Does anyone own a tortoise?

[theheatherjane1]

I've found myself thinking about tortoises and I think I'd rather like one.

I already own a toddler and a cat, am I crazy?
What do I need to know? Are they an easy guest or do they have terrible tortoise habits?

have a read of this. i don't have one but my oldest dd is desperate for one so have been doing some reading up! link

Good link, thanks.
Do you think you'll get one?

I have a tortoise, a toddler & a preschooler.
I quite often sit & chat to the tortoise just to get a few minutes peace from the kids.

They are fairly easy to look after once you’ve got them set up.
Mine has a heated greenhouse with heat lamp for cloudy/cold days & access to an enclosed garden for the summer. She also hibernates for 12 weeks Dec-Feb.
She’s a spur thighed tortoise so only eats weeds & flowers grown in the garden.

There’s a group called Billy’s tortoises on Facebook that I’ve found really helpful.

Please do your research before you get one, each breed needs different care & they are a life long pet that will quite easily out live you!

We have a Hermann's tortoise. She is only 3 so still very small, about the size of my hand. She lives in an open topped table with a heat lamp. She goes outdoors in the summer but just for a few hours. We couldn't let her roam wild, we would lose her. She eats salad leaves, dandelions, nasturtiums in the summer when our garden is overrun with them. I am known as the woman who buys the going out of date salad bags in the local shop.
She is a lovely pet, not any trouble. When we go on holiday she is still small enough to go to a friend's house in a big plastic box, like the ones that go under the bed. But soon she will be able to climb out of that and we'll need to think of something else. She doesn't hibernate, I was told when we got her she was too small. But I've not researched when we should change that. I'll read up about it for next winter.

theheatherjane1 perhaps, my dd is old enough to do the basic things such as feeding so i am considering it

My DP has one.
He (the tortoise, not DP) has a little run in the garden that he uses during the day and in summer stays out overnight. He hibernates in a box in the shed Nov - Mar ish.
It's very satisfying feeding strawberries and lettuce to a tortoise; I would recommend it!

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

Do they all need a heated outdoor house?

I would love a tortoise but am anxious about hibernating one properly.

We have one. She is VERY old. She hibernates each year without any issue at all. They are fabulous pets.

She does not have a heated outdoor house, but lives very happily in a large wooden house lined with newspaper and stuffed with fresh straw from late April to early October. She has free range access to our (secure) garden as she pleases.

Hermaans are lovely.

Taking care of them properly can be a bit daunting at first, getting the set up right and establishing what they can and can't eat takes a little while. Vets and pet shops are often woefully misinformed about their diets and will encourage things like fruits for non fruit eaters and things that are no feeds, but if you stick to the website Tortoise Table it's really useful

One thing that's important is setting up a microclimate. This involves either having a vivarium or tortoise table that has a warm end with basking bulb etc, and a cooler end with a hide. Should be a UV strip bulb in too as they require UV light to absorb food properly. Lights usually turned off at night and back on in the day. This then mimics their habitat in both heat, humidity and light.

Their bedding or 'substrate' as we call it couldn't be easier. A lot of us prefer sterilised top soil, there's a very good one in The Range that's a firm favourite. This can be left for anything up to 8 weeks, just tidy up and spritz with water daily. This can be quite deep coz they like to dig!!

Re vivariums, you will here some self proclaimed experts be staunchly against these but if you get the right type (well ventilated, not all glass) tortoise do very well. In some places and houses they're a better choice if you struggle with heat.

There's some fantastic groups on Facebook too and they're so helpful and supportive!

Mine climbs fences, digs holes, squashed plants. Has escaped from every run we've built. Now only allowed in the garden supervised but is free range in the house. He's a 10 year old horsfield.

I've redone the garden to grow his food, reinforced the fence and he is hard work, but very entertaining. He's a little tank ploughing through everything in his path, including the cats.

If you get the microclimate right you don't need to hibernate tortoises.

This is all really great, thanks so much.
I bloody love the fence climber!
Do they have personalities? I'd like to think it was like adopting another member of the family.

Our has a wonderful personality. Like a stoic old lady. We often talk about the stories she'd tell if she could.

We have two tortoise. One is a leopard and 8 years old. He lives in a box in the house and has free roam like a dog to be honest. He spends hot days in a cold frame in the garden.
We also have a 3 year old spur thigh who lives in a large open adapted bookcase.
Very easy to care for.

Do they all need a heated outdoor house

No. Ours lives indoors and just goes outside on sunny days in a sort of pen thing so she doesn't run away. So she doesn't need a heater outdoors.

Here she is, she's about 4 years old and still really small. Her name is Mabel. I think she has personality for sure. She is way more fun than the hamster.

Our new neighbour has two - she told me she hibernates them in the fridge over winter!
I bet it’s a nightmare at Christmas when she’s playing fridge Jenga.

Oh god I want one, always have.

Are they happy alone or do they like to have a tortoise buddy?

Ours lives alone and has never complained. We were never recommended to keep her with a friend and we bought her from an experienced reptile handler so I'm sure he would have told us.

They can be surprisingly aggressive - yesterday my friend's spur thigh bit my bare foot to the extent of drawing blood!

My mum has 2. One she has had for fifty years and the other for about twenty five. They were both full grown when she got them, one from a pet shop in the 60s and the other from the paper. They live out in the garden all year, don’t come in at all and no vivarium or lightbulbs or anything. They are very low maintenance as long as the garden is secure. They are hilarious when they get horny and charge round the garden looking for women.

She puts them to hibernate when they start to slow down about October and wakes them up late feb- mid March. I did have a friend who left his out in the garden all year and they just buried down to hibernate in the soil.

I was hoping this thread might curb my lust for a tortoise but the idea of keeping one in the fridge is thrilling me.
It's interesting how some people chuck them in the garden and let them run wild whilst others are catered to like reptile royalty (are they reptiles?).
I wonder why that is, why they don't all need the same levels of care?

Thanks again all

Also, do the home dwellers not shit all over your carpet?

Many tortoises survive but they shouldn't be allowed to free roam in a house or garden really as unless the house is HOT and HUMID all the time it isn't the right environment for them. A lot of these torts would have come from Mediterranean places and need light and humidity to enable them to metabolise properly. I've seen a lot of tortoises who are overly lethargic, have terrible pyramiding on their shells etc. Mine goes out for a wander in the house every day but not for long. In the summer months she has a box in the garden with tortoise friendly plants and soil, she roams in that and catches some rays

As for the hibernation thing... doing it properly requires some reading up and it's important to prepare them properly ie feeding them up before hand so they have enough excess body weight but then also they need to go through a fast to ensure all food is out of their system so they don't have food rotting inside of them (it won't be digested if they're in hibernation). I've heard so many stories of people who have tried to wake their torts up only to find them dead. It's not as easy as blue Peter made out to everyone but you'll see people using old fashioned not the best practice because they'll have had their tortoise for years and have always been fine.

Giving them the right environment isn't treating them like royalty it's ensuring they're living in an environment that suits their needs. I think the group on fb is called Tortoise Owners UK, they'll advise you really well!