Start with the pace, because it surprises people
A sitter used to dogs expects an animal that comes when called and announces its feelings loudly. A senior tortoise does neither, and an unprepared sitter can mistake a healthy old tortoise for a sick or miserable one. Explain that his day is built from long, still basking sessions, slow deliberate grazing, and early nights — and that this stillness is what health looks like at his age, not sulking. He is not to be carried around for entertainment, chased across the garden to make him exercise, or woken up to interact. Being left alone to be a tortoise is not neglect; it is the care itself.
The routine to hand over
Walk the sitter through the actual mechanics rather than leaving a vague note. Lamp on and off at the usual times. Where his food is kept and roughly how much of it he gets. The water dish emptied and refilled daily. And his soak: a shallow dish of lukewarm water he can sit in, which for an old tortoise quietly supports hydration and digestion. Describe his honest appetite pattern too — a big graze on a warm day and very little interest on a cool one is his expected rhythm, not a problem to solve.
The extra checks that matter most
This is the senior part of the brief, and it matters more than the feeding. Ask the sitter to run the same short check every day. Did he eat something? Are his eyes bright and his nose dry and clear? Has he passed droppings? Did he get himself to his basking spot and back under his own power?
One item on that list is an emergency: if he is found flipped onto his back, he should be gently righted at once and you told the same day — a tortoise on his back struggles, overheats in sun, and cannot fix it himself. Beyond that, the sitter needs a clear threshold rather than a judgement call. Not eating for several days despite proper warmth, a runny or bubbling nose, or a marked withdrawal beyond even his usual quiet self means a call to you — and if you cannot be reached, straight to the vet, whose number you have left in plain sight. A sitter should never be left guessing whether something counts.
Show them once before you go
If you can, have the sitter watch one full routine before you leave — the soak prepared, the lamp checked, the daily check run aloud. Ten minutes of watching settles questions that three paragraphs of notes will not, and it lets the sitter see his normal pace with their own eyes, so nothing about it alarms them on the first day alone.
Make it impossible to get wrong
Portion or clearly describe the food, put the vet's number somewhere unmissable, and spell out the garden gate routine: an old tortoise is slow, but he is also persistent, and a gate left ajar is his one realistic route to serious trouble while you are away.
Loading all of this into a Care Pass on KinsLe hands your sitter his routine, his normal habits and the checks that matter in one clear place they can open on their phone — far safer than a scribbled note on the counter.