Anyone have a pet tortoise?

[gerbo]

We are seriously considering getting a pet tortoise.

We're aware they need a vivarium, heat lamp, special food, calcium powder, etc. The vivarium seems the biggest expense. Is there anything else we'll need? A run for the garden maybe?

We're taking our time about this and trying to read lots.

Any advice from tortoise owners?

We have 3 but they live in the greenhouse so don't have any of that stuff.

They are quite active so they do need a large living area. Ours have a run in the garden for when its hot.
We give calcium blocks alongside fresh fruit/veg and dandelion weeds.
Ours are all rescued, one is severely burnt where he was able to lay directly on a heat mat and under a heat lamp so just be aware of that.

Also, they live forever, one has been passed down through family and is currently at least 70 years old! Are you able to look after them for that long?

Why a tortoise? Not very good pets imo. They don't do anything, not particularly appealing, can't play with them, and they will outlive you.
Hence why we have 3 rescues.

Ours hibernates from approx Oct to March rest of time lives in garden in his big house which is all open.

Never had lamps or tanks or much else

Had him for 30 years

Torts that are available as pets in this country do not, for the most part, need a vivarium. Maybe for the first year or two if you do not have any central heating and that's about it. It can be very hard to control the temperature gradient in a vivarium and tortoises need a night time drop and also seasonal fluctuations. There are exceptions....these rules tend to apply to mediterranean torts as oppose to the more tropical species such as leopards, indian stars, redfoots.

A first time tortoise would typically be a hibernating species. Hermans and horsfields tend to be the most popular. They do need outdoor grazing for their own health and wellbeing and also for the sunshine to help them produce D3 through UVB exposure. You can have a tortoise table indoors to help them get a kick start on gloomy days. Horsfields will often dig, they have been known to destroy lawns but tbh a lawn is not really suitable, they need weeds by the plenty so your garden will need plenty of dandelions, clover, vetch etc.

They are experts at hiding sickness and by the time they show it, its often too late. Vets bills can be crazy and you will need to get your tortoise wormed every autumn ready to wind them down. Females will need to be xrayed to ensure they have no retained eggs before hibernation to prevent egg binding and calcification of eggs. Winding down basically consists of artificially shortening your tortoises day light exposure and starving them for 4 weeks. Then they go in a box into a fridge for 6-16 weeks. It is in the tortoises interest to hibernate them if they are healthy.

I love them. I have kept and bred leopards, sulcatas, indian stars, hermans, horsfields, pancakes, graecas and redfoots and have had torts all my life.

AAlso, like martha, I have an old guy that has always hibernated himself and I do not interfere with a great deal simply because that is what he had always done when he came to me and it seemed unfair to mess with his routine. BUT I wouldn't suggest trying it with a baby tortoise. there is a reason people say they used to have a pet tortoise as a kid and then one day it just disappeared. A majority don't survive the " being left to it" and are often victims of rat and fox attacks, parasites and hibernation related death.

My friend has inherited one that is thought to be 120. She says that she feels incredible pressure to look after it perfectly! It lives in the greenhouse and a fenced off area in the garden then has a fridge to hibernate in so the temperature is constant. Albert has loads of personality but I'm not sure I'd choose to have one tbh

Is anyone else's tortoise extremely rampant?

Ours will literally hump away at an old boot on the lawn for hours in the sunshine, sometimes with his tongue out and a squeal.

We've got 2. Fantastic personalitie on the one who likes to follow you and have his chin tickled. The other is very alof and does not like to be distrubed.
mostly live in the garden but do come in if it's wet. We've got a converted rabbit cage because it has better air flow than a viv. Ours hibernate from mid October to March.

Do loads of reading and possibly think of adopting an older tort.

Someone gave us a tiny tortoise 6 months old. It's cute when it eats but apart from that it's pretty high maintenance . We put it's cage in the garden for daylight when it's warm, otherwise it's heat lamps and Uv , they need a specific environment to flourish. Every few days she ends up stuck on her back with legs flailing which is incredibly stressful for her and us , hopefully this will pass as she gets older. They don't much appreciate being handled as it stresses them. So.... to summarize I'm finding a tortoise quite a responsibility and am aware that she could out live me , so not a choice of pet to be made lightly !

Definitely don’t keep a tortoise in a vivarium - the humidity is incredibly bad for them. If it’s an indoor tortoise (ours currently is) then you need an open topped tortoise table with a combined heat and UV lamp, ideally on a timer. Our boy is 4 and doesn’t hibernate - because he’s indoors we regulate his temperature so he doesn’t need to. Next summer we’ll hopefully get a garden enclosure sorted for him. He’s a horsfield, they’re a great breed but please do your research as pet shops often give really damaging advice about their feeding and housing!

We have a Hermanns tortoise. It's about 3 years old, lives in an open topped table with a light. She gets a bath a couple of times a week but that's about it. Gets plenty of lettuce and greens to eat. So I would say she's low maintenance but not all that interesting.
It's hard to know if we're doing it right, I worry she's bored sometimes in her table with not much to interest her.

We have a Horsefield Tortoise called George. You obviously need to do your research and know how to care for it to keep it healthy and happy but not sure why so many on here say they find them demanding. Ours lives in a vivarium with a basking lamp which we switch on in the morning for him and switch off at night. In summer we put him on the lawn in a rabbit run but don't leave him unsupervised due to the natural Digging instinct and we have a lot of cats in the area. In the winter months every so often we let him roam about the house and explore for half an hour or so for a change of scenery (supervised again at all times) like with any other pet ensure fresh water everyday and food we basically just get from the supermarket, cabbage leaves, kale and other general stuff you'd find on the fruit and veg aisle. So long as you know the different greens they can and can't eat, give them a varied diet, clean their enclosure out regularly and ensure you provide the right environment they really aren't any more demanding or time consuming to care for than most other pets. We've had George 14 years now and I can honestly say never found it difficult or stressful meeting his needs. I think you can go a bit overboard with trying to regulate their care military style and a lot of websites will make out like their care and needs are a complex minefield.... they're really not trust me. In the wild they don't have anyone regulating temperature, different UV exposure etc that's down to mother nature and weather outside it's not consistent to a strict routine timetable so ive never understood the logic behind captive kept tortoises needing this. Horsefields are quite resilient Tortoises and so long as you're not starving them or keeping them in extreme temperatures they're not difficult to care for.

I inherited a spur thigh tortoise called Dasha. She belonged to my Aunty then my grandparents & now me.
I've got an enclosed garden so she runs free in the summer & has a greenhouse with a heater & heat lamp for cloudy/cold days.
It's taken a lot of research to find out what she needs, 1970's advice when she was bought was just to leave her in the garden.
She does have a personality & shes fascinating to watch.

Please do your research & consider what happens when you've gone. They do usually outlive the human owner & although I've been happy to inherit her some people would be. My 6 year old is already a good weed spotter so hopefully Dasha will be ok with the next generation

My sister has one and is a member of this:

www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk

They are great for tortoise-keeping advice.

My sister has an outdoor run (with heat lamps) an indoor vivarium and a dedicated fridge for hibernating her tortoise pal.

I would recommend a Facebook group called “Billy’s tortoises”.
Absolute NO to a vivarium! There care is quite specific because the UK is frankly too cold for them so a good owner tries to replicate what they would naturally experience. They DO need careful care to live happy, healthy lives and they need a lot more room than you imagine. A large permanent run in the garden is a must.
I have a whole bedroom turned over to my two and am having a new run built in the garden of my new house (10 feet x 10 feet). You can look after a tort and they live, for a while, or you can look after them well and they thrive. Your choice.

My friend has one. He’s about 15 years old, in the summer he sleeps out in the garden (enclosed) and gas shelter. In the winter sleeps in the house, usually with he dog in her basket. Toddles iff this hibernate then scares the living hell out of her when he wakes up by crawling across the floor

We had two tortoises (a Hermann’s and Spur Thighed) for about 20 years. They were both rescues so not babies when we got them. They lived happily in a run in our garden, but used to escape occasionally. Once our male tortoise was found a mile away. They can move quicker than you think!
They hibernated for 6 months a year and we only had them inside for a bit if they woke early in March and then the weather went colder again. Never had vivarium or heat lamps etc. We found them extremely low maintenance pets. Only went to a vet once in 20 years when the female stopped eating. I can’t remember what the problem was, but she was fine after her visit.
We ended up moving house to a north facing garden and had to give the tortoises away, so they now live with an old neighbour and are both over 60 yrs old.

My advice…only get a tortoise if you have a secure, sunny garden. They escape easily - especially males when they want to find a mate. They will be miserable if the garden isn’t sunny enough. Hibernate in a box in a garage or shed, rather than letting them do it themselves in the garden. Personally I wouldn’t faff around with heat lamps. I wouldn’t get a tortoise unless I had the right space for them outside.