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?

🤣🤣🤣

😂

You absolutely don’t need to bathe it more than once a season, they eat cucumber, strawberries, lettuce, cucumber - they absolutely have things they like/don’like (cats much) but you don’t need to go foraging on their behalf.

Looking after an animal properly regardless of who SHOULD look after it is commendable and not being a martyr. The tortoise didn’t ask to be bought by her daughter. What a daft comment.

I’m amazed by this. I had a tortoise growing up. He really looked after himself. Fed himself from the garden. I gave him the odd bit of lettuce or tomatoes. I never ever gave him a bath!! He survived perfectly well.

Give him to a zoo

Regarding dog wee on weeds, don't forget that foxes, mice and badgers wee on them, and higher up in the hedgerows birds and bats do the same!
This was pointed out to me when I said something similar about dog wee and blackberries to my daughter, her kids were eating them off the bushes low to the ground and to be fair she had a point! They're fine.

Whereabouts are you? I’d love one! My cleaning lady has one too so I’d be able to get mentoring on his care.

The Tortoise Trust will help you rehome him if necessary, you can find them on Facebook and they have a website. Please don't just give him to a school as he won't get the correct care. I feel your pain, I have 2 tortoises and they'll easily outlive me!

Give him to me! Give him to me!
I love tortoises and I'm vegetarian and retract into my shell when pissed off, so we already have a shared lifestyle.🥗🥬🐢

Call PDSA

Do they like the company of other tortoises or are they solitary ?
The loveliest -and luckiest- ones I saw were in Turkey , in a walled garden at the back of a restaurant . All sizes , they had places to hide , little hills , unlimited grass , rocks . They just moseyed about - quite quickly
There were dozens of them
No-one was allowed in there , only the staff .

I agree. Contact the tortoise trust if you decide to rehome

By fridge do you mean the fridge, your fridge? Or a specific tortoise fridge?

Contact the Tortoise Trust. Have a website and Facebook page. They rehome to responsible homes.

Generally a special fridge. Not tucked away in the salad drawer!

Phew!!! 🤣

Tortoises are quite hardy. Back in the bad old days when tortoises were sold for peanuts in pet shops, we had several. We started with two, and gradually acquired several more as they turned up wandering in neighbouring gardens. ("Is this one of yours? Do you want it anyway?") Ours lived in a huge, specially-fenced pen, had weather-proof hutches for the summer, and were lugged dozing into the hall by me in the autumn and returned to the garden next morning. They ate pretty much anything, including slugs, with new, tender, growing lettuces a favourite; and mercifully they were particularly fond of my ma's home-grown bottled runner beans, which we humans really weren't.
One of these tortoises got a pneumonia-like infection and she stayed awake for most of the winter, fed by hand on tinned fruit and vegetables, with injections from the vet: she recovered and survived. The carpet didn't.
It's very good news that tortoises are so much better cared for nowadays: if you've got a secure space and you don't mind the daily care, they are good garden inhabitants.

My next door neighbour is 88 and still looking after her children's childhood tortoise, she has finally decided to send him to a tortoise sanctuary this autumn!

I agree, they’re filthy. All they do is poop and t stinks. If it’s a no salt water turtle maybe see if you can put him in the lake or do you have any small reptilian museums around. I’d be pissed off if someone left me with that responsibility. You didn’t adopt him. You are allowed to put him up for adoption. It’s not your ball and chain, don’t feel guilty. I meant fresh water.

I've seen dozens (like this) and in the wild in Bulgaria and they are not slow - it must be the heat that helps them along lol - Ive picked them up from the road to put them in a safe place and they get quite angry and hiss at you! When you put them down their 'paws' are enormously powerful

I don’t think putting a tortoise in a lake would go well. Are you thinking of turtles? Or terrapins?

It wore a powder puff so she would see it against the 70s swirly carpet.

I love this, beyond anything else I have ever read in MN I think

Are people really so ignorant and irresponsible as to put non- native species in the wild?

I guess so, which is why we have so much damage to our eco systems.

Never mind the potential cruelty.

Tortoises are not turtles. It would drown.