Advice on getting a tortoise??
Discussion
Do lots of Research and get the set-up up and running first.
Decide whether they'll live inside in a tortoise table or vivarium, or outside in an enclosure. (my pair live outside 24/7).
Research the breeds & care accordingly, typical first time tortoises would be a hermanns or horsfield because their mediterranean climate is not too dissimilar from ours.
They'll need heat and UV (you can get combined bulbs to give both of these), and a 'typical' minimum size of about 2ftx3ft for each small tortoise, bigger as they grow in size. this is cause for much debate, so take it as a guide rather than a rule - obviously the more the better.
They are amazing animals, and whilst a lot of people will think they're boring, they are fascinating with their own personalities and strangely mesemerising to watch them explore their enclosures all of the time.
How old is your daughter? because remember a hermanns tortoise will live to 40,50,60 years old, so make sure it's not just a fad 'I want', because that's just not fair on the animal.
Finally, don't buy from a petshop, but look up some breeders and buy direct after a little research.
We've had ours for coming up to 2 years now and still enjoying them
Decide whether they'll live inside in a tortoise table or vivarium, or outside in an enclosure. (my pair live outside 24/7).
Research the breeds & care accordingly, typical first time tortoises would be a hermanns or horsfield because their mediterranean climate is not too dissimilar from ours.
They'll need heat and UV (you can get combined bulbs to give both of these), and a 'typical' minimum size of about 2ftx3ft for each small tortoise, bigger as they grow in size. this is cause for much debate, so take it as a guide rather than a rule - obviously the more the better.
They are amazing animals, and whilst a lot of people will think they're boring, they are fascinating with their own personalities and strangely mesemerising to watch them explore their enclosures all of the time.
How old is your daughter? because remember a hermanns tortoise will live to 40,50,60 years old, so make sure it's not just a fad 'I want', because that's just not fair on the animal.
Finally, don't buy from a petshop, but look up some breeders and buy direct after a little research.
We've had ours for coming up to 2 years now and still enjoying them
Tortoises are one of the worst treated animals I come across as they have very specific requirements not understood by many owners who think they are an easy pet or treat them as their grandparents did thirty years ago before more was known about good husbandry. Most of the common species, particularly the Mediterranean species, are no harder to keep than other reptiles; you just have to know the right way to do it before diving in.
A good website with an active forum, and a great place to start your research with well written care sheets available, is Shelled Warriors.
Forum - http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/forum/
Care sheets - http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/Site/Caresheets_a...
I see so many tortoises living in terrible conditions and with horrific shell and bone deformities simply because their owners do not understand how to care for them often giving them a completely inappropriate diet. Sadly tortoises frequently continue to live with these defects and because they eat and continue to shuffle around their enclosures people assume they're okay.
A good website with an active forum, and a great place to start your research with well written care sheets available, is Shelled Warriors.
Forum - http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/forum/
Care sheets - http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk/Site/Caresheets_a...
I see so many tortoises living in terrible conditions and with horrific shell and bone deformities simply because their owners do not understand how to care for them often giving them a completely inappropriate diet. Sadly tortoises frequently continue to live with these defects and because they eat and continue to shuffle around their enclosures people assume they're okay.
I would have recommended that forum, and tbh, there is a lot of useful info on there.
But some of the people have seriously short fuses and if (god forbid) you ask the wrong question or don't answer as expected then it gets very b
hy very quickly (particularly from the longer standing members).
Life is too short than to have arguments on a tortoise forum! lol, so get what info you can by reading & searching first.
And just to add to this, here is my latest enclosure finished a couple of weeks ago (it now has a cover to it).
But some of the people have seriously short fuses and if (god forbid) you ask the wrong question or don't answer as expected then it gets very b
hy very quickly (particularly from the longer standing members).Life is too short than to have arguments on a tortoise forum! lol, so get what info you can by reading & searching first.
And just to add to this, here is my latest enclosure finished a couple of weeks ago (it now has a cover to it).
Edited by TigerS6 on Sunday 28th July 16:53
That's fantastic! It's amazing how they take over such a large part of your home/life. I'm contemplating buying a different house so that I have more land that I can section off for rescued sulcatas, I just can't do them justice where I am now as I like to keep a nice garden too and sulcatas are living bulldozers so the two do not mix.
TigerS6 said:
They are amazing animals, and whilst a lot of people will think they're boring, they are fascinating with their own personalities and strangely mesemerising to watch them explore their enclosures all of the time.
My daughter bought a turtle two years ago, a tiny thing, that I had little interest in at the time. Months passed and I grew interested, then I seemed to take over the care and attentions of 'Francesca' as she is called now. She was called Frankie, when we thought he was a male, but apparently he is a she..... I love watching her mooch about, and spend ages finding bugs and beetles that she crunches and hoovers down in seconds.
Anyway, she has grown through three progressively larger glass tanks and we now have a concrete tank outside for her.
She is a Red Eared Slider turtle.
Here she is going walkabout. The CD case is to get an idea of her size. She has grown from about 1 1/2" long to nearly 8" now.
The cage on top is to stop the other members of the zoo turning her into a snack....
Make sure you have a very heavily enclosed garden if you let it free roam as tortoises will easily scale a 6foot fence when given a chance. They can't climb walls though as the pre-dextile rear toe they use to hang on to tree branches can't grip the surface of brick.
Great things to keep though, you can listen to their chattering calls (quite musical at times) all day.
Great things to keep though, you can listen to their chattering calls (quite musical at times) all day.
TigerS6 said:
How old is your daughter? because remember a hermanns tortoise will live to 40,50,60 years old, so make sure it's not just a fad 'I want', because that's just not fair on the animal.
Finally, don't buy from a petshop, but look up some breeders and buy direct after a little research.
We've had ours for coming up to 2 years now and still enjoying them
My daughter is 6 but the OH half was asking me to get one for years, then when quiet on the idea. Now it looks like i'm being outnumbered!Finally, don't buy from a petshop, but look up some breeders and buy direct after a little research.
We've had ours for coming up to 2 years now and still enjoying them
Thanks for the advice! I honestly have no idea what would be involved in looking after a tortoise, hence me asking on here, so i know if it would be fair for us to have one. I'll have a look at the shelled warriors website, then we can hopefully decide whether to get one or not. I certainly don't want to be one of these people that buys a pet and doesn't give it the care and attention it deserves!
Thanks again!
I'm also interested in getting a tortoise. Our local reptile specialist has a load of little babies and they're the cutest little critters. I had a good long chat with one of the staff and she was very helpful. She listed some of the issues experianced in the past; its mainly down to diet, people give them too many treats too often. Poor diet can lead to mishapen shells and deformaties.
Regarding houseing they're apparently better off in a tabletop style box rather than a vivarium.
What puts me off is the space they need. They're ok when they're small but once they're up to the size of dinner plate they need a as much room as you can spare for they're inside housing and a relatively secure run within the garden if you've got it. They can burrow and climb which makes them escape artists!
Try http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_h... for info on diet and husbandry.
Regarding houseing they're apparently better off in a tabletop style box rather than a vivarium.
What puts me off is the space they need. They're ok when they're small but once they're up to the size of dinner plate they need a as much room as you can spare for they're inside housing and a relatively secure run within the garden if you've got it. They can burrow and climb which makes them escape artists!
Try http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_h... for info on diet and husbandry.
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