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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask for your help with this Tortoise?

34 replies

Tortoisehelp · 01/12/2024 13:24

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.

OP posts:

AloneLike · 01/12/2024 15:09

Snowontheroof · 01/12/2024 13:55

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!

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.

Jostuki · 01/12/2024 15:39

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.

Busygoingblah · 01/12/2024 16:11

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.

loulou2012 · 01/12/2024 17:07

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

TonTonMacoute · 01/12/2024 17:15

Octopies · 01/12/2024 14:46

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.

This

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

SnoopysHoose · 01/12/2024 18:45

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.

Original poster

Tortoisehelp · 03/12/2024 09:57

Thank you everyone. I have taken her in and got her set up in a big plastic clothes bin (not ideal) for now with a heating lamp, a UVB lamp, a bathing/water bowl, a hide and lined it with coco soil which I’ve been spraying with a water bottle every now and then as they apparently need humidity. I’ve been feeding her romaine lettuce, a little bit of cucumber as she loves it, and tortoise pellets for now as the pet shop didn’t have dried flowers (have ordered some online). She also has a calcium block in there too which she’s liking.

OP posts:

Thelnebriati · 03/12/2024 10:32

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.

Snowontheroof · 03/12/2024 13:52

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.

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