Rightmove house with a tortoise room!

[CornedBeef451]

We're thinking of moving to this area and saw this house. It seems to have reasonably sized rooms but one bedroom seems to be a tortoise room. I'm torn between what a lovely idea and WTF.

Will the floor be soaked in tortoise pee? Is there visible mould in the tortoise room or just an unfortunate shadow? Anyway, thought someone might like a look at it, otherwise perfectly normal house.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/120511961#/?channel=RES_BUY

Oh my word.

Viewing in person is a must. I've experienced a property with a free roaming tortoise and it was not nice, I must say. But it can be remedied.

The possible mould needs to be checked out as others say.

(I still can't get past giving the master bedroom to a tortoise!!)

Thank you @McScreamysGhostPants

I did think the roof looked a bit dodgy which would explain the mould.

It's quite cheap for the area, particularly with 4 reasonably sized bedrooms, most have 2 big rooms and then any others are tiny.

It's not for us but it's nowhere near as bad as this one was. Estate agent had been told it needed a bit of work but the annex smelt like sewage, mould and death! It was originally on for £450k.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116245013

This one sold very quickly, it could be amazing but needs so much work.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119822327

Tortoises don't smell (& the advice is not to hibernate them these days).
Haven't looked at the photos!

The torts themselves won't be a problem. They aren't smelly animals.

However they do require the right heating and humidity which is likely to cause damp and mould.

Whilst the idea of a free range reptile would be a bit of an off-put for me generally, I agree with others that the testudines are the least of your worries with that place. Looks like a nightmare of poor upkeep and style choices made by someone’s gran, circa 1986.

I have two tortoises and our specialist vet advised not hibernating them. They're not "poor tortoises" at all. They also don't smell.

The main issue with overwintering inside is the required humidity and warmth. You need to be careful not to create damp/mould.

@Cookerhood

Tortoises don't smell (& the advice is not to hibernate them these days). Haven't looked at the photos!

This isn't true. Temperate /Mediterranean species should be hibernated if healthy and a god weight. They need to be wormed 8 and 4 Weiss before hand and then starved for 3-4 weeks. Then they should be put in a large vented box ( think 9 litre really useful shoe box) and put in a fridge at 3-5c .

This species of tortoise does not need high humidity, that would give it a respiratory infection in no time. This is a desert species that lives on grasses and hay with 10% veg and calcium supplements.

I had to keep my tortoise in my bedroom for a few weeks once and put down matting but it still stank - they wee a lot! I was replacing the floor anyway so was fine but I wouldn't buy a house with a tortoise roaming around !

I had a hamster room once. 26 of them.

The room might have a few issues if it’s been used like that for a while, which I assume it has. But it also looks like the whole house needs a lot of work anyway.

The carpet in the dining room shocked me more that the tortoise!!!

I had yo go through the photos twice to spot the tortoise room. Could only see one tortoise. The walls and ceiling in this room did look a bit grotty with mould/damp. I wouldn't buy it.

McScreamy is correct - that's exactly how my sister hibernates her mediterranean, on advice from the various specialist societies she's a member of.

I hadn't even noticed the purple carpet!

We won't be going to look at it because of the visible mould issues but the decor wouldn't really bother me if there was nothing majorly wrong. Our current house we've done the electrics, boiler, kitchen, windows, roof and converted the carport.

I really like this house, just trying to figure out if we can afford it. Although we haven't seen it yet so it might have something weird lurking too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/120146987

A colleague of mine went to view a house once where all the doors from the kitchen cupboards had been removed and replaced with wire mesh, and they were all filled with birds. 😱.

I really like the one you've just linked - a proper 'Tardis' house. The big open plan kitchen/dining/living area - plus a separate lounge and that sun-room type bit gives you lots of leisure space. I can't comment on price as I don't know the area but it would definitely be on my shortlist to view based on the photos.

There's some terrace houses near my parents and one man owns two next to each other. One is just for his giant turtles!

[quote CornedBeef451]This one sold very quickly, it could be amazing but needs so much work.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119822327[/quote]
Love that one. When I think what little you could get for that money round here..

@AngelDelightUK

The carpet in the dining room shocked me more that the tortoise!!!

Me too. I'd prefer a tortoise room to that!

This is the sort of thing I love about Mumsnet.
First that someone can and does post something random like "here's a house with a tortoise room" in the first place, then within a page a tortoise breeder has popped up.

My main concern is the extension that practically touches the next door neighbour’s extension.
Semi detached? Only by about 3cm.

[quote CornedBeef451]This one sold very quickly, it could be amazing but needs so much work.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119822327[/quote]
I would live in that house as it is if I couldn’t afford to do it up.
Yes, it’s VERY dated but it is gorgeous.

Looks like there is some kind of water receptacle on the radiator to create humidity - radiators go on, water evaporates, creates humid air for tortoise. You can see there is condensation on the window. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the cause of the mould and that structurally the house is fine. You could get them to knock a good few bob off by saying it has other causes like a leaking roof though! So bizarre that they didn't clear up for photos and put the tortoise downstairs for the day

It's a bit weird, but what I find even more weird is the way the estate agents (or whoever is taking the pictures) take pictures of the corner of a room, or instead of pictures of the hallway, it's just a picture of a unit . I see this all the time atm.