Does anyone have a tortoise?

[Bobbalina]

What do you think of your tortoise as a pet? I want to be sure as their life expectancy is apparently 80 years!

A good friend of mine has two. She lets them in the garden in the warmer weather, and in the winter they wonder around downstairs in her house but have a tank too.
I find them calming.

My family have had a tortoise since I was about 6 (30 years ago)

Its a fab pet IMO as it tootles around in the garden all summer and then come autumn, it goes to sleep until April and lo and behold - out she pops and its just like having a brand new pet for the dc's all over again.

I think it is probably a lot of work having a young tortoise as I looked into it recently and they seem to need to be kept under a heat lamp for 6 years ish so rather expensive!

We had a tortoise when I was growing up and they're lovely.

Dad put him into hibernation next to the tumble dryer though and he woke up too early!

You have to make sure you write them into your will because of their life expectancy. Also make sure your garden is super secure because my friends one escaped...and I won't finish the story...

I wasn't actually sure you could still legally buy them??

You can still legally buy them, but some species can only be sold under licence now and you must make sure you get the required paperwork/microchip etc. They do need quite a lot of care to ensure correct diet and environment. Not all are able to hibernate over winter (if too small/have been ill) and then they will need to be kept indoors over winter with suitable lighting and heat source to stay awake and keep eating. If you buy a baby tortoise then it will be indoors for a few years and getting the feeding right is very important for shell and bone formation. A great place for good advice is the tortoise trust. There are also contacts through them for rescue tortoises needing homes, so a possible option to getting an older tortoise that hopefully is more suitable for hibernation if that is the preferred winter option for you. Do read up and find out lots before you make this decision.

We have a one that is at least 50 years old if not 60. It was given to DH as a boy by someone whose family had him as children and they were all grown up.
He is a garden tortoise that hybernates every year from november to april. He is a little houdini, I have had to tortoise proof the fence as will bury under the smallest gap. I love our Joe (pictures on my profile) and I do breath a sigh of relief every year he comes out of hybernation ok. But I have looked at baby tortoises, it is very expensive for the start up kit and the tortoises themselves are not cheap.

Hi there,

Beautifulgirls has given some really great advice - especially the mention of the Tortoise Trust, who are a true authority on best tortoise keeping practice, but I would argue that there is absolutely no reason to keep a hatchling indoors for a few years. My hatchlings (I breed tortoises myself, but sadly not in the UK anymore) thrive on as much secure, sheltered (both from extreme sun in the summer, and from damp and cooler nights) outdoor time as possible, right from day one - literally!

A tortoise that is reared with as much access to the outdoors (while still always remembering that no tortoise species will have originated from a climate that is the same as ours) will do far better than any one that is kept exclusively indoors for any long period of time. There are the well known physiological benefits (mainly the availability of natural UVB, rather than from artificial lighting sources) but there's also a huge difference psychologically, in my experience, because of the larger space that can usually be dedicated to an outdoor enclosure, and the potential for boredom release and natural behaviour that comes from being able to forage as nature intended, rather than having all their food "served up" in front of them, and with them then left for the rest of the day thinking...hmmm...what to do now??

Sorry for the ramble, but what I'm basically trying to say is don't even consider a tortoise as a pet unless you plan to dedicate a decent sized portion of your garden to them...they are not an indoor pet (I know that you, Bobbalina, never implied that you thought they were, but you average, crappy death-store (sorry, reptile-store) will invariably sell you a sick import while saying that's fine, along with selling you a "vivarium" for them and a tub of pellet "tortoise"-food... )

I was about to write more when I remembered that I've already replied to similar threads before, so please can you just read my contributions to the following threads? (I'm lazy, so shoot me LOL!)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pets/762281-getting-a-tortoise-advise-please

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

I've put me email in those previous threads - I'm still happy for people to email me about anything tortoise-related.

Hope this helps?

In response to notjustapuppymum who said that her "Dad put him into hibernation next to the tumble dryer though and he woke up too early!"

I've been keeping and breeding tortoises for many, many years now as an adult, an also remember having one as a child... I cannot believe how the hell they ever survived hibernation as the standard "Blue Peter" advice (stick them in the airing cupboard, or later on, in a box in the garage/shed, etc) was so far removed from what we now know is what triggers/necessitates and then safely sustains hibernation in the wild.

A hibernating tortoise should never be kept below 0degC (frost damage) or above 10C (utilising fat stores until they run out, and then irreparable damage to vital internal organs.) Keeping them warm doesn't allow them to hibernate - it just starves them to death

I now know that's how my tortoise died as a child, despite any claims that he "ran away"...

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

The store I visited recommended keeping a tortoise in a vivarium all year round but letting it outside on warm days. They said letting tortoises hibernate shortens their life expectancy.

Looking on the web I find some really contrary advice that keeping them in a vivarium makes them ill - so I clearly need to do a lot more research. Thanks to lazydog for the links, I will study those.

We bought a tortoise in January from a UK breeder when she was 3 months old, (believed to be a she, its alot to do with the temperature when they mate apparently...) She is fab. Shes a herman, chose herman as they are a smaller variety and can be housed inside as well as out without needing a whole room, unlike the leopard tortoise which are prettier imo.

From all the research we did for our herman:
We made a tortoise table, which is preferable to a viv as they can be too moist too hot... just wrong, tortoise need good air circulation. This needs to have UV light, a heat lamp to create a basking area a cool area to retreat to. Ours is 6ft x 3ft and about a foot deep. we use the basic soil sand substrate sold in petshops for the base and change it every few months, but poo pick every few days - they poo alot! You need to vary the landscape for the tortoise, we have found bow likes piles of slate and pebbles to walk over, we have large shells to hide in. We keep trying to grow things for her but we arent very good at this , she will need a very shallow water bowl, the flat reptile ones are best, they like to get in to drink sometimes, well ours does anyway. Cuttlefish bone is good for keeping their beak down.
Bow eats mainly dandilion leaves at the moment, and also some herbal timothy hay, (sold in pet shops for rabbits) We were told that pellets can make nasty tortoises??
We wont hibernate her this year but will do next year, and will start with just a month, then the year after two months then three, until she sleeps for a third of the year. She will be put in a box with straw inside another box with staw and then into the fridge. it needs to be afridge thats in use to its opened very regulary to allow air circulation.
Shes too little to go out this year, but will go out next year in the warmer months, we will have an enclosure for her which will go onto the grass, this will have a shelter and water in it too. We are looking at the best type of grass to cover all our pets at the moment.
She does go for a wander around now upstairs (as thats where shes kept) and this will continue once she goes outside too, but we will be wary of too much time out of the sun/ tortoise table as shes needs the UV and heat lamp, so will go back in for evenings with these on and at night time so we know where she is

Cant think of anything else, oh year, for the first 3 months we had her we were on suicide watch as she kept tipping over onto her back, trying to climb things and toppling over, silly sod, shes grown out of that now

This is just our experience with what we have exstensivly researched.

I have a tortoise. We've had her about 6 months and she's about 15 years old. I'm not in the UK, though.

Anyway, she is quite honestly the best pet I've ever had. She has got used to us all, comes when we call her name, and comes up to the back door to look for us.

When I'm hanging up the washing she'll come over and join me. When the kids are playing outside she'll make sure she's near them.

And best of all she never wakes me up at night! I've never had such a quiet, peaceful pet!

If you do get one I really don't think you'll regret it.

[http://www.tortoisetortoise.com/index.html tortoise] I don't know if he is a good breeder but it may be worth chatting to him .

sorry tortoise

Hi again Bobbalina,

"The store I visited recommended keeping a tortoise in a vivarium all year round but letting it outside on warm days. They said letting tortoises hibernate shortens their life expectancy."

Please, please do NOT buy a tortoise from this store. They are obviously clueless and have spouted what is sadly all too common complete and utter bollox

Because of the dire advice they are giving prospective new tortoise owners, many of the (no doubt imported) hatchlings that they sell will probably never reach their 2nd birthday, when they potentially can live to well over 100 years old with proper care...

FWIW, properly controlled hibernation (for a species that has evolved to hibernate - not all do) will actually increase their lifespan, not decrease it.

If you want me to recommend a private breeder, email me with your location and I'll pass on good contacts.

BabyDubsEverywhere "(believed to be a she, its alot to do with the temperature when they mate apparently...)"

PMSL! Sorry - but that's so funny! I think you're getting a bit mixed up. ESD/TSD (Environmental/Temperature Sex Determination) is referring to egg incubation temperature, not the temperature when the pair of tortoises happened to shag!

same difference, as i said, tis what we were told, stil make bow a bow and not a beau??

Realise that sounds nuts, I wanted to call tortoise bow or girl beau for boy - (must remeber mumsnetters can not see inside my head)

To be honest ESD is tricky and very often a torty that was "incubated for female" will turn out to be male when it hits tort-puberty, so it's just a case of wait and see. Unisex name is an excellent idea!

I currently have a pair of young Hermanns here (2008 hatchlings) that I bought from a vet who breeds them. He no doubt has all the top of the range temperature control equipment for incubation, and the temperature he quoted is definitely well into the female range, but I'm 95% sure that one of the "girls" he sold me is actually going to turn out to be a boy... That's fine as they're not siblings...but I really wanted 2 more females... Ho-hum!

We have a family one that is with my grandparents atm. My mam got him approx 45 years ago. Apparantly when my Grandad dies we get him!

He wanders between house & garden & doesn't hibernate every year but has a box to go in when he is ready to. The box then goes in the box room away from the heat. He is v fast in the summer especially if the gate is left open a minute and used to be regularly returned home by the neighbours when my Grabdad got a new gate he could fit under. The dogs and neighbourhood cats all come and stare at him until he bites them too. He is currently destroying the newly planted flower beds.