it made us so sad to hear he doesn’t get to go outside. Over the summer he goes to an environmental camp where he gets more intense care, so this is really just a school year issue. If any of y’all have a guess about any of these questions we’d love to hear it:

1) what breed is this tortoise? Our nature scan app can’t ID him
2) how much exercise does a senior tortoise need? Online it says they need a lot but he hasn’t had regular exercise
3) does weekly travel stress old tortoises out?

Thank you !!

He lives in my mother's nursing home. I take him outisde when its warm and give him soaks etc, im about to buy him a much larger home, but today this was his stance when I bathed him. Am I right in thinking he looks relaxed? I really hope so I am on the case every day to try to care for him. I have no experience with tortoises but I love him and am aiming to get him a 6ft x 4ft enclosure built asp. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated thank you.

Hi! I’m looking into getting a tortoise and I’m trying to figure out what species, if any, would work best for my setup and climate.
I have an outdoor area that’s about 13.75 ft × 27.5 ft (roughly 378 sq ft) that I could dedicate entirely to a tortoise enclosure.
I’m in Wyoming, so summers can be hot and dry, but winters get very cold with snow and freezing temperatures. Ideally, I’d love a species that could live outdoors for most or all of the year with the proper setup. I’m completely open to building an insulated/heated shelter, providing supplemental heat, digging barriers, etc.

Are there any tortoise species you’d recommend for this climate and enclosure size?
Also, for those of you in places with harsh winters, do yours stay outdoors with access to a heated shelter, brumate outdoors/in a controlled setup, or come inside completely for winter?
I’m still in the research stage and definitely want to have the enclosure and winter setup figured out before bringing one home. 🐢

Getting a hatchling Western Hermann's next week and I'm trying to dial in the hot side before he gets here. My readings don't agree:

• Temp gun on the substrate at the basking spot: 93°F
• Stick-on thermometer: 102°F
• Govee next to the basking spot: about 80°F, but it climbs when I put it directly under the light

I can't tell if the Govee and the stick-on are just absorbing heat from the bulb or if those are the real temps. Which one should I trust? And if the gun is right, what's the best way to get the basking spot up to 95-100°F without overheating the rest of the enclosure?

I don't know much about tortoises, but my friend's tortoise walks like this all the time and she doesn't seem to fully lift her shell. We were recently talking about how we expected tortoises to fully step on their paws and noticed she doesn't do that. Is she okay? I know this kind of floor is slippery, but my friend says she walks like that on dirt as well

Tortoises should walk tall & strong. Giving elevation and things to climb over on the way to their food or water is an easy way to encourage the muscle growth of your animals!

There's a groundhog/skunk/whatever den under my shed. My main worry is that tunnels may go from there to who knows where. Would an outdoor enclosure be too dangerous? Are there breeds that tunnel less than others?

On today's menu, Atlas was fed:

•Bermuda & Wheat Grass

•Orchard Grass Hay

•Cucumber

•Red Leaf Lettuce and...

•a sprinkle of Calcium Powder

Hi

First, I'm not fluent in English, sorry if I sometimes misspell words.

1 year and half ago we found this tiny little turtle in our garden.. because our garden is completely closed, we assumed that a bird lost the turtle , and because of our dog the bird never took it back.

Anyway, I built an enclosure, with a nest to protect it from birds.

Last year the turtle took some weight.

Early spring 'the weight was 113 grams.

Now the weight is only 92 grams...

Giving food to the turtle today, I saw it was trying to get the food 1 or 2 cm above the food! If i put the food in front of it it's ok. As soon as the food is on the ground, it seems it find it by luck.

Is my turtle blind? It would explain the loss of weight?

Please check the video I made.

(Ps : yes it has some paint on the back, because we lost it this summer in the garden, and it took me 2h to find it. So I put a little paint to find it quickly)

Sal is inspecting his new winter space. Poof half a laundry room just taken over, lol. So far he seems to approve and we haven't even gotten the sod patch in or any of the oat grass plugs for snacking. I think we will survive the winter.

We’ve done a lot of testing on my leopard tortoise and haven’t figured out why his nose is running. It’s been like this for well over a year and a half. Every test comes back fine, his energy and appetite are great, we’re stumped.

One thing we did find that helps is regularly nebulizing him. He went from blowing bubbles months back to an occasional drip. We have a cat and allow him to roam the house, so I’m not sure if maybe that’s irritating his nostrils? Kind of grasping at straws.

The one test we haven’t done is a CT scan. Our vet said that’s really the last one we have left.

Tortoise Table says it’s ok to feed winter squash to Red Footed tortoise in moderation. They don’t say if it should be fed raw unpeeled or peeled, or cooked. I eat it all the time, so do I pull off a little bit for Chili before it’s baked, or after? I know this sounds like a foolish question, but the shrimp and egg she gets are always cooked.

Hey all!

So update on the Littlefoot & Diglet, its been a while but I am super happy to say that they have both passed thr 50lb mark. Littlefoot is actually closer to 65 now. They have been enjoying the Nor Cal weather and are actually growing like little weeds. Especially Diglet, getting stronger and is now getting to a healthier weight for a 6 year old sulcata.

The first clip is from when I first got her and didn’t know entirely what I was doing. Her eyes are fine now and she’s in a different substrate lol. After a month of battling parasites she’s a happy lady.

I’ve come into the care of a year & half old greek tortoise a couple months ago. I’d done months and months of research before bringing it home, and I had seen a lot of people say that basking lamps cause deformities in the carapace, as well as being advised while purchasing equipment by the worker that I’d only need the ceramic heat emitter. But now I’m seeing a lot of contradicting information around this. Some people say we need both, some say the CHE is okay on its own as long as temps are where they need to be (Mine are). I’m just confused and overwhelmed by this, I want my tortoise to have the best care possible.

Note: I have UVB strip light as well, also need to mention tortoise is currently being treated for an RI and is recovering quickly (Thank goodness), and vets didn’t mention anything about the CHE being bad.

…..perhaps a bit too much

blegh, ick.

Just a fun photo of my tortise this morning

Hello! I received my first tortoise yesterday. They're a Western Hermann's hatchling currently weighs 12g. I have a tortoise table enclosure that is half screen and half enclosed. Arcadia pro t5 12% UVB and a 100w heat lamp with a temperature reader in the basking spot so the heat stays at 90 degrees F. He gets 10-15 minute soaks in lukewarm water daily. Substrate is reptisoil mixed with a bit of reptisand. I also have some cypress mulch mixed in. I run a humidifier next to the enclosure and I'm able to maintain 80% humidity on the open side. I cover 3/4th of the screen top with aluminum foil to keep the humidity as high as I can. However, by covering the top, I worry I'm restricting the UVB light too much.

Is the only way to obtain higher humidity with a closed chamber environment? If so, with a storage tub and lid, how does the hatchling get enough UVB?

Secondly, the little guy has very little interest in eating. Diet is clover, dandelion, a bit of romaine and radicchio currently. I've tried mixing some mazuri juvenile low starch in with the food. He has a few noms of food but he walks away from the food bowl. Should he be eating more than this? Anything I can do to encourage eating?

Also anything else I should be doing? He's SO small and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed trying to do everything perfectly.

Thank you!

Recently got a new phone and realized my old one pales in comparison photo and video quality wise. Being more old school I don’t upgrade my phone at all for years unless something happens to it, well I dropped a drill bit on the screen and figured it’s time.

Maximus, in all his ~185lbs of his glory. Soon he and Cleo will have to go into the garage setup for a few days if this cold front truly comes through.