To ask for your help with this Tortoise?

[Tortoisehelp]

Very strange situation, can’t go into too much detail about how we’ve ended up here but my friend has come into ownership of a tortoise, I believe a Herman’s tortoise? She got it home yesterday and it is apparently currently in a shoe box in her bedroom. I am going out after work to pick up some supplies for it however I don’t think she will have it in her care for very long the way things are going. Please can someone let me know what I’m going to have to buy for it, and cheaper alternatives if possible to a whole tank? I can’t take it into my care as I’m away often so I’d like to set it up in suitable housing at her house for now.

I found this info but personally I would look at local reptile rescue if uou don't think will be looked after correctly maybe advertise on pets4home https://internetreptile.com/blogs/care-sheets/hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet

It needs a whole enclosure not a tank

That’s what I meant. I can’t buy a whole enclosure for it as I don’t have the funds in the first place, it’s not mine and I also don’t think she will have it for much longer. I am just trying to make its existence a little better while she has it because right now nothing is being done for it.

Tortoises are a very high maintenance pet. I tortoise-sat for my sister for a week and that was enough. They need heat lamps, large indoor and outdoor enclosures, and if you are hibernating them over winter, a separate fridge to put them in maintained at the correct temperature.

If your friend is on Facebook, I would recommend joining some Facebook tortoise groups.

Be wary of some online groups as the people on there can have polarising opinions!
I suggest getting advice from a good exotic vet. One that specialises as opposed to will see exotics if you have one. They will give advice on husbandry and also assess current health.

Part of the issue is that we can’t take it to the vet. Very complicated situation. She is likely to get into legal trouble for this so I am just trying to keep it comfortable until something gets done.

It should be encouraged to go into hibernation at this time of the year - then it will be dormant until Febuary at the earliest. Maybe advice is different now but I'd put it in a big cardboard box (about the size bottles of wine come in) surrounded by straw in a very cool place like a shed or unheated garage. Somewhere where it won't be attacked by rats etc. or fall below zero degrees.

That will put off the problem until next year!

Tortoise trust on Facebook, friendly tortoise owners group, Herman's tortoise owners, all are on Facebook.

At a minimum, heat lamp and UVB lamp overhead on for 12 hours a day, heat mat underneath 12 hours at night, that's what mine has but she's a different type of tortoise, they all have different needs.
Suitable substrate that they can dig in, water available all the time, bath them regularly if you can. Don't put them in a glass enclosure, if they can see out they get stressed trying to get out.

Hope that helps

Yes, they do have different needs, but I've had both Hermanns and spur thighed and both sorts happily hibernated.
A local lady used to care for tortoises that had been confiscated at ports and airports - she had over 200. Her whole garden was divided up into enclosures and the non-hibernators lived in her conservatory in the winter. The conservatory had several Leopard tortoises wandering around it when we visited - they were HUGE (they can reach a couple of feet long). She spent a fortune on fruit and veg every week!

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.

She smuggled it into the country after her boyfriend gave it to her. I cannot sell it or give to another family as then they are likely to get into a whole load of trouble they were unaware of when taking it

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/

You could simply say you found it wandering around.

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.

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?

I am unwilling to give it to a rescue and say I found it as then when border force come to take it it’s then been handed over and lost into the system? And could be seen as trying to conceal its whereabouts

It's a tortoise not £1m of cocaine

I think border force have better things to do

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

A Rescue won't care

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.

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.

Her family reported it to border force themselves once she got back with it

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.

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.