To ask for your help with this Tortoise?

I really think some posters are panicking far too much about looking after a tortoise. I had a Hermann's and a spur thighed tortoise for over 20 years, both of whom happily lived in my garden and hibernated in the compost heap. They both went through the winter of 1963, when it snowed on Boxing Day and didn't melt until March, in that compost heap. Rehomed them when I moved to my present house as it didn't have a secure garden.
Some years later we built an outside run and had another spur-thighed which had been bred by a friend. It was teeny-tiny when we first had it and had to be kept warm and not hibernate but it grew into quite a monster. Spent most of its time on our patio, making it hazardous to sit with bare toes - it nipped very hard.

Look I'm sorry but this is not OK. Contact the nearest vet today and hand it in to them. The tortoise needs to be looked after by people who know what they are doing. They are strictly protected and it will be passed on to experts. Its not going to disappear into the system.

If and big IF anyone comes looking for the tortoise, she only has to say it must have been a malicious report.
Please hand it into a rescue as found as stray.

This

She's done something incredibly stupid, why should the tortoise suffer because of it?

Please contact the international tortoise association for some advice on how to look after the tortoise and encourage your friend to hand it into a vet -thank you for asking for help

At the absolute minimum it needs a uv light, food, a water bowl it can also paddle in and enclosure and somewhere to hide.

The uv light is where you need to focus your funds first as that is an essential.

If it is a baby then you could probably improvise with a big plastic box as an enclose. Line this soil or wood chippings. Make sure it’s got somewhere cool and dark at one end where it can hide.

The best food for Hermans is weeds such as dandelions which your friend will need to go out and pick each day, this will be harder in the winter. You can supplement this with snacks such as lettuce and occasional fruit treats.

Do not follow the advise above to put it in a box and let it hibernate. This will kill it. If it is big enough to hibernate it needs to be starved for 3 weeks first or the food in its stomach will rot and kill it. You need to do the proper prep before hibernation.

I can't be the only one wondering where she stowed the poor creature as to smuggle it into the country?

We had a tortoise called Timmy named after Timmy the dog from The Famous five, when I was a child and he hibernated in the winter and just roamed freely the rest of the year in the house, gardens, stables and fields.

Nowadays heat lamps and more specialised care is called for.

Hibernating in a garage isn't ideal because the temperature isn't consistent. A warm spell and the tortoise will wake up, using resources it doesn't have. Too cold and the tortoise may freeze - their eyes are particularly vulnerable to being blinded in this way. You need a larder style fridge that holds plenty of air, checking on the tortoise regularly. My sister's tortoise fridge is in her bedroom.

You'll need a minimum 6ft x 3ft tortoise table to get the correct heat and humidity gradient. Don't waste your money buying anything smaller as a stop gap.

If your friend can't look after it properly, please hand it over to a reptile rescue. They won't care if it's been smuggled, my local rescue often has stowaway lizards up for adoption which have come into the country accidently in suitcases or in deliveries.

FFS you’re going to harm the poor thing. Reading ‘she might not have it much longer’ suggests it’s already suffering from god knows what journey it’s been subjected to.

Here’s what you do. Put it in a box with a note asking for it to be looked after. Walk into a vets tomorrow. Leave box on counter. Walk away.

Then it will be looked after and you can’t be tracked down (?? How will border force know?!)

That’s the main thing.

If your real question is ‘my friend has stolen and smuggled in this uncertified animal, how can we get away with it’ then you’re both idiots.

If she's got through customs and security with it, no one's going to turn up later to take it away. They would have done that on the spot. She's got away with it.

She just needs to take it to a vet and say she found it / a friend or family member has given it to her as they can't look after it / someone's died and she's now looking after it. Literally anything will do but it needs to see a vet, and she needs proper advice on how to care for it.

I know someone with several tortoises and they take a lot of space - some are bigger outdoor ones, have little fences around bits of lawn and a greenhouse, others are indoor and much smaller and have a dining table size thing with sides that they bumble about in. A tank wouldn't be sufficient at all.

What about something like this for now, from memory of friends set up it would also need a heat lamp and a shallow dish for water that it can climb into and out of. She uses some sort of substrate too but I can't remember what it is.

If she got it through customs undetected then nobody’s going to come looking for a tortoise nobody else knows exists. Your friend has been an idiot, tell her not to compound that by being a cruel idiot and keeping a creature she isn’t able to care for properly. And absolutely don’t try to sell it or give it away. A rescue cares primarily about ensuring animals are safe and healthy, tell them you found it and assume it has escaped from somewhere.

A Rescue won't care

It does need to be weighed first I think to see if it can hibernate

You'll need to spend £££ on keeping a tortoise healthy, they're by no means an easy pet!

They need to be kept in a large tortoise table (some people adapt the IKEA Billy bookcases) and will need an outdoor enclosure for the summer. You need full spectrum UVB lighting (12% Arcadia is best), they need a suitable basking bulb. Deep substrate of topsoil. They need access to cuttlefish and you'll need to supplement with D3 (nutrobal). Diet should be suitable weeds, no fruit and veg. A shallow bath should be provided.

If you're on Facebook, this group www.facebook.com/groups/1698578533759624 has some decent caresheets which goes into detail about the things I've mentioned.

Ideally take it to a specialist reptile vet for a health check asap, especially as it's not been kept properly, likely it will have underlying health issues. You'll also want to find out the sex, as females can lay eggs even if they've not been with a male and this can lead to health complications if they retain eggs.

It's a tortoise not £1m of cocaine

I think border force have better things to do

Please find somewhere to take it, keeping it somewhere that isn't suitable could be massively dangerous to its health, even if you say that you found it somewhere?

You need to hand it over asap. Keeping it in bad conditions when you know it is wrong will get you in more trouble. You can contact the RSPCA and they will take it immediately at their local centre.

You could simply say you found it wandering around.

It's probably best to contact the tortoise trust and ask them to take it. They will give it a good home. Tortoises are really complicated to look after.

https://www.tortoisetrust.com/

Neither of you know how to care for a tortoise and neither of you have the correct resources or equipment. You’re likely to end up harming it or making it unwell. You need to surrender it, regardless of whatever weird complicated backstory there is. Find a rescue or sanctuary, they’re interested in helping animals rather than questioning the situation and demanding details.