Anyone with TORTOISE experience??

[TwoPeasOnePod]

I am on the lookout for a pet, and have wanted a tortoise for a few years..But dont know anything about them! Anyone got any advice/experience? Because they arent cheap, so I want to know it is the right pet beforehand. Also, anyone know a hardy breed which could amble around and not be terrified of general family life, doesnt need some kind of expensive heated environment etc (smile)
Oh and any general advice, nothing is too obvious as I really have no clue about tortoises! (dont worry will be reading up a bit if we do buy one ) (grin)

We had a tortoise, we lived in Bangkok and she was brilliant. We were lucky, she didn't need to hibernate and she ate the grass in the garden.Don't feed them wet food, lettuce, carrots, toms etc.
If you google tortoise car, you'll get a lot more info.

One thing I've read is that you need to be sure you can commit to a pet who lives for a really long time. Same issue as buying a parrot, for instance.

Have a look via advanced search - there was a long running tortoise thread with someone who really seemed to know her stuff. About a year ago?

We have one (DD's) - bought it as a yearling. Fine outside in the summer but it does need the expensive heated environment in the winter - a sort of large wooden box with no lid and heat/UV lamps etc. It's very sweet but a bit dull tbh. They're not exactly chock full of personality.

Hasseledge, our's was full of personality. She really was brilliant and DD still talks fondly of dude. She would love another one, but as someone pointed out, you really do have to be committed to it due to their remarkable longevity.

Kreecher is right - personality depends on the tortoise. My parents have had our tortoise since I was about 6 - a good 35 years! He's a character who likes to climb over walls go into next doors garden & chase the rottweiler. He also has a habit of chasing the cats in the garden (in the summer of course) & biting their tails!

Hassledge might be talking about me but maybe I'm being a bit presumptuous?

Here are a couple of previous tortoises related threads. If they, or the links I gave within them, doesn't answer your questions, please let me know.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pets/807720-Tortoise-Tips-Anyone

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pets/987352-Does-anyone-have-a-tortoise

But for what it's worth, tortoises aren't native to the UK for good reason. You won't be able to keep one in optimal health without shelling out for heating, UVB lighting, etc., for the cooler months.

We had two baby torts for a while. I found them quite hard work and eventually re homed them back with the lady I bought them from. They need a heat lamp, UV lamp, they should only eat fresh weeds e.g. dandelions, which meant a walk around the village gathering them, storing them in the fridge. If we went away, I needed to get our neighbour to come in and bathe them, they need to bathe every day as they drink the water which enables them to urinate. They dehydrate quickly so this is very important. It doesn't sound to me as though a tort is the best pet for you as they are costly to buy, they need a special enclosure and I found I wasn't able to keep the large room they were in sufficiently warm so they kept semi hibernating. I bought a rabbit hutch for the summer and would put them out every day but they didn't like that either. Think long and hard before you get any sort of pet - they are all hard work and cost money in their own way.

Also, they need to be very cold in order to hibernate. I had a nightmare trying to get their body temperature down low enough to put them into a larder fridge (specially bought for their 6 week hibernation, didn't want to keep them in the kitchen fridge with the food!)......it's very hard work so I hope this puts you off or they will not be properly looked after.

Check out tortoisetrust they will teach you everything you need to know. Don't Buy a tort from any kind of petshop and don't listen to any petshop advice re keeping or feeding.

I grew up with tortoises, they were fine in the garden in the spring and summer, but then hibernated in the winter - either in a box of hay in the cupboard under the stairs, but the current one just buries himself in garden about October and surfaces in the spring. But they were great pets for 6 months of the year!

When I say "current" tortoise, he is at least as old as me (40) and is now living with his third generation of my family, as he keeps outliving his keepers!

One of our earlier tortoises had a habit of wandering off, but we usually got a phone call from the post office about a mile down the road to come and get him. Maybe this is just a problem with very determined rural tortoises.

DH and I had a tortoise a couple of years ago, we had wanted 1 for many years and did about 6months of research before getting it. Bought from a reputable breeder (bought at 2 months old), spent a long time creating a pen to exact spec recommended (inc ultraviolet light / heat lamp with timers etc) and like Poochie spent many hours scouring for fresh weeds. We loved having him but unfortunatley he didn't thrive, the vet was unable to save him and it looks like it may have been down to a faulty light (so he wasn't getting the right vitamins).
I do know people who have had tortoises succesfully (and somehow make it seem effortless) .....we do hope to get one again in the future but would go for an older one.

You need a megaray lamp. They do everything. The tortoise trust will have a link to the uk dealer.

Second the recommendation to check out the tortoise trust website, they also have really good forums too with lots of good information.

You will need a heating system depending on the breed of tortoise - most Mediterranean torts need UV and heat lamps - I use a combined lamp which works really well. Good diet (home grown weeds are best) and outside space is essential as is access to a vet specializing in torts - (I travel 40 mins to ours). I also hibernate mine in a fridge over winter as it maintains a constant temperature.

Personally I would always buy UK breed torts from a specialist shop (i know of one in Lincolnshire if that helps) and avoid pet shops (advice can be mixed) and the internet, personally as a newbie I would avoid tropical breeds and most importantly check out how large it will grow - I took in a tort from a family who bought a baby red foot tortoise as they had drastically underestimated how big he would grow.

Hth