Hi to you all. I was given a horsefield tort on Friday. it was a complete surprise. I have a love of torts but have never owned one. I have been reading and researching I much as I can. I have identified him as a male horsefield and called him Rasputin. He seems in a bad way with splashes of paint on his shell and bit of his shell missing flaking off. I have ordered him a large tort table and heat lamp with the uv etc. Reading this forum I have given him a bath every night for 20 mins he loves it. I have brushed him with a tooth brush and yesterday I got hold of some savlon dry antiseptic povidone iodine spray which I sprayed him with last night after his bath an tonight after his bath.

He seems to be eating well and is very active no sign of any discharge from eyes or nose and his skin looks ok. I rang my vet to get him checked over but they don t handle torts so I am on the hunt for a specialist.

Any help and advice would be much appreciated by me and Rasputin.

regards colleen123

Hello Colleen,

Hi Tom, thanks for your reply. Just so good to know I am going in the right direction. How long do you think I should be giving him the daily baths and using the povidone. He is eating well and active. The only history I have is that the original owners went abroad and the person who took him with the best intensions no doubt only had him for four weeks. They have four children who found the tort boring the three dogs didn t like it and he bit one of the childrens toes and drew blood. My daughter knew I have always wanted one so she offer to buy it from them, and gave him to me as a gift. So no history.

So here we are I love him. I just want to get it right. I spent the morning tracking down a specialist vet and have after several phone calls found one. Rasputin and I are going tomorrow afternoon.  I hope its not serious, I will try tomorrow to post some photos and let you know what the vet says. My next job is learning  about his correct diet and growing my own in pots.

Regards Colleen

Thanks for the reply Colleen,

Hi Tom, sorry not to have got back to you sooner but so full of busy. I took Rasputin to the vets and he had a good checkup. The Vet confirmed he is a horsefield male tort. He said he had never see such a clean tort, so I told him what I was doing he said fine but that every other day would be fine. His weight is very good. His shell was no problem and that it would repair in time, and not to worry. The important thing was a good lamp for him and a good diet. He spoke to me about hibernation but I said I wasn't keen he said it was better for the tort, so we have agreed to meet in October to do the hibernation thing.

His tort table has arrived with the lamp and is all set up and he's in it but I still take him out and let him run around the house. The food is a bit difficult at the moment as I have no idea about weeds and what is what, so its dandelion leaf and pansy together with rocket and lambs leaf.

At night he has taken to going in his little house and I have been taking him out in a morning. Should I just leave him to come out on his own? How long should his light be on for? How much should I be feeding him?

Regards Colleen