Daughter moving out and won’t take her tortoise

[Questionsquestions23]

My daughter got a tortoise when she was 18 - she’s now 22. She’s moving out in September and says she can’t take him. I have done most of the work for him. I get up every morning and forage for healthy greens for him change up his water - I do the same when I get in from work. I prepare him for hibernation, give him a bath a few times a week.

daughter went to uni and looked after him in the holidays but since leaving she works full time so it me.
the tortoise is about 25 so will Probably out live me.
I don’t want this responsibility!
what can I do?

I've rehomed my tortoise through the tortoise table website. Really helpful volunteers who put an message on their website and people can contact you who live locally . Mine ended up going to a neighbour's son coincidentally. I tried the Tortoise Trust but they didn't get back to me. https://forum.thetortoisetable.org.uk/viewforum.php?f=22

Hang on. Your daughter is an adult and got him as an adult. Unless you bought her a tortoise she didn’t want she needs to take responsibility for finding him a new home.

I’ll have him - good home here

I'm sorry OP but your daughter is taking the piss and taking you for a fool. She is absolutely disrespecting you - that's the real issue, not the tortoise. Why are you allowing her to stay there until September and treat you like this? Does she contribute financially or pull her weight?

Tell her you’re going to re home it if she doesn’t take it. Will she take it then?

Yep - just don’t do this.

Many years ago at the age of 10, I bought a tortoise for 5 shillings from a pet shop, and brought him home on the bus in a brown paper bag. He lived in the garden. Didn’t know they didn’t drink, must have hydrated himself in puddles, and we never had a hibernation fridge but he survived !

I'm a long time tortoise keeper and breeder (and was previously involved in the rescue/rehab side, before emigrating) and I would strongly advise anyone in the UK, needing to rehome a tortoise, to do so through the Tortoise Trust.

They'll make sure they end up in a good home, not somewhere where they won't be cared for correctly:

www.facebook.com/groups/TortoiseTrustRehoming/

They categorically do drink. (And definitely don't absorb water through their legs, LOL!) I think the OP may be getting confused that there is a very commonly held belief - but with no reliable scientific evidence to back it up, if you actually try to confirm it - that tortoises can absorb water through their cloaca while soaking in shallow water.

@Questionsquestions23

MN won't let me edit my earlier post to add this, but if you'd prefer not to have to join a FB group, you can also reach out to them via their website:

https://www.tortoisetrust.com/about-4

I tried the tortoise trust to take me old tortoise but they seemed to take such a long time to be back to me. As luck would have it my neighbour tortoise how to look after ot properly. Apparently they are quite social animals once they have come out of their shell. Personally I thought they were herbiboring.

I shell be following this story extremely slowly and you'll.have to lettuce know how things go.

I would be making your DD take some responsibility and rehome it. Obviously check that she’s done it properly, but I’d be having her sort that out, sell all his stuff, and I would be having the money as payment for caring for him. Maybe I’m a hard arse tho.

Min just doesn't eat what he can't. I can safely put a bag of lettuce out and he just won't eat the spinach. Tbh, he mostly forages in the garden anyway.

That said, I have planted lots of things he loves.

Under no circumstances should a tortoise be in a school!
Their care is far too much for a class full of children to take responsibility for it!
They require specialist care, it’s not a case of getting a tortoise and leaving it alone, it needs to be kept at a set temperature in a massive run with heat lamps and a uv lamp and eat safe weeds!!!

If you can find out if any of your local colleges or Secondary schools offer Animal Care, they may take him. (My DDs school has a couple along with snakes, tortoises, rabbits, rats, fish, chickens etc, all extremely well looked after by staff and the Animal Care students.

You don’t need to get weeds everyday, pick a load , wash them and put on paper towels and put a wet one on top and put in a sealed plastic container and keep in the fridge, I keep weeds fresh for a week doing this!

What am I poisoning him with? He's been eating this for 44 years. Happy to learn.

Totally agree. Our two live in the garden in the summer and eat whatever they find plus a few extras like leftover salad leaves etc we throw their way. Then they hibernate all winter. Easy peasy. Nothing like 20 minutes a day of foraging and they're 19 years old and 8 years old. Healthy bill of health from our local exotic vet too so we can't be doing it that wrong.

It seems that maybe I could just do a big pick a couple of times a week- I only give him bottled water to soak in and in a very shallow tray in his green house and run.
ill have a chat with my daughter- and if we can’t come to a happy conclusion I’ll book the vet for further advice. I just want him to be happy and healthy- I’m pretty sure he is but it’s such a huge responsibility and so time consuming… thanks all for the advice.
for those interested these are the main things he gets for breakfast but often I find other things
dandilions
clover
honeysuckle
sow thistle when I can find it
some bind weed
sticky weed
roses
marrigold

he does get all parts of all these plants just the bits that are deemed as safe according to my app. Last year I gave him cucumbers and lambs lettuce later in the year when there weren’t so many weeds about.

My mum was in the same situation as you when my brother left home. Unfortunately he couldn’t take the tortoise with him.
We were all very fond of ‘Mr Beef’ but we couldn’t give him the time & attention he needed. My parents were able to find the tortoise a lovely new home with a lady who already had some tortoises. She invited them over so they could see her set up & showed them that he would be well looked after.
I’m sure she just put an ad up on preloved pets or something similar & the lady responded.
I hope you’re able to find the tortoise a nice new home.

I take it very seriously! I think that’s why I find it stressful but I don’t know how else to do it!!!!!!

Aww that’s great they found him a lovely home!!

I have no advice to offer but wonder if you have heard of Torty, a tortoise who was brought back to NZ by a soldier at the end of Ww1. The soldier had been at Gallipoli and was in Greece when he saw Tortie run over by a gun carriage and so picked him up and put him in his pocket. Tortie is still alive and does occasional NZ tours as part of remembrance events. He has a dent in his shell from his accident more than 100 years ago.

Aww that’s sweet. They should live such a long time with the right care - that is a bit what worries me I’ll be gathering weed with my Zimmer frame!!