My Complete Care Routine for Jack and Sally 🐢🐢

I provide comprehensive daily care for Jack and Sally, my Horsefield/Russian tortoises, managing their complex feeding, supplementation, habitat maintenance, and fresh food preparation. This detailed routine ensures optimal health through proper nutrition, clean living conditions, and species-appropriate enrichment, demonstrating my commitment to thorough reptile care whilst adapting to the challenges of managing chronic illness.

Daily Care Responsibilities:

Food Preparation & Foraging 🌿

• 🌹 Foraging from my wildlife-friendly garden (roses, snapdragons, fuchsia, geraniums, willowherb)

• 🌳 Foraging expeditions in local areas and woodlands

• 🏡 Collecting flowers and leaves from my parents’ garden

• 🥕 Preparing fresh cucumber and carrot treats (grated)

• 🥬 Managing fridge stores and monthly rocket purchases (washed, dried, and stored with their dedicated mandolin and tupperware container)

Supplementation Schedule 💊

• 🗓️ Nutrobal supplementation (Mondays & Fridays)

• 🦴 Calcium supplementation (every other day)

• 📋 Systematic tracking using organised storage system

Morning Routine & Bathing 🛁

• 🌅 Waking Jack and Sally upstairs

• 🗑️ Removing overnight food waste into collection system

• 🧽 Cleaning food bowls whilst they wake up

• 🔍 Daily wellness check (eyes, nose, shell, plastron, movement patterns)

• 🛀 15-minute soak (alternating between tortoises)

• ⏰ Coordinating bath and feeding schedule

Feeding & Enrichment 🍴

• 🎯 Offering Jack choice between enrichment food ball or bowl

• 🍽️ Bowl feeding for Sally (inside or outside enclosure)

• 🪨 Strategic food placement on basking rocks for natural foraging

• 🦴 Placing food atop cuttlefish bones to aid beak maintenance & calcium intake from eBay

• 🧠 Supervised room access with climbing equipment and safety gate

• ⚽ Rubber balls for pushing, chasing, and play

• 🏃 Future enrichment plans: running wheel, two-storey hide, scratching brush

Habitat Maintenance & Cleaning 🧹

• 🔥 Temperature checks (maintaining 20–30°C range)

• 🌡️ Monitoring humidity (misting if <50%)

• 🧽 Spot cleaning tortoise tables during feeding

• ♻️ Composting waste from enclosure bin to garden compost

• 🚿 Cleaning water bowls and cuttlefish bones with hot water & reptile disinfectant

• 💧 Triple rinse system for all water equipment

Weekly Care Responsibilities:

• 🌸 Dried flower powder supplementation on their food every Friday, alternating between marigold, mallow, dandelion, plantain & nettle, and hibiscus & clover from Tortopia.

• 🪴 Watering edible houseplants every Saturday to ensure a fresh and continuous food supply

Monthly Care Responsibilities:

• 🧴 Shell oil treatment and gentle scrubbing to maintain shell health and shine

As Needed:

• 🧂 Refill the salt and pepper shakers with Calcium and Nutrobal supplements as needed to ensure a consistent supply.

• 🌱 Add new plants and sow seeds throughout the year to enrich their diet and environment

Seasonal Care Responsibilities:

• 🥥 Expand coconut coir bricks with water (around 50 litres of soil) four times a year

• 🧹 Replace and refresh their substrate seasonally (February ❄️, May 🌸, August ☀️, and November 🍁).

Jack 🧸 Sally 🦕

🤎 See more of them on Instagram: @TortoiseParent2017 💚

Skills Developed/Demonstrated:

• 🔬 Species-specific knowledge of tortoise dietary and environmental requirements

• 🌿 Plant identification and safe foraging techniques for reptile nutrition

• 📅 Complex scheduling and routine management despite health challenges

• 🧼 Proper hygiene and disinfection protocols for reptile habitats

• 🌡️ Environmental monitoring and adjustment (temperature, humidity)

• 🍽️ Understanding of natural feeding behaviours and enrichment needs

• 🏥 Health monitoring and recognising signs of wellbeing in reptiles

• ♻️ Sustainable waste management and composting practices

• 🎯 Adaptability in care routines based on individual animal preferences

• 💪 Reliability and consistency in care provision despite chronic illness

Through maintaining this comprehensive routine, Jack and Sally receive consistent, species-appropriate care that supports their health and wellbeing. This thorough approach demonstrates my ability to manage complex care requirements whilst working around the unpredictable nature of chronic illness, ensuring reliable pet care services regardless of daily health fluctuations.

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🐾 If you are interested in similar pet services in the Sheffield Area, contact me via Cat in a Flat