The Tortoise Table

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Hi everybody, got a shell question. It's probably nothing but to me, Gonzales' shell looks a bit dry and dull compared to some of the photos I've seen of other mediterranean spur thigh tortoises. Its not flaking, or soft anywhere, its just not the rich shiny colour that I have noticed elsewhere. UPD...

Thank you Nina for your in-depth answer and Critter Mama/Nina for the info on the hygrometer. My head is spinning a bit after reading those articles you linked to, Nina :D - very interesting, thank you! I can see that we will need to take action to stop Gonzales from becoming even more camel-like. U...

I forgot to say that we also soak him 30 mins a day. Ok thanks!

Hi CritterMama,

Thanks for your reply! We do have an Exo Terra hygrometer on the wall of the table but as the hand been stuck at 60 since we got it, I don't trust it. Can you recommend a brand to go for? We have a thermometer gun for temperature.

TP

Shell photos
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Hello all, More endless questions as we learn about our tortoise, thanks for your patience! So 7 year old Gonzales is new to us, but he has had a chequered history and as a result has quite a bumpy shell. I have learnt a lot about pyramiding since we got him, but there are a few things I would like ...

Well I haven't noticed flowers on it but I didn't really pay it any attention until we started hunting around for wild plants for the tortoise! I'll update again when it's grown a bit. Thanks for the replies!

This is growing in a coastal location in Ireland. Lots of it growing but I can't pinpoint which plant it is. Any help identifying it would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!
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TP

Thank you for the super quick replies! It sounded like a loud tummy growl - I don't think anything came out!! Maybe the wind stayed inside!? He did poo again when I soaked him and it looked normal. His beak looks fine. He looks a bit subdued now but walked around fine so maybe just a bit of indigest...

Hello everyone, Poor Gonzales hasn't had a huge appetite since his checkup/beak trim at the vet last week so we are delivering some TLC (hand feeding) to get him eating again. Hes been pretty quiet yesterday and today but the weather has been colder so that could be a factor. Anyway he has started t...

Thanks Lin

Hello all, Two days ago, Gonzales the spur-thighed tortoise had a checkup at the vet and had his beak trimmed a little. To me, it doesn't look like his beak was trimmed too radically but I'm not an expert so might be wrong - maybe you can see from the photos? Reminder: this is the tortoise with the ...

Thanks so much Nina and Lin for the IDs! Your time and expertise is much appreciated.

Nina - I did get a notification and private message but I can't find an email - although now I can't remember what email address I used so maybe I'm not the best guinea pig!

Thanks again,

TP

Thank you Nina - that would be fantastic as we have no clue about wild plants and aren't confident enough to figure it out ourselves even though your database is really great tool! There's no rush on answering really because he's happy out eating the plantain etc. We just want to try to replicate (a...

Thank you Nina - very helpful as always!

Hello all,

Yet another question from us as we learn about tortoises

Do claws need to be trimmed? If yes how often? How can you tell if they are too long?

The tortoise is a 7 year old spur thighed.

Thanks for reading,

TP

Hi Mrs L, I can help you out here as I have just uploaded some photos to this board! There are 2 tabs below the white box that you type your message into - click the Attachments one, then click Add files. This opens a window showing files on your computer and you click the photo that you want to upl...

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Hello all, Our newish 7 year old spur thighed tortoise (Gonzales) had a bit of an iffy diet for the first 7 years of his life - lettuce etc. Since he came to live with us, we have moved him across to eating wild leaves and flowers, and have now got him eating dandelion, plantain, nettle, and nasturt...

Hi Nina, thanks for your answers. The scute seems firmly attached to the rest of the shell if that's what you mean when you ask if it's lifting? It's just the top edge has crumbled slightly and the channels between the scutes near his tail are much more pronounced than everywhere else on his shell. ...

Hi Lin, Thanks for your answers. I'm really not sure if he arrived with this damage - it's certainly possible that I only just noticed it. We are educating ourselves all the time about tortoises and it mightn't have occurred to me to check his shell until I became aware that shell damage might mean ...

Hello everybody, We're still learning about our new 7 year old spur thighed tortoise and I have a question about one of his scutes as I think it looks slightly damaged. If I am looking at him from behind, it's the scute that's on the right of his supracaudal scute. I will attach pictures. It looks l...

Republic of Ireland :) Thanks Nina, I don't know if its because he has finally settled in, or if it's the new wild leaves added to his food as per your method, or if we have finally got his temperature right, but Gonzales has not had a sleepy day for 3 days and instead has been very very busy - expl...