Miscellaneous Forum

We found a couple of tortoises at the back of damascushostel along side a busy road to the airport in Damascus ,smallish 10 cm in size .We called one Speedy and the other one Gonzale..We gave them some bread and water they dont seem interested. Any advise on what to feed them would be much appreciated,thx

They eat greens, do you get dandelion leafs in Damascus? If not try any dark greens (turnip tops and stuff) and they might be interested in a tomato, I don’t think they drink milk (they aint mammals) water is probably best.

Leafy fresh green vegetables.

they are fond of some little pieces of meat daily! I had some tortoises myself!

wish them god appetite and good health/

elisabeth from The Netherlands.

are you sure they were tortoises and not turtles?

They like cucumber too, but really must have greenstuff. Forget the bread. Only water to drink (though they are adapted to get most of their fluid from their food).

If these are wild tortoises, the best advice I can give you is leave them along and don't feed them anything. If they are wild and you have taken them from the place you found them, put them back.

Well yes, James is correct. It hadn't occurred to me that you might have taken them from the place that you found them.

Agree.

If you have moved them, it would explain their lack of inerest.

My reply was going to be the same.

I'm on the local humane society's list for fostering wild birds/animals which every year, well intentioned humans are too quick to rescue.

Baby birds ocassionally fly out of the nest too soon.
Parents are usually around and make regular feeding runs until the baby is able to fend for itself or, at least, gain enough strength to fly after the parents.

Squirrels, rabbits, etc. often either fall out of or, wonder out of their nest.
Parents also are usually around and will either carry it back or lead it back to it's nest.
Only time one should intervene is if there is an "unatural" predator such as a dog or cat around.
I say unatural because sadly, natural predation on young is part of life.

By taking the tortoises out of their habitat, you are exposing them to disease (humans carry bacteria) as well as weakening them by providing them with an unbalanced diet.
Please return them to their natural habitat.
If they were in danger or walking unto the roadway, you could simply release them further away but in the same general area.

In that case, you did a very good thing!!!
Glad everyone could help with their input as to proper diet.

Final suggestion, if you put up a picture of them on here, perhaps we could help you identify them?
Additionally, if you go to:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=tortoise+species+images

then, identify the proper tortoise and then google it's country of origin, you will better be able to provide proper care for them.
Additionally, tortoises require a calcium supplement, sprinkled on their leafy greens to keep their shells healthy and hard.
Don't forget to properly wash all veggies so as to avoid any pollutants and sprays/herbicides/pesticides.

Best of luck to Speedy and Gonzalez!

Well good for you then. You are not just visitors that will go off and abandon them, so giving them a safe home is a good thing to have done. Congratulations.

Hope that you have many years of pleasure from them.

Congratulations! Always nice to get good news.