This is my tortice He's been rather unwell the past couple months but he's a lot better now I've noticed this what looks like a crack /flake in his shell and I was wondering if he's healthy and what I should do about it (if anything is actually needed Thanks a lot :⁠-⁠)

I’m so unsure if my tortoise has passed away. I’ve had him 2 months and unfortunately he’s always been “off” since day 1. He never ate much, didn’t go to the toilet a lot and just buried himself away. Yesterday morning his head was tucked away, limbs completely limp and unresponsive. Usually if I’d touch his legs he’d react, but nothing. Today I’ve checked on him and he’s in the same place, when I pick him up his shell is leaking a small amount of watery/ very pale blood like substance. But he’s not stiff so I’m confused!! If I pull his legs there still soft, and I managed to pull his head out from where he was hiding it and it sort of just flops forward. His front legs just flop, when I pull his bag legs they kinda move back to being bent. I’m so scared to bury him incase he’s awake, he’s under his heat lamp. There is a slight smell coming off the liquid he’s leaking, and his shell seems softer than normal. Please help, I’m so lost 😭 he’s a Hermann’s tortoise, around a year and half

Hey, so I think my tortoise might be hibernating. He's stopped eating over the last two weeks and has now burrowed under his water bowl on the coldest side of his enclosure (73f). The thought of influencing hibernation has always stressed me out, and I've had him 2 winters where he did not hibernate so I thought it was a nonissue.

Now, I'm not sure what to do. He's been burrowed for least a day, possibly two. He digs and burrows often but never like this. If he is hibernating, should I create a box for him or is it better to just leave him where he is? Should I lower the temp? Should I just give him a bath and some food and wake him up in the morning? He hissed quite ferociously when I checked on him lol.

long story short, but i have a lovely red footed tortoise named Millie that lives in New Haven CT with my friend. Millie will need someone to feed her/check in on her for a chunk of time in December/early Jan because my friend is away. do you know of any sites online that we can try to find someone to watch her or is anyone in this community local to New Haven and can potentially watch her for $$? thank you for any tips!!! additionally, she will need to be rehomed in May 2025. does anyone have an interest in a fostering her for a period of time? we love her so much and she has been in our family for a decade, but we don’t have a suitable environment for her at the moment.

Please don’t judge I have learned all that I did wrong and kick myself everyday. My tortoise has bone disease and all its limps have a break in them. She is in critical treatment. I have been feeding her through a feeding tube. She was doing very well and being very active but now it’s cold outside so I am not sure if that’s the reason she slowed down. She is inside most of the day, of course, but I take her out everyday. I have taken her to two vets and one had optimism the other said he recommended euthanasia. He told me that since it’s a sulca there will be life long pain. Is it time to just let go? 😭

This kid… 😂

what's a good food to give a greek tortoise as a treat? i want to give my brother's tortoise a special treat for christmas, something he doesn't usually eat. he typically eats lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, carrot, and sometimes some fruit like apples and grapes. any ideas?

edit: to the few people that actually gave recommendations, thank you! i also appreciate the advice for a varied diet, though it isn't necessary. i promise our tortoise is getting a more varied diet than what i listed here, i'm not his main caretaker so i just listed what i know he gets more often (minus the fruit- i did specify that he only gets that sometimes!). his vet approves of his full diet and thinks he's fine, either way!

My Russian tortoise kills every plant in her habitat, she loves to walk on them and also will rip it out of the ground. I’ve tried kale, lettuce, and even moss but she has destroyed them before the plant can take root. She doesn’t really eat them either she just rips them out. So please give me tips on what you do.

Hello, I have my uvb light on throughout the day and off at night but I was told I should keep my heat lamp on through the day and night. The heat lamp doesn’t emit any light just heat. I have a Russian tortoise. Should I leave the heat lamp on over night?

It’s warm one end of the enclosure cold the other end

hi all, asking for my mom as she takes very good care of her tortoise but he seems to be backwards. We would try taking him outside, feeding him, anything to make him active but he always just buried down and tried sleeping during the summer months up in PA, now that it’s cold, he’s going berserk in his enclosure which is pretty sizable and has sufficient heating. He is also eating a lot now but we can’t take him outside anymore since it’s below freezing. Any reason why he’s like this? We had him shipped from the west coast and he’s only a few years old.

My partner used to have a corn snake in here but unfortunately not anymore. He said I can use it for my tortoise so she’s just been chilling in there. I wanna make it better for her. I don’t know what exactly she needs and I heard that turtles don’t like glass because of their reflection? I don’t have anywhere else to put her as her last place wasn’t suitable at all. Any and all help is welcomed.

I have a 2-year-old Russian tortoise who I adopted about 2 months ago. I want to give it more enrichment and maybe build an extension to its enclosure but it doesn't do much anyway. If I gave it even more space would it use it? It currently doesn't even use its whole enclosure and prefers to remain hidden until food time. Is there something wrong or does it just have a lazy personality?

my hermanns has recently found his penis and likes to “use it” a lot i am concerned as his coco coir substrate is sticking too it and grass too from his bedding area

will this cause irritation?

Very weird, difficult situation, but basically my friend is now responsible for a tortoise. No clue what type of tortoise or even its gender but she currently has it in a shoe box in her room. Please can someone let me know what it should be fed and any other supplies she will need and I will go and get them all today once I finish work.

I'd like to take some books out of the library as I'm in the very beginning of my tortoise journey (learning about the types to see what would fit my life best) and I've read here that a lot has changed as far as care advice goes. What year should my cutoff be? Like if it was written before 2000 it's bad advice, or 2010 etc. Would really appreciate this info! I want to show my kids how we can use the library to learn about things but I don't to absorb bad info. Thanks!

1. My cherry head hasn’t been eating for 2 days usually he eats every day at least some if not all of his food. What should I do?

2. Also he doesn’t seem to move a whole lot these days just sleep all day. He doesn’t like to be in his heated living area just crawl out even when it’s crazy cold. So I had to move him inside the house and let him roam but he just find spot and sleep. Is this normal behavior?

My family and I have 4 pet russian tortoises, the oldest being from ~8 years ago (and was likely a few years old at the time of purchase). Not once have we ever tried to get any of them to hibernate or brumate, and, at least from what we can tell, they don't seem to show any signs of wanting to. Is this normal and okay? Do only certain types of tortoises require this?