We have been approached to rehome a female leopard tortoise who is currently living with a foster mum in the Birmingham area.  'Irwin' is a rather special case, and we are looking for an extra special home for her.  She has lived with her owner for about 6 years, and although her diet and accomodation were not the best, she was a well loved and cherished pet.

The owner is a real soft touch for injured animals, waif and strays, and was given a hermann tortoise that was seriously ill by someone who didn't want the 'hassle' of taking it to the vet.  We believe from the information we have, that this little hermann was probably dead when she got it.  The hermann was tucked up in it's shell and never actually made an appearance.  This tortoise was not allowed anywhere near Irwin.  The following day, the owner tried to warm the hermann up and as a result, it started to lose all of it's bodily fluids....this was very upsetting and distressing for the lady who had only had it less than 24 hours.  In her desperate state, she asked for help from another tortoise forum and a member very kindly visited her, as an emergency, to see if anything could be done and to offer some support.
Following a telephone call to another keeper, and a description of the dead tortoise, this member said it sounded like herpes...which naturally, and understandably, sends fear into all tortoise keepers.  However, we MUST stress that this was a telephone diagnosis to another keeper.  At no point was this tortoise examined by a vet, either before or after death.
We have a responibility to ensure that we are fully aware of any health problems that rehomers may be suffering from and for this reason we decided that Irwin needed a health check from a reputable tortoise vet before she was allowed to be rehomed (this has been an on-going issue since Decemeber)and blood tests taken.
Irwin had an appointment with Hannah Bould and blood tests were taken, the results have come back negative and although Irwin is lumpy, she does not appear to have any health issues, but we felt this was necessary as 'herpes' had been mentioned.
At no point has Irwin shown any signs of herpes at all, given that it is such a terrible disease for any tortoise to suffer from, and acts quickly, we feel that had she been in contact with herpes, she would have shown some signs of it within the last 2 months.

A lot of leopard tortoises are starting to need new homes, mainly due to people not being made aware of how big they will be when fully grown, and sadly we think this trend will continue.  For this reason we do not want Irwin used as a breeding female, we would like her to be purely a pet and would prefer her not to be around any males.

If you would like to offer this tortoise a new home, please contact us at rehoming@tortoise-protection-group.org.uk with the email subject line 'Leopard/Birmingham'.  The rehoming application form can be found in the Rehoming Section of this website, you will need to download it into your documents, complete it and attach it to your email.  Any problems, please let us know, and if you have already completed an application, please let us know when you apply.  Photos are available, and we hope to have them on the website shortly.

Please note: There is no fee charged for re-homing but we hope that
if you are successful in your application, you will consider a
donation to help towards the TPG's work. Please be assured that any
donation no matter how small will be spent working towards making a
lasting difference to tortoises. Not all tortoises that we have
rehomed in the past have required veterinary treatment, however
occasionally this has occured, therefore as a non profitable group we
rely on your generosity to help our cause.

Here are some pics of Irwin, we have been told she is 8 years old, she is gorgeous a real character!

It has been brought to my attention that the poor tortoise that died was actually a leopard and not a hermann as previously stated......my fault entirely, I did have the correct info, I just got it wrong.  Sorry

Jo

Hi,

Has this female leopard been re-homed yet please? I have a Testudo Graecea (female) who is 8 and I am in Birmingham.

Thought I would ask is she was still needing a home before I fill in an application orform, as ideally I would like another spur thigh for company.

If she needs a home still could you give me some more info on leopards.

Thanks

Hi there,

Jo is dealing with the rehoming of Irwin, so she will be able to let you know what is happening with her, Im not quite up to speed Im afraid :)

If you would like more information on leopard tortoises, just click on 'The Tortoise' in the menu on the left of the screen, then 'care sheets' and then 'Leopards', the caresheet covers all aspects of keeping leopard tortoises sucessfully - diet, accommodation and husbandry.  There are a couple of things you would need to consider before rehoming a leopard - you would need a second complete setup, indoor and out including lighting, as the leopard and your TGG would need to be kept entirely separately at all times. 

Whether or not you wanted to offer a new home to Irwin, if you completed an application form with us, and a tortoise you did want to offer a home to became available, it would mean that we already had your details on file, and you would also receive our email alerts as soon as we were notified about any tortoises for rehoming.  If you would like to do this, please contact us at rehoming@tortoise-protection-group.org.uk and we will be happy to help.

all the best

Arlene

hi, could you please tell me if you have managed to re home irwn yet?

Hi, yes Irwin (or Olwin as we have since found out!!) has now been rehomed. 

Regards Vivienne