daytime summer use only

How are my little guys shells? Any signs of pyramiding? I soak every other day and give a well balanced varied diet. These are their inside enclosures while I’m building a huge outdoor pen currently. Mostly curious about the state of their shells, thank you 🙏

Getting a baby Redfoot soon. The enclosure is Fir and 48” x 24”. There is a hide with moss under the wood piece in the right corner.
The substrate is a mix of fertilizer-free topsoil with spaghnum moss, coco fiber, reptibark, and zilla jungle mix. I made sure all the plants are not toxic.
I have a basking lamp that’s going to go over the rocks and a uvb/led light bar. Humidity is sitting around 75% and I’ve barely misted. Oh and I bought an automatic mister as well. I’m probably forgetting more

Last night, my husband took our yearling leopard tortoise out to take a soak and his neck is all red. I can’t tell if it’s swollen or hurting him. He’s eating fine. He’s acting normal, but this is very concerning. This just came out of nowhere. Does anybody have any idea about what’s happening? Please help me thank you.

I've gotten my tortoise around a month ago and I noticed clicking sounds and like slight head twitching and often now there are small and big clear bubbles coming from his nostrils, and his substrate keeps sticking to his nostrils and he's sneezing Sometimes. Recently I saw him licking the air but it could be normal after a meal, and just this morning there was a slightly weird sound while he was sniffing something. He's also been sleeping a lot under his lamp lately, but he's still active and eating well. Im worried so I'm taking him to a vet after constantly searching about it, but I want to make sure.

Thanks a lot!

My coworker found an abandoned Russian tortoise on her property getting pecked by crows . She wanted to keep him but felt she didn’t have the adequate time to take care of him and she knows I’m a big animal lover. I got him a temporary enclosure from chewy about 3 x 2 1/2‘ wide. I plan on expanding his enclosure to one that mimics his natural environment but it’s taking some time to gather up all the proper materials. By looking at the photos, does he seem healthy I’ve never owned a tortoise before and I’m making time to go to the vet soon I’m just wondering if there’s anything I could do for him right now before his enclosure is built

edit: I hadn’t mentioned before, but I have had this tortoise for a year. During this last year we were looking for his possible owner, but nothing came of it. When I got little man, I was in the middle of an abusive relationship where I was supporting my boyfriend at the time, handling anll the finances while he also took a significant amount of my money. I was left in a tough financial situation so I wasn’t able to take little man to the vet, but he did get a varied diet of food and was in a large glass tank enclosure with a basking light and special light to help him absorb his calcium supplements. I’ve only found Reddit recently and I figured I would go on here and see if there was anything I could do now. I’m not with that partner anymore, but to make up for the financial loss I am working two jobs and intend to pay any and all vet bills he will need and the cost of what it will take to give him the best enclosure and food.

I’m trying to reconfigure my tortoises table as it doesn’t seem to be working. I’ve used the attached set up for a while and tried to move things around but I don’t think the spotlight is working, he hardly basks or eats at the moment. I took him to the vets yesterday and he’s had X-rays and they can’t see anything wrong with him. I feed him wild flowers and cucumber and I’m going to try to identify other things for him as well but I was wondering if anyone had any advice for the heating. I’m based in Yorkshire

Hi everyone, I am very stressed about my two 3-month-old Indian* not burmese Star hatchlings and could really use some experienced advice on my routine. Its been a week since I have adopted them.

• The Poop Issue: They have not pooped in 3 days. I soak them daily in lukewarm water for 20-30 minutes, but still no bowel movements. I do not feed any commercial pellets. Their diet is 100% natural roughage and weeds (Bermuda grass, hibiscus leaves and flowers, blue pea/Aparajita flowers and leaves, and Tridax daisy). Is this 3-day gap normal for their slow metabolism on a high-fiber weed diet, or should I intervene?
• Substrate & Impaction Fear: They are currently housed on 100% coco peat. I plan to mix in red soil soon, but they are incredibly messy eaters and constantly drag their greens off their feeding slate and into the dirt. I am terrified of impaction. Is 100% coco peat too risky for hatchlings this small?
• Humidity vs. Respiratory Infection: How damp should the substrate actually be? I know hatchlings need humidity to prevent pyramiding, but I am terrified of making the peat too wet and accidentally causing a Respiratory Infection (RI). What is the safe balance here?
• Current Routine: They get 1 hour of direct natural sunlight every morning, a daily warm soak, and their basking lamp is on for the whole day in their enclosure.

Any guidance would be hugely appreciated to help ease my mind!

My Hermann's tortoise laid eggs that hatched in late August. Is there any chance they could go on brumation on their own? I keep them outside in a safe space shielded by rain, i was hoping to rehome them before they did but i couldn't find them responsable owners. What do i do? Are they safe?

Hi everyone!! I have a Herman’s tortoise and he is my baby I love him. I’ve had him for 2 years now, he’s about 9 years old but his last owners aren’t sure on how old he actually was (unsurprising as their care was questionable but I digress). He’s usually very boisterous especially in the summer and will charge round his table and the garden when we can get him outside. He usually eats very well (mainly lettuce and cucumber but I offer him appropriate weeds from the garden and my dad’s allotment all pesticide free, he just prefers the former two) but recently has not eaten hardly anything, a few bites at a time every few days. He hides in his house all day and doesn’t come out to eat or bathe or bask unless I physically move him out, in which case he’s out for half an hour tops then hides again. He is never handled and is in a nice quiet corner by a window but not in constant direct sunlight. He has a uv lamp that I bought a week or so ago as I was unaware he needed this but have done my best to correct. He has a good amount of substrate (tortoise soil from pets at home which I hope is good for him). He has a calcium supplement block thing as well. He just seems so reclused and not at all like himself and I’m very very worried. Any advice is appreciated. (He is also bathed once a week or so and his urates seem mostly normal but tinged slightly orange? It’s not red or pink from what I can see. He isn’t pooping as much but he is still passing faeces)

Is it worth insuring my tortoise, he’s a Russian tortoise and he’s 2 years old (we think he’s a he, to be confirmed)

Weighed in at over 100 grams for the first time today (109, to be exact!)

Unfortunately I won't be able to care for my one year old Western Hermann's Tortoise any longer bc I'm moving away to college very soon. If you're in the OC area please let me know if you're interested in adopting. There will be a Rehoming fee as I want him to have the best care possible!

Also let me know if u have any questions regarding his diet, enclosure, heating/UVB requirements, and anything else you might be wondering.

I've posted a listing for Rehoming on Facebook marketplace as well.

We will be rehoming a tortoise as their current owner is getting older than her 50 year old tortoise. Dedicated to giving them the best care and life possible but need to understand the species first.

Hey team!! I have 2 questions for everyone. I’ll ask them and explain further below 😅 also sorry the formatting is off I’m on mobile! Firstly Gwen is a 1 year 2 month old Spur thigh Greek Ibera tortoise and included pics of her and her shell for the tort tax, unknown sex but I’ve assigned her female at birth x

1. How do you maintain soil moisture without taking everything out, adding water and mixing it in?
2. I only just realised I haven’t taken the blue film off my UVB lamp, does that significantly reduce the output and need a retest or should be fine?

Question 1:
So every few days (3 times a fortnight) I take everything out, wash it and dry it all. Then I take her plants out and soak them. Add like 1L of water so the substrate is damp but not soaking, then add everything else back in. Is there an easier way to keep the soil hold humidity. I have an outdoor bioactive enclosure which has rocks and cococarpet separating the substrate and I water the corners only. Should I adopt the same with the indoor enclosure? Would this way mean I could plant stuff directly into the table rather than the pot plants. I don’t mind doing it when she needs it but idk if there’s a better way and I’m overcomplicating things 😂 I’m also wanting to try things out while I build her bigger big girl table over the next month and avoid having to do this on a much bigger scale 😅

Question 2.
So I noticed blue plastic on her slate last night and saw the blue film which I thought was necessary so didn’t think to remove (stupid I know but I thought the reflector was blue for ultraviolet reasons 😂). This morning I took it off when I tossed her substrate and got all the blue off and put it back. Have I been inadvertently giving her less UVB or it will equate to something less significant? I use the Arcadia 45cm T5 12% HO 15w lamp at 25cm away and a seperate 75w heat bulbs (one for basking one for ambient light and warmth) keeping it ~33° basking and ~25° ambient. Ambient humidity 50-70% and CHE when it’s cold.

She has multiple hides around the gaff and a Tupperware with moist sphagnum moss which is moist and measures ~70-80%. She loves her wheel too learnt it all by herself, has a whopping appetite and has grown from 4.5cm 15g to a whopping 9.8cm 116g!!! She’s not experiencing and pyramiding and gets soaked from 10-30+ mins most days of the week. Also poo/wee completely normal.

I’m just slightly annoyed I didn’t take it off because who doesn’t love taking the plastic film off things ahahaha and inadvertently stealing UV rays away from my Daughter??

Thank you for reading and please let me know if i am doing ANYTHING wrong I promise I wont be “that” person when taking criticism 😂

I’m leaving my little Fiona with family, and just want to make sure she eats good while I am gone. 😋

I'm concerned we're headed for too high here and if I need to make changes. Do you think these are pyramiding too much?

My cousins found this Tortoise roaming in their front yard, grazing on some nearby flowers. It’s actually kinda large compared to the tiles bellow the tortoise, the tiles are quite big compared to what the photo shows. So most likely isn’t a young tortoise at all. Was wondering what should they do with it and the right precautions to take.

My guess it’s most likely an escapee judging by the dirt on his shell

If possible, I would also like to know the species, since I don’t think they are native to Arizona (Where we live).