I live in Fujairah, UAE and today I popped in to a "pet shop" (not the kind I'm used to!) and was horrified to see two tiny tortoises being kept in a small bird cage (typical of bird cages in pet stores), lined on the bottom with paper and with a limp lettuce leaf lying in the middle. Neither were particularly active, in fact, at first glance they looked dead! =/ I really want to get these little guys out of there but I only have limited experience of Hermann's tortoises in an animal rescue environment where their setup was excellent - I only cleaned, fed them and gave them a good scratch! I have no idea what species these little ones are and neither does the shop owner - surprising? Not really! I am also limited with setup options as most things I'd have back home do not exist here however I can get stuff sent to me, but this will obviously take time and I'm not sure these guys have that =/ Can someone give me some "First Aid" tips so I can at least get these guys in to a better environment than they are now? I can provide a secure pen, sand as well as warmed stones and could get my hands on a bathing light but obviously the difficulty would be in identifying these guys so I can give them the best care possible.

Hi and

It must be very distressing for you to know these little guys are suffering, but great that you are able to help them. Firstly take them out of that environment and give them a good bath, do this twice a day for the first few days then once, and see what they pass through, the wee for soft white urates and poo to look solid and  worm free,  I would bath seperately. Can you take a photo of them so we can try to identify them. It would need to be the back legs with tail, underneath (Plastron) and top (carapace), is it possible to get them to a specialist tortoise vet, as they need a good check up.
Your weather is sunny today, so can you get them out in the sun for a short time to get some UV, just make sure that they have a shaddy area to retreat to, and are secure from predators or escape.
await your reply
Jane