Does anyone have any experience of keeping tortoises?

I have always wanted one, ever since I was little and just wanted to find out abit more about what they are like as pets etc.

Am I right in thinking they are quite hard work? Would it be possible to keep one if you didnt have a grassed area for it to graze? If not, I'm going to have to put my tortoise dream on hold for the time being :)

Vikki

yes our espaced after 4 weeks in this household that was 25 years ago

I have one (did have two from rescue - but one came out of hibernation too quickly 2 years ago and died.  Have now changed where we overwinter him and it seems to work better).  He is currently in a patio area as we have 'weed & feeded' the lawn and don't want him back on it until we have had more rain to ensure it has been well dispersed. 

He is very happy, especially when it is hot.  I pick weeds for him daily and he has occasional lettuce/cucumber/apple.  He comes in every evening and when he has the run of the garden it can take ages to find him!!  They take very little cleaning up after.  They are just fascinating to watch.  I think if you get young ones you have to keep them in a vivarium for a few years over winter as they can't hibernate for too long as youngsters.

My mum and dad had one years ago and my mum's always dreamed of having another one day!

I had one as a teenager, the dog kept trying to bury it until I put a stop to it. It's still alive and lives with my sister. Ancient creature!

I have a tortoise..Manfred :) he's in his fifties.

He is easy to look after in summer on a diet of weeds and occasional salad. He has a contained area in the garden to ensure he doesn't get lost. He comes inside every evening.

In winter he hibernates and getting him ready is the only tricky bit...then keeping an eye on him while he's in the fridge but it's all worth it.

he has the run of the garden it can take ages to find him!

I remember that as a child, we had two but a lot of land to cover and lots of places to hide, they are sooooooo........ good at hiding, when I was young everyone had a tortoise in their garden they were just always there, now they are quite costly you don't see them hardly at all. (Though one of my brothers has 3.)

They always seemed easy to care for and no trouble, I think I'd like to have one again some day. Yes, I think your right about the vivarium Ells-Bells, I know my brother had his 3 in one, one minute they were wee little things, now they are huge.

I have a tortoise called Fluffy who is nearly four. We have a tortoise table set up for him which is basically a large tray with different surfaces for him to potter about in. If you are keeping them indoors which we have to do because its rarely warm enough for him to go out, you will need a heat/UV light for it. Feeding is weeds which you can collect when you are out walking the dog :-D Don't feed the dried pellet food and don't put the tortoise in a vivarium/aquarium type set up. If you do have a grass area outside then great but remember they can shift really quickly when they want to and the will bury themselves too! We have a part of the garden sectioned off with a little fence and Wirenetting under the soil so he can't dig tunnel out. Its covered with net too so the birds/cats can't get him.

When I got fluffy I used these websites to read up before I got him - you can buy weed seed to grow in containers which helps over winter if you don't want to hibernate the tortoise.

Mediterranean tortoises This one has a wee book of edible weeds and loads of good info

All tortoises this one has care sheets for all different tortoises and a shop for weed seeds etc

All tortoises Tortoise trust has great article of welfare etc

Tortoises are fantastic pets and not at all labour intensive but you do want to make sure that you get it right so that they stay healthy and happy - they should outlive you then :-D

Good luck if you decide to go ahead - Fluffy is just a fab critter - we love him!

Ah this thread brings back memories.  A tortoise adopted me when I was six years old having escaped from who knows where, and no one wanted him back.  He has the very orginal name of Tommy and now lives with my nephew and his family. 

He was quite small when he came to live with us but is now enormous, probably approx fifty five years old.  He always had the run of the garden and rarely escaped very far.  Tommy loved to eat cucumber, must and blackcurrant jam on toast :-)  He hibernated in a cupboard in an unheated bedroom and if he woke early then he had the run of the house until it was warm enough to go outside.  Tommy also had a penchant for toes and love to have a nibble when you were unawares. 

I have also lived in the med and regularly had to avoid wild tortoises on the road in the hills.  We had a very large aggressive wild male tortoise who came to live with us having been turfed out of a neighbours garden for attacking the other 'wild' tortoises in their garden.  We never named him and he never strayed and lived quite happily on his own, probably because he was well fed.  When we left he was adopted by the landlord.   

Love them!  :-D

Thank you for those brilliant links! and fluffy, what an excellent name!

I looked into the table type set-up and the prices are crazy, now have a friend looking to build me one in the next week :) What do you line the tray with, you mentioned different surfaces and after looking on-line for suggestions I am none the wiser!

What do your dogs think of the tortoises? I know they are renound for being slow movers, but how slow? lol!

I really cant wait to get him/her, I've waited almost 15 years and now seems like the perfect time :)

Thank you!

Vikki x

Hi Vikki
I started off with a tray from Ikea like this but a wee bit bigger. In the bottom I put an old towel then I used seed trays filled with earth(compost), gravel you get for aquariums, some crushed shell, hemp bedding, put a different one in each to give him different surfaces to walk over and bury himself in. I had a piece of slate for putting his weeds on and a dish with some water, shallow enough for him to wander in and out. I also had som wood that you get for aquariums to decorate it and let him scramble over and a little house for him to sleep in that belonged to some other animal we had at one time :-) . The tortoise lady free booklet has some good pictures and that was where I got the idea of using the towel and the trays from. You can plant up seed trays with weeds and grass and put them in but I've never managed this successfully - I wouldn't make a gardener I'm afraid - I can't even grow weeds :-( but my outside weed garden is OK for him when its sunny.

I use a Zoomed UV light - they are expensive but last for ages and in winter I have a red heat bulb for overnight as our heating goes off at night and the room is cold. I use this kind of table now as it keeps the cats out :-) but they are really hard to find. I like the plastic tray as it is easy to clean and he can't climb the sides :-)

Fluffy's name came about as we didn't know if he was a boy or girl and I wanted to call him Worf but my daughter complained that that was a boy's name so I said well I'll call it Fluffy then and it stuck!

Forgot to say that the dogs ignore him now but Treacle used to stalk him before she got used to him. Bramble lay and watched as he climbed over her paws! The cats are more of an issue but he has taken to charging them - full height on legs and battering into them at full tortoise speed so they avoid him now too :-) I did catch one of my cats trying to get his head in her mouth :-o hence the cover over the tray!  Teasel (puppy) ignores him - he doesn't move fast enough for her to chase!

I was given a totoise when I was about 10 I believe then they were about 10s 6d thats about 52.5p in todays money. She must be 40+ by now then. funny thing is she has never grown. Over the years we had 4 or 5 at different times one or 2 escaped never to be seen again unforunately anthe others died but Freda carries on.
She lives in my Mums garden and overwinter digs herself in to hibernate we dont interfere at all having previously taken them in and kept them in the gargae in box of hay as it was advised at the time and then found them dead next spring. Freda just sems to know what to do instintively. She eats all sorts of salad items and loves bananas and tinned peaches. When I bought Freda it seemed everyone had  totoises sadly it seemed they were almost seen as disposable an awful thing to say about a living thing. Thank god  our ideas about animals has changed for the better over the years.
The family waits including my kids (17 +21) now for the annual message from mum of "Freda's awake" and then someone gets the privilage of giving her her warm bath and oiling her shell with olive oil and renewing her sticky tape on her back with her phone number and address in case she wanders.
Btw I had one who would chase you aroundthe garden trying to nip you toes if you stood still or sat down and ouch it hurt if he caught you!

the chelonian society website has infomation about them too

try this link http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/

At last, something I can really help with :-)    Im always reading and learning with the dog stuff but I can help with tortoises.  I have been keeping them/breeding/rescuing for many years.  I hope Im allowed to put my website link so you can get information www.thetortoisehouse.com (I apologise if links arent allowed).   You've already been given some excellent links especially The T Lady's site and The Tortoise Trust site.

One thing I would say straight away is dogs and tortoises dont mix.  There are many many attacks on tortoises usually fatal.  You cant blame the dogs obviously, its like a big old bone to them.  The majority of attacks are sadly by dogs that the owners said "wouldnt hurt a fly".  They may have lived in close proximity for many years without incident but if often happens in the end :-(

Any specific questions you have, dont hesitate to shout.

Lisa

hi Masonsmum, I had a tortoise given to me when I was 9. It was already fully grown and had greater ambitions than living in a wooden crate eating wilting salad. It escaped out the window of my basement room straight into a 4 acre paradise (my grandparents were botanists and world class horticulturists) where it lived a better but lonely in the wild, hibernating in the compost heaps and pleasing everyone with its springtime and summer promenades until I was in my 40s, when one spring he/she didn't show up.

These days you'd probably need to take care no one nicked it.

I have just returned home with my new baby, Herb. She is a Hermann's tortoise, approx 3.5 years old and I am head over heels in love :)

Mason, however, is not keen. As I type he is sat 3ft away from the table, arching his neck to see, whilst visably shaking. Im sure he will get used to the 'moving stone' eventually!

Thank you for all of your advice, Ive started growing weeds in window pots now for her to eat, as well as scouting out the local woodland to see what other edible weeds and plant I can pick for her.

She is suprisingly fast for a tortoise, much quicker than I would have expected! I can see she is going to keep me on my toes. I really cant wait until her new home is finished and I can start to 'landscape' her garden, so much fun :)

Vikki x

Lucky you! I would love to have a tortoise again...laughing at the thought of three very nonplussed dogs confronted by a moving stone!

Good luck with her - Fluffy is a Hermann's as well, Boettgeri not Hermanii - so Eastern med not southern. They are so coll to watch - like wee tanks on legs! :-)

My sister has a tortoise , it's favorite food are pansies. So you could have lovely colourful window boxes (all year round ) and a happy tortoise at the same time.

Torts are great, we have 2 eastern hermanns . They will be 2 years old tomorrow and we have had them since they were 6 weeks old and the size of a 50p, tbh they are still very weeny now :)  They are called Yoda and Vader :)

Ugh, this thread is making me want a tortoise but I have enough pets as it is really :(

I would also love a tortoise, But I dont think Im cut out for all the pre hibernation prep... and the thought of sticking one in the fridge is just too odd for me. :) LOL Ill stick to my mammals

You don't have to hibernate them though - mine hibernated for the first time this year - his choice, our heating was broken just as the bad snow started, he is fine though. We never had any problems the years we didn't hibernate him either although finding weeds in winter was a trial! Having said that my daughter wants a bearded dragon but the thought of live crickets in the house yuck, yuck, yuck! :-)

My personal feelings are that you should hibernate species that would naturally do so in the wild.  There is not enough research on the effects of non hibernation in hibernating species. For example, russian tortoises in the wild spend as little as four months of the year actually active and feeding with the other months hibernating or aestivating.  A species that has been around for millions of years and forced to spend 12 mths awake and eating cant be right?  Too much strain on the digestive system, massive overgrowth which in turns brings problems such as MBD.

Just my thoughts<g>

Lisa

I totally agree...torts that hibernate in the wild imo should be hibernated in captivity. It's not that difficult :)

No its not, its actually very easy if you are organised.   Far easier than searching for decent food through the winter months.

Lisa

Lisa, I agree with you re the hibernation, but do have some thoughts that these species hibernate because food and temperatures needed are not available, therefor if those needs can be met would they choose to hibernate?

A friends hermanns chooses to hibernate and winds herself down naturally, whlst her other one does not.  I have not hibernated mine yet, I was going to this year but chickened out.  I am still undecided as to winter 2010/11, but I probably will watch for signs of voluntary wind down and decide from there.

Lisa, if your post is in reply to mine then it doesn't make any sense...as that is what i said!

Sorry Gabrieldobe, it was in support of yours agreeing totally with you, I need to learn how to quote on here but not sure how to :-)

Lisa, I agree with you re the hibernation, but do have some thoughts that these species hibernate because food and temperatures needed are not available, therefor if those needs can be met would they choose to hibernate?

A friends hermanns chooses to hibernate and winds herself down naturally, whlst her other one does not.  I have not hibernated mine yet, I was going to this year but chickened out.  I am still undecided as to winter 2010/11, but I probably will watch for signs of voluntary wind down and decide from there. **********

Not sure how to do quotes on here so Ive had to copy and paste, sorry.

Jacque, Ive heard that point of view many times and I can see where you are coming from but at the same time, how can a species that has spent millions of years doing one thing then suddenly adapt to doing another.  How can a species that has only ever eaten for four months of the year (generally) then suddently eat for 12 mths of the year without adverse effects? 

I know from many years experience that trying to keep a hibernating species active (maybe because its sick and not fit to hibernate) is near on impossible.   Hatchlings are easy to keep going and personally I dont hibernate them in their first year (even tho they would do in the wild) but once past that stage, its pretty hard to keep them going due to light levels as much as temps.

Lisa

I don't disagree that they should hibernate, even if just for a short while, but it is fairly scary to do it when they are tiny and you haven't done it before :-) . Until this year Fluffy wasn't hibernated, he was very small - too small to even be microchipped, however, this year he has grown a lot and chose to hibernate himself which I was happy to let him do.

BTW if you look at the bottom of the post you are replying to you (after you click reply) will see little speech marks "" . If you highlight what you want to quote and click there it will quote it for you. :-)

:) No problem Lisa...to quote, go to post reply, then highlight the text and then click the "" button underneath the post you are responding to.

> I don't disagree that they should hibernate, even if just for a short while, but it is fairly scary to do it when they are tiny and you haven't done it before :-) . Until this year Fluffy wasn't hibernated, he was very small - too small to even be microchipped, however, this year he has grown a lot and chose to hibernate himself which I was happy to let him do.
>
>

Hi Dakkobear

Yes it is scarey when you first do it until you get your confidence.  However, there is a lot of help and support out there for you when you do I promise.

> BTW if you look at the bottom of the post you are replying to you (after you click reply) will see little speech marks "" . If you highlight what you want to quote, it will quote it for you. <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif" width=20 height=10>

Wow thanks, have I done it :-)

Lisa

Maybe thats why mine remained so active last winter, because they were still young.  Had my fridge all ready for them so looks like it may well be used this coming winter.  Scary scary !

I have always been careful not to overfeed as they are as good as the dogs are at "hungry eyes" lol.

I'm the same Jacque, although we used to hibernate the tortoise we had when I was young with no problems - no UV lights and tortoise tables then so we had no choice, it was a cardboard box in our very cold hall (before central heating) and no I'm not THAT old, this was in the '70's :-D

I always watch the feeding too - Fluffy's shell has very even growth and I'm trying hard to keep it that way :-)

Would love to see some pics Jacque and Dakkobear.  lisa@thetortoisehouse.com 

Lisa

Slow to react to this post...............
We had a Hermanns named her 'Speedy'.
My youngest dog wouldn't leave her alone, so she was dispatched to live with girlfriend of younger son.

Food.
All the weeds, loads of fruit and veg, she particularly loved peas, but beware bananas, she got very greedy with these.
A cuttle fish the same as budgies get, is also important for them.

Health.
She had to be wormed periodically, and her nails/claws would grow too long without lots of rough rocky surfaces to clamber over.
I also treated her to dried tortoise food occasionally to ensure she got a proper nutrional balance.

Karen :)

eta; after her 4th year she buried herself in the garden to hibernate.

> have just returned home with my new baby, Herb. She is a Hermann's tortoise, approx 3.5 years old and I am head over heels in love :-)
>
> Mason, however, is not keen. As I type he is sat 3ft away from the table, arching his neck to see, whilst visably shaking. Im sure he will get used to the 'moving stone' eventually!
>
> Thank you for all of your advice, Ive started growing weeds in window pots now for her to eat, as well as scouting out the local woodland to see what other edible weeds and plant I can pick for her.
>
> She is suprisingly fast for a tortoise, much quicker than I would have expected! I can see she is going to keep me on my toes. I really cant wait until her new home is finished and I can start to 'landscape' her garden, so much fun :-)
>

Hi Vikki

Congratulations on your new baby.  Stick to as much of a wild diet as possible, no fruit or pellets, they are really bad for them.  Its amazing how many plants are edible once you start to recognise what they are.  Big favourites for the summer are Hibiscus flowers, lavateria flowers and wild geranium flowers.  You probably have quite a lot in your garden already.

Good luck

Lisa

you should never feed dried tortoise food! its far too high in protein and causes shells to grow too quickly and pyramid. weeds is what a tortoise needs- research it on the official tortoise sites.

No disrespect but is the prepared dried tortoise feed so bad?
I still advocate it as a balanced failsafe for out of season nutrition in small doses.
Perhaps akin to a kibble and raw food in dog feeding.

Karen :)

No one in the tortoise club i belong to would use or advocate using dried tortoise food.

> No disrespect but is the prepared dried tortoise feed so bad?
> I still advocate it as a balanced failsafe for out of season nutrition in small doses.
> Perhaps akin to a kibble and raw food in dog feeding.
>

Hi Karen

Yes unfortunately it is bad.  Have a read of these links http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/webdiet.htm and

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/dietcons.html  for more info.

Lisa :-)

I wouldn't feed it, mixed leaves from the supermarket is better if you can't get any weeds.