Looking for a leopard tortoise

[Sico]

Why bother. Just keep them healthy and happy, keep your mouth shut and enjoy life.

[Jeanetta]

I'm sure I am in the complete wrong place to post my query, so apologies and please bear with me. I am a newly Leopard Tortoise owner, which happened not so much out of choice, but because I could not stand to see the little guy live in a box, with no food or water and extreme heat conditions. So I convinced the guy to give him to me. We named him Leonardo (aka Leo) and apparently he is 5 years old. We have built him an enclosure in our garden, as we have a swimming pool and dogs that don't really seem to take kind to him. My problem is this, I'm worried that I'm either not doing the right thing for him and he is unhappy. All he does is sleep. My husband and I come home at different times of the day and every time we find him sleeping. I "wake him up" and take him out of his "bed" so that he roam around, which he then tends to do. I bought him some pansies and he seems to love them, he sometimes eats the Aloe type plant I planted for him and he gets lettuce once a week, as I believe Leo should rather feed off as much natural food as possible. I'm attaching some pics of his enclosure. Perhaps I can get some tips from the experts on this page. I just want him to be happy. He appears to be a bit more use to me now and he doesn't just shy away all the time into his shell. He has been with us for about 6 weeks now. How do I know if he is really, firstly a he, and if he is in fact 5 years old? Any advice will be highly appreciated.

[Sico]

Jeanetta congratulations for taking the time to ask sensible questions.
Firstly, the tortoise shouldn't be sleeping all the time, I currently have two rescues and they are active from sunrise to sunset and cover a large part of the garden on whatever mission they have. They eat a fair amount of food, yes, they will eat some garden plants including certain types of aloes and succulents, but they need a more varied diet than this in order to thrive. Lettuce once a week won't cut it I'm afraid. If you search on the forum for tortoise diet you will find another post I made on the same subject, follow those guidelines. The two I have eat a large amount of prepared food daily (if healthy, they will eat as much as you put in front of them, especially larger ones which can lead to overfeeding). Tortoises need to either be in a very secure enclosure (they may not look like it, but are escape artists) or need to be in a garden where they are secure from Dogs (who regularly injure and kill them) or from being trapped in other manners. Swimming pools aren't generally an issue as tortoises can float for quite some time, but eventually will drown if they are left alone to tire out. They do however need access to clean, fresh drinking water in a container suitable for them to climb into as they like to "bathe". They need a shelter from the sun, and depending where you live and the size of the animal they may need shelter from the cold in Winter. They can make nice additions to the family, but they do not a certain amount of care and attention in order to thrive, please be sure that you have the time to provide a healthy environment for it, or otherwise find a suitable home. Whatever you do, do not release it into the wild as you do not know where it originated, and what domestic germs it may have acquired.