I feel so guilty for giving this poor girl away to someone else 💔

[Cacti3]

Hello, guys. Today isn’t about Spyro my chameleon but the first reptile I sorta had. One year ago, I found a red footed tortoise and she was the sweetest thing ever. She had a crack in her shell, tho. As some of you might know, I live in Florida and red-footed tortoises don’t live here which means that she was somebody’s pet. We took her to our house and tried to see if somebody in our neighborhood used to have her or knew who she belonged to. Nobody answered. So, I decided to keep her.


Now, at the time, I didn’t know much about red footed tortoises. But, I kept her on my porch which is pretty big I guess. She just wandered around all day. I fed her dandelion leaves, strawberries, blackberries, watermelon, and i can’t remember what else but i think kale too.

I knew I didn’t take good care of her. I wanted to give her a better life somewhere else. I wanted to give her to somebody who took great care of her and gave her what she really needed.

One day, one of my teachers said that she would take her. I should’ve been skeptical, but I thought she could take a decent job of her. So, I gave my sweet girl to her.

When I got home, I just had this feeling I couldn’t shake off. Regret and a feeling that I shouldn’t have gave my sweet girl, Shirley to her.

Well, a few months later I decided to ask my teacher if she could bring her to school or something bc I missed her a lot. She did which I wasn’t expecting. And when I saw her I swear I almost broke down. She was so weak looking. The crack in her shell looked bigger. I just didn’t bc my whole class was there so yeah.

Shirley was in a 7 foot long cage with no UVB light, basking light or anything. Her cage looked terrible. I took her out of the cage bc i dont know my teacher let me since i used to own her. When I took her out I swear she recognized me or something because she started squeaking. Like chirping. I just held her and whispered to her how sorry I was.

I asked my teacher what UVB light, basking light, and supplements she gave her. Her answer? “ Oh, I don’t use any of those. She doesn’t need them.” I was so mad. I said “ you know she needs UVB, right?” Her answer was “ Nah, she’s fine without it.” And I said “ you know she also needs a basking light too right? “ and my teacher said “ No, my house is warm “ and I asked how warm it was and she said 70 degrees….. no calcium either.

I miss you Shirley. I shouldn’t have gave you to her

Also, here’s a picture of her.

 

[GrannyK]

I’m so sorry. How sad. I would ask her to research proper care before assuming she didn’t need it and explain how you can tell her health has declined.
I would ask for her back if the teacher won’t comply. It’s sad an adult, teacher no less would not take better precautions when accepting an animal like that or giving it proper care.

 

[Cacti3]

I’m so sorry. How sad. I would ask her to research proper care before assuming she didn’t need it and explain how you can tell her health has declined.
I would ask for her back if the teacher won’t comply. It’s sad an adult, teacher no less would not take better precautions when accepting an animal like that or giving it proper care.

Yeah, sometimes I’ll start tearing a little when I think about her .

I also told that teacher that it’ll be necessary for her to get Shirley a uvb and basking light. She said she didn’t need it.

I also recommended a tortoise YouTube channel ( can’t remember which one ) for her to learn more and take better care of her. As well as giving her calcium supplements and stuff. Of course, she also said no to that .

Also, she would NEVER give her back to me. She was also just a plain bad teacher… she said some pretty awful things no teacher should say to kids…

I’m just so regretful. I wish I gave her to a tortoise sanctuary