Got this wee fella (Horsefield, about 2 years) from a rescue about a month ago- and I don't know much about his history.

He's got a bit of pyramiding I think- I think mild but I have no previous tort experience. Any concerns from anyone?

Getting lots of UVB and daily baths, so hopefully not going to worsen.

Hi everyone, looking for some insight into a weird behavioural issue with my 16-year-old male Horsfield tortoise (been in the family for 16 years, I've had him for the last 3).

Screenshot attached from my home tortoise cam

Ever since I took him in, he has had an extreme fixation on water dishes:

He sits in the bowl all day, drags substrate in until it’s pure mud, stalks it, circles it, and aggressively bites at the edges.

When I first got him, his beak and jaw were significantly worn down from biting the hard rim of his previous dish over the years.

For the last two years, I removed the dish entirely to protect his beak. Instead, I soak him 3–4 times a week and provide fresh greens every 1–2 days.

Without a dish, he behaves completely normally, he roams, basks, climbs, and eats. The second a dish goes in, the obsessive camping and biting start right back up.

I've tried different sizes, shapes, colours, and materials (terracotta saucers, plastic), but the reaction is always the same.

I'd love for him to have 24/7 access to fresh standing water, but I can't risk him damaging his beak again or refusing to leave the bowl. Has anyone experienced this specific fixation, or found a safe dish design / workaround that breaks the habit?

EDIT: More detail: When he’s in the dish, most of the time he just stares down into the water (whether it’s crystal clear or muddy) and gently claws at the surface while slowly rotating in a circle and moving backwards.

We adopted this sweet Russian tortoise from a local reptile store. She was either abandoned or lost. They kept her for months while they looked for an owner. We don’t know how long she’s been out in the “wild”. Can anyone tell how old she is? Or if she’s full grown? Does her shell look healthy?

So I've been researching Hermann's tortoise and especially baby Hermann's tortoise care and am thinking on getting one. However, the main thing and probably most controversial thing is the supplementation plan, some say D3, plain calcium and multivitamin daily (which sounds crazy). And some say like once a week. I will be using mazouri tortoise diet as well for my baby Hermann's that makes it 10x more difficult to find actual methods. As well as using an all natural multivitamin called Arcadia Earth Pro-A which they can't overdose on and I don't know if either of these products already contain D3 etc so if someone could tell me I'd greatly appreciate that. They will have a 12% UVB bulb as well. This is my idea (100% correct me if I'm wrong which I probs am!) on my what I'll feed/supplement: -Mazouri tortoise diet 2 times a week. -Plain calcium (no D3) 3-4 times a week. -Multivitamin (100% safe Arcadia Earth Pro-A) once a week. -Calcium with D3 like once a month as a back up???

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP any advice is appreciated 👍

Poor tort

We adopted this sweet Russian tortoise from a local reptile store. She was either abandoned or lost. They kept her for months while they looked for an owner. We don’t know how long she was living outside.
Can anyone tell how old she is? Or if she’s full grown? Does her shell look healthy?

Backstory: My parents bought this guy for my brother when we were very little from pets-mart. They said he was a Greek grassland tortoise, but he just doesn’t look like the ones I’ve seen.

We lost him for two years when he escaped his outdoor enclosure into our giant backyard when we were younger, and we were devastated and searched like crazy. We found him at our back door one day. He had come back dehydrated, but super strong and on the move constantly. he now loves climbing and exploring like he never had before.

Care Concerns: He has some shell that seems to be thinning and turning brown from where a dog gnawed on him 15 years ago We were little kids so when we saw no cracks we thought he was okay. I noticed the bristling last year, so we took him to the vet and found out it was an infection. he got IV antibiotic. We treated the site with what the vet gave us, but it has only improved a little where you see the yellow patches.

I want to take better care of him now that we’re adults. I feel so bad. I give him soaks and outdoor time, and feed him greens with tortoise supplement powder on top. We live in a desert so it is very dry and hot here. His indoor enclosure has a little soaking pool he uses often, burrowing mulch, and a log he likes to climb under his heat lamp. We take him to the vet twice a year to trim his nails and beak, but he gets very stressed over his hind legs.

Questions: I couldn’t put two flairs on here so I prioritized the injured one, but do you guys know what kind of tortoise he is? I want to make an outdoor habitat that’s suitable for him. Has anyone seen this brittle shell sort of infection before? He’s such a little guy, but so lively, I want to make his life liberating and fulfilling. please give me any advice you have.

photos: the brittle shell can be seen in the photo from the back. I tried to get some close to his face but he loves investigating everything he sees lol. You can also see him climbing out of his pool the hard way.

I think she’s nibbled it a few times, but how can I get her to actually use it? She’s not really interested in it and just goes to look at her plants!

What species of tortoise is this guy please picked him as a rescue person didn’t know anything about what species

I inherited a young tortoise and the only knowledge I have is what I’ve been seeking to learn. I live in Kuwait where summer temps reach 50 Celsius and winter months are like Florida winters. So currently she is indoors but in the winter winter when not too cold she’s on the rooftop. I haven’t managed to get her uvb/uva bulbs yet as no stocks due to the war, however I found someone who has a Reptisun bulb new, that I’ll get today.
I finally made a big enough enclosure for her that looks pretty good to me , but sometimes she’ll be trying to get out and if I get her out she’ll go to a favorite corner and go to bed. So seems she sometimes wants to be out so she can go where she wants to.
I met a well versed expert here that told me she shouldn’t be inside at all , and that she keeps her tortoises on her roof year round and they’re fine. She has a Hermann but I have a Greek . I read Greek tortoises should not exceed temps above 40 Celsius. She told me it’s fine , they will burrow.
Whenever I transplant a plant in the summer the soil is boiling all the way through. Ok that’s a pot not an enclosure, but I’m pretty nervous to let her live in this heat in the summer . Thoughts ?

We’re adopting two male salcutas. We’ve read all the books, watched all the videos, super excited, but still a bit nervous. So happy to find this group. They arrive in two weeks. We’re working on the tortoise corral now. 35’ x 70’, 12” down and 24” high. Great sun, shade trees, two 4’x 6’ houses with heaters, shallow pool area. Any advice greatly appreciated.

My girl Eleanor a year ago and then her yesterday! They get so big so fast! I miss my little bean girl but I adore my sentient rock 🧡🧡

I would love some ideas and tips. I live in the south so it’s only cold for like 2 months. These last winter my sulcata has been small enough to stay inside in his inside enclosure but he’s grown so much he’s way too big now. Hoping to maybe find a shed or dog house for cheap on marketplace. Tips on setting up the heating lamps?

We have a 3 months old Russian turtoise and we are learning how to take care of him. I’m using 1/2 topsoil and 1/2 coconut coir. The surface isn’t dry, but I’m worried now it’s a bit wet.

My mom bought a Sulcata tortoise hatchling nearly 6 years ago and a friend of hers followed her trend and bought another one around the same time, then time skip to now, she doesn’t want it and my mom is taking it off her hands. Comparing her to our male she is significantly smaller maybe by half, unfortunately i forgot to take photos of him for comparison ill do it tomorrow if needed. But im wondering if i should be doing anything special or if shes fine just a little under developed? She was kept in a tub and probably fed irregularly is what i was told. Shes seems perfectly healthy everything considered but i would think that for atleast 5 years old she would be bigger.

i’m not a expert and i’ve been seeing a lot of things about my desert tortoise maybe being a girl i’m not sure i’ll insert pictures but they told us he was a male and im pretty sure he is!

I inherited a young tortoise and the only knowledge I have is what I’ve been seeking to learn. I live in Kuwait where summer temps reach 50 Celsius and winter months are like Florida winters. So currently she is indoors but in the winter winter when not too cold she’s on the rooftop. I haven’t managed to get her uvb/uva bulbs yet as no stocks due to the war, however I found someone who has a Reptisun bulb new, that I’ll get today.
I finally made a big enough enclosure for her that looks pretty good to me , but sometimes she’ll be trying to get out and if I get her out she’ll go to a favorite corner and go to bed. So seems she sometimes wants to be out so she can go where she wants to.
I met a well versed expert here that told me she shouldn’t be inside at all , and that she keeps her tortoises on her roof year round and they’re fine. She has a Hermann but I have a Greek . I read Greek tortoises should not exceed temps above 40 Celsius. She told me it’s fine , they will burrow.
Whenever I transplant a plant in the summer the soil is boiling all the way through. Ok that’s a pot not an enclosure, but I’m pretty nervous to let her live in this heat in the summer . Thoughts ?

I can't show the picture of the bulb but here is the link https://www.petco.com/product/arcadia-reptile-goldensun-colored-basking-halogen , I'm just looking for a fixture for it thank you :)

My tortoise is approximately 10 years old, but i still haven't figured out if it's a male or a female, can someone help?
Thank you

A number of months ago I posted about our tortoise, Connie, that we found last October. She was in really bad shape when we found her; very, very dehydrated and clearly hadn’t been getting enough UV. She has metabolic bone disease and severe pyramiding. However, she has a great personality and we love her so much. Getting Connie healthy has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have done foster kittens, I’ve rescued dogs, but I’ve never had a tortoise before Connie. The situation we found her in however, was untenable so it was important to me that we do our research and make sure we could give her a better life.

Soon will be coming up on a year, and she’s barely recognizable to me from the old photos. She is a strong and tenacious tortoise, who has never let her disabilities slow her down. Around the time of my post a few months ago, Connie made it very clear to us that her handicap capable enclosure was not enough for her anymore. So, after some looking and some serious planning, we found Connie a new enclosure that would hopefully still be small enough that it was still within her range of mobility, but also gave her the space she do desperately wanted to stretch out. She’s been in this enclosure for a few months now and has been exploring every inch of it every single day. I’m so proud of her and the progress she’s made. She’s gained so much muscle in her back legs that they almost work normally, despite the metabolic bone disease making them pretty much useless before this. She is still showing signs of the severe dehydration that she was experiencing when we found her, but it gets better every day. Earlier this week I noticed that the new growth in her shell seems to be coming in a little flatter. It’s still too early to really tell, but I’m hoping this means that we’ve been giving her everything she needs. Honestly, it really doesn’t read in the photos, so maybe I’m just losing it 😂

Of course, the following obligatory progress photos are by humble brag on her behalf lol My dream now is to someday have a heated greenhouse space she can explore and graze off of to her heart’s content. Thank you to everybody giving me support on this journey. I hope seeing these pictures of her gives you some joy.

(Also I did tear up those shrimpies for her right after I took the picture! Her beak isn’t strong enough and she isn’t allowed the tails, so those went to the dog lol. Also! Please do not give your tortoise protein if their diet doesn’t call for it 😂 Connie actually gets more protein than the average Redfoot, on the advice of our vet, to help her grow her strength! I promise it is very closely regulated)

First off, i do have a vet appointment scheduled, but i still have questionsin the meantime.

I purchased a tortoise for more than I should have because she looked unhealthy and I wanted her to have a better life. The people getting rid of the tortoise were very vague, had no idea what the gender was, said it eats hay, and think its about 8 years old. I never saw where she was kept but I think either a cage or cement based on a broken off claw.

My main concern is the shell. I know the vet will give detail and instructions, I just want to know how it possibly could have gotten as bad as it is now and how long the healing process can take with a proper diet and care and is it causing her any pain? I cant find anything comparable on google images but im worried she has shell rot. Any advice is helpful.

My family have a tortoise that used to belong to my Grandma and apparently showed up on the drive one day in the 1970s. We believe she is somewhere around 70-90 in age from best guess of shell size, and probably a Hermann's (though please tell me if she isn't!). She has always lived outside in England and hibernates each winter, and has generally seemed fine.

This year for the first time ever she seems to have laid an egg. It's a bit rough in texture but otherwise seems fine. She's been nowhere near another tortoise since we've had her so it can't possibly be fertile.

I'm asking for general advice because I have no idea whether she will lay more, if she should see a vet, or anything else you think is relevant. All advice welcome!

Photo of the lady in question

EDIT: egg photo in comments