please help me !!!

[dove]

a friend of mine has emigrated leaving me her tortoise, it is only about 2 years old and she has left absolutely no instructions on how to look after it.

can ayone help with any information or any websites that can help me please!

[HAnn521]

Here you go, this should help... http://www.petturtle.com/

and since we're all being nice to the new guys...welcome!!  ;0)

[WendyS]

I had one for over 40 years so they will make lifelong pets if you care for them properly and become very tame..

• Make sure it can't escape from your garden and can't fall accidentally into any ponds or water. They need to roam freely.If you hem them in they will try to climb out of their enclosure, fall on their backs and die as they can't turn themselves back over again.
• Food: lettuce, tomatoes, cumcumber.apples, cabbage.  And they love peas, both tinned and frozen cooked ones. They hate cold weather.  Make sure during the summer it has a shelter in which to sleep at night with dry leaves.  Shortly when the weather cools it will need to hibernate and you will see it starting to dig in flower borders or try to bury itself.  Young tortoises are particularly vulnerable in hibernation if they haven't built up sufficient body reserves during summer. Put it in a box of shredded newspaper in a cool dry shed or garage when it will stay until spring.  Early March start checking for signs of awakening.  When it's fully awake and starting to move around in its box, give it a tepid/warm bath and give it small amounts of food.  Don't put it outside until the weather has warmed up,  If necessary, keep it indoors in a cool room until then.
• Good luck with your new pet.Hope he gives you many years of pleasure.

[dove]

thanx wendys. I dont mean to appear rude but someone told me not to let such a young tortoise hibernate.  It is my first night with it tonight and am not atall prepared in any way. Would it be ok to put it in the airing cupboard tonight, or would it get too hot? He is in a small glass tank at the moment with no heating.

[dove]

and thanx HAnn521 for being so welcoming

[Emily Ball]

Hello dove, you don't need to put the tortoise into hibernation over winter as long as you can keep it in a vivarium with basking lamp and ultra -violet lighting. In other words, it will need to be kept in temperatures similar to summer-time. Unfortunately, unless your friend has provided the necessary vivarium set-up you are going to have to shell out a bit of money. I could post reams of info for you on here but you can't do better than google 'tortoise U.K.(U.K. sites are the best because  because of climate differences and what may be suitable advice for tortoise keepers in U.S. is not necessarily appropriate for U.K. conditions.) If you need advice from time to time without having to wade through websites I'll be happy to oblige if I can of course. You can see my two in a picture I posted earlier today on a thread started by 'dogsbody'.

[Emily Ball]

p.s. Don't put the tortoise in the airing cupboard. It'll be perfectly o.k.in a cardboard box in the house overnight. Just make sure you warm him up tomorrow preferably under a lamp and then offer dandelion, cabbage(chopped up finely if necessary) finely grated carrot, little bit of tomato etc. Then do your googling.

[Chillum]

If you gently prize open the shell, you'll find that the instructions are underneath.

 

 

That's a joke, before you all have kittens.

[beequiet]

hey I opened mine and there werent any instructions

just kidding before any of you have kittens

[woofgang]

Not to start an argument here, but I too have had tortoises for over 40 years. mine do live in a large  enclosure, but are allowed out for lots of the time, don't eat peas, apples  or tomatoes but love fresh baby sweet corns. They also eat weeds and plants in the garden, especially sedum and dandelion. I think that 2 years is to young to hibernate, but do look on the websites for more info as mine were fully grown when I got them.

How come your friend got a tortoise without learning anything about then first ? (I assume that this is the case as she hasn't passed any info on to you?)

[woofgang]

here's a good uk website

http://www.slowcoach.org.uk/slocare.html

[woofgang]

and her's the granddaddy of uk sites

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/care.html

[Emily Ball]

I guessed you might respond to this one woofgang. Yes, they are both excellent sites. Dogsbody asked a question about dogs yesterday and you can see a pic of my two with my dog on that thread, although you'll also see I made a dog's dinner of trying to post another, to coin a phrase..

[woofgang]

sorry, dove I forgot to say lucky wee tortoise landing up with someone who cares enough to find out how to care for it properly

[dove]

thanx all of u for all your help. Any sort of "baby" to look after is always a worry.  When u need help its nice to know there are people who want to help.  Once again thanx alot. You will probably b hearing from me soon. An thanx Woofgang for ur added comment

[WendyS]

Gosh, he IS tiny if you're able to keep him in a small glass tank.   I would think an airing cupboard is probably  too warm and airless but if you've got a bathroom which has a hot towel rail on, that would be fine.   If he'that small then it's probably quite correct that he shouldn't hibernate and  obviously if you let him out in the garden he would get totally lost so I guess his tank will be OK until he grows a little.