Can i get a rescue tortoise? Do I need a license? Do they cost a fortune?

[KatyMac]

Basically I had one as a young child then we moved to a flat so s/he was passed on to someone

I want one for the childminded children - how do I go about it?

god dp would die for one

I find them slightly sinister I must admit but understand they have an appeal for many

will watch this thread with interest

Our pet shop sells them now - about £100 for a baby one

this answers the licensing thing

I also thought it was illegal until you posted!

we used to have 2 when I was a kd
one of them is still alive but has been passed on to a family friend as my mum felt she couldn't give it enough attention anymore

the other one was called speedy as it used to escape (I kid you not)
it used to be found down a small lane near us by neighbours walking their dogs
they would bring it back to us
it happened so much that we wrote our address on its shell

And the pet shop ones appear to have to live in a very hot tank (about 35 degrees) although that may be just because they're babies.

They are very cute though - the babies - not at all sinister

You can adopt them from the Tortoise Trust but have to sign up and pay membership fees here.

Worth checking out these guys too.

katy, we have a tortoise and shes great,love her to pieces!
shes just one year old so is a tiny little thing and shes kept indoors as they need to be 2+ before going outside and then must come in at night, you cant hibernate them untill they are 10 so dont expect a winter of no tort just yet!
we got ours from a registered source bUT still ahd sebveral months of problems with torts health, they are very fragile creatures and you have to be carefull what you feed them.....for instance we gave her a tiny piece of grape and she was ill for 3 weeks.
torts themsleve are not that expensive,we paid £100 but inital set up can be.... the uva/b bulb we use is £75!
i highly recomend you get a very good book and do alot of reading up,also we have a fab vet who owns and breeds torts herslef which is a great advantage.
also and very importantly where mindees are concerned, torts are a carrier of salmonella which can easily be passed on if hands are not washed thorughly after contact. for this reason my mindees look and admire but dont touch as im so scared i shall make one of them ill!
HTH. will get some links up for you.......

£35 for a course plus £12.50 for membership - so £47.50......hmm not a cheap pet - but not expensive either

british tortoise society

association of amphibian and reptilian vets

the toroise centre/tortoise law

the tortoise trust

I had tortoises as a child - lovely,fascinating pets - loved watching them eat !

I still have my childhood tortie - we love him! He has been into nursery many times to do 'hands on' sessions with teh LOs.

I was going to rec the British Chelonia Soc, but RBH got there first.

If you buy a baby it has to be kept in a vivarium for years.

Katymac you say that unde £50 is not a cheap pet but my vivarium and heat and uva lights cost hundreds! He only uses it for a few months each year.

What happened to sticking them in a box with hay in the shed?
I guess mine wasn't a bay - mind you it was about the size of a rugby ball

theres alot of conflicting advice out there so if you have a good vet that knows about torts then thats a good place to start and get some good advice from there.
we were told to keep tort in a vivarium until aged 10 but within weeks she was ill,as a vivarium is not giving them a natural envioment, after advice from our vet we now keep her on a tortoise table (its actually an indoor rabbit hutch)and shes loving it!

Please make sure you get lots and lots of info about care and feeding etc before you rehome or buy one. Too many tortoises are taken on by people who imagine you give them a few lettuce leaves and dandelion leaves, then shove them in a box for the winter = acceptable care. They do need proper varied balanced diets and not all tortoises are suitable to hibernate each year - depends on their age, size, weight and other health issues if relevant too.
There are some good links here already for places to start to get a lot of that info before you get one. They do make interesting pets - I still have my childhood one at my parents house even now, plus others that have been rescued over time.

That is part of why I posted here BG - I know my rememberance of the tortoises may be skewed by time.

But I do know they saw the vet twice a year & didn't just get fed lettuce - I vaguely remember pepper slices?? cucumber?? & apple??

mine loves strawberry,apple,carrot,herbs,sometimes tomatoe(shes very fussy)

Sounds good - finding a vet who is happy to see them is not always easy either. Worth ringing about before you get one too just so you are pre-prepared.

Sounds like you will have a lot of fun when you do find one

You cannot shove them in a box of straw for the winter! Mine can hibernate as he is 40+ years old.

In it's natural environment a tortie would only hibernate for part of the winter - our winter is far too long/cold for that, so after 8 weeks sleep I wake mine up gently and pop him in the viv. With the correct heat and uva/b buld a tort will remain healthier that sleeping for longer.

Since using this method my tort has started to grow new shell, each platelet is surrounded by a edge of fresh, new bright coloured shell which proves how healthy he is.

Before any hibernation each tort should be weighed and cheched against the special scale for weight/length (Jackson)ratio. Then should be weighed weekly during hibernation to ensure they haven't lost more than 10% of their starting hibernation rate.

Straw can give of spores which can get into their lungs which is why I use shredded paper hamster bedding for mine.

Keeping torties properly is not as simple as you may think, I've had 30+ years experience!

Oh KatyMac, you've set me off now. I had a tortoise as a child - we took him in when an elderly couple had to go into a home.

Want one!

I just read the Care sheets from the Tortoise trust re-homing place - and it all seems so much more complicated than I remember it. It seems we didn't really look after our tortoises very well at all Or were just lucky. The whole fasting them before hibernation, heat lamps, NOT feeding them fruit or rich food, and they should apparantly be soaked two or three times a week!
It has put me right off getting one!

Sounds like when we had goldfish as kids, so different now!