HI
i am looking after a tortoise who was recently handed in to a vets who have not been able to trace the owner. i am therfore looking after him as i like them and always wanted one. when and if they find the owner then i will hand her back.
yesterday we made the whole garden secure! she has bits to climb in which she has been doing and quite a few plants to wonder around. She has the whole run of the garden. i have been to the garden centre today and baught a couple more plants which tortoises like such as pansies, Hunney suckle etc. we also have a stone area which warms up nicely which she can bask on. i have a house which i have filled with bark and straw for now for her to go in at night. it is a wooedn house, off the floor with a little ramp up to it. i have also been giving her dandelion leafs, cucumber, strawberries, banana, hunney suckle leafs, tomatoes etc.
Shelly was great the first two days and really explored the garden but today she hasn't eaten any thing and not really been moving around so i am worried. i have some nutrobal to put on her food but she is not eating. i am quite worried. i have also bathed her in luke warm water and placed food on stones in the bath to see if she will eat. who knows what she has been through and the vets said that for a few days they had to tube feed her but when she came to me she was eating a few strawberries and cucumber. can you think of anything which i am doing wrong. i have ordered a tubular heater lamp for her house as i thought it was quite nippy this morning and a UVB light. they have not arrived yet though. looking forward to hearing some expert advise.

Hi
Well done you for taking care of her. I would not give the banana, strawberries and cucumber as hese will interfer with her gut flora creating too much sugar which will ferment in her stomach. You can entice her with some cucumber, maybe rub it on the weeds. Do you know what species she is? and what did the vet tell you about her health?
Jane

HI
the vet didnt know much part from she was found and that someone nearly ran her over! he thought she was over 25 as of the number of rings on her shell. They had to tube feed her a couple of times but then the vet placed her in his green house as she wasn't getting any light. Unfortunatly the green house was a bit too wet so i said that i would take her. i have planted pansies and a couple of other plants in my garden which i pulled off of the website which it says she will like. she has free run of the garden and can not get out. in her wooden house i have a greenhouse 1ft tubular heater which i have put on a timer to come on at 5am till 9.30 and again to come on at 10pm till 12 is this ok? i have noticed over the past day of two that she isnt running around the garden which she was doing at first? she also isnt eating the food which i put in a bowl in her house(strawberreis cucumber etc). i am, not sure if she or the slugs have eaten quite a lot of the pansies but someone has had a good go at them!! i am new to this and would appreciate any advise possible. should i take her back to the vets? as the weather is colder will she get a little slower and not eat as much?
Ho she is a Herman