Tortoises

Anyone own or ever owned one as a pet?

We're looking to possibly get one or two.

Any advice/info appreciated.

 

You'll be lucky. Aren't they a protected species now?

 

You can't import them, only if they're captively bred in the UK. Certain species require licenses.

Seem pretty easy to get hold of, but the various species, well.... vary.

Seems to be a lot of contradicting information about.

I'd prefer to get one local, but can't find anything.

 

When I was a kid one of my friends had a couple of tortoises. One thing I remember is that they are remarkably adept at escaping from gardens etc and can cover a surprising distance given an hour or so. Tortoises can dig under shallow fences etc and their existence seems to be based around eating, sleeping and trying to escape. This is in fact all they do, but they are cool things nonetheless. I never got the sense that they recognised anyone in the way a cat or dog does. IIRC my friends family ended up painting their address and phone details on their shells as they’d frequently end up streets away.

Tony.

 

Even pet tortoises can live for 50+ years assuming they don't get run over whilst roaming the streets, etc.

I find the idea of owning a pet that may outlive me mildly depressing.

 

Tell that to Harriet - 175 and still going strong:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4438448.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet

 

we looked into it once - the pet shop where my kids got their lizards has tortoises, amd my wife fell for these egg size little fellas. nowadays people are recommended to keep them in vivariums rather than in the garden half the year and in a shoebox in the loft the other half - and in a viv they don't need to hibernate. they are very expensive now, so maybe all the extra precautions are justified...

 

Me and my younger brother found a tortoise wandering around in the woods behind our house. it looked a bit dull, thin, tatty and bedragled. My old man fed him up for a couple of weeks, and gave his shell a good clean and shine up using something like Olive oil.
He looked really nice after couple of weeks however we found out how powerfull their jaws are when he bit my brothers finger whilst he was feeding him some lettuce, the Totoise (very slowly) smashed a perfect 'V' shape in my brothers thumb nail, and oh how he howled like a banshee with the pain for hours afterwards.
Unfortunately for my Mum ( who hates all animals ....) that was it and the Tortoise had to go. My old man let him go again in the middle of some large pasture type area with bordering woodland, he's probably still bimbling around in it now now, that was about 25 - 30 years ago now.

Based on my own personal experience I'd supervise very small kids near to one of these vicious reptiles and tell older kids not to put their fingers in its mouth - or else !

 

After joining and reading several Tortoise forums I can inform you you would be flamed for such comments!!!

They're a passionate bunch.

Pet shops (which are often bad places to buy animals from) will push viv's but theyre known to be bad and hav every significant negative impact on their life and life span!
Open top table type set ups seem to be recommended with basking and uv lights.

It's quite daunting how much there is to kow about them. But considering they're likely to outlive me, it's best to go into it informed.

Tracking down a breeder close to me has been hard. There's several internet based companies who will post them, but they don't come across as seeming to really know much about the animals or really caring about them.
However, we've managed to track down a breeder (don't make the mistake of calling them dealers as I did on a tortoise forum!) about an hour away. She seems to know what she's doing and has a genuine interest in the animals welfare having asked how we intend to keep it and such. Always reassuring and preferable over someone just out to make a buck.

So, we'll be going for a look and possibly getting two Hermann Boettgeri tortoises this evening!

Prices vary with species and age. MOst people sell Hermanns for around £100 - £150. Not cheap, but hey! that could work out as £1 a year if they live to 100+
The biggest shock is how much the lighting costs! A lot of people recommend a combined UV/light/Heat lamp and the ones I've seen cost about £50! Again, they're meant to last a couple of years so should be ok.

Pic's to follow.

I don't think I ever posted pic's of our frogs and ducks?

MO

 

Just spotted on MSN..... Harriet died today aged 175.

 

175 years and decides to die the same day I'm getting mine!

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!!!

 

It's the circle of life...

BTW, my colleague (who happens to look like Bill Oddie!) breeds tortoises, and he SWEARS by keeping his in the fridge during hybernation. Random but true, and none have died from it. Don't quote me on that though!

 

how can they prove that she was 175..??

I'm not doubting it, just curious...

 

I think there was DNA testing or something for age proof.

I've heard about using the fridge too! Infact, I read an email on a tortoise site that someone had sent to a load of fridge manufacturers asking for details on how they work and suitability for tortise use. Only two replied! The replies both start something like "this is without doubt the strangest request we've ever recieved!"

Anyhoooo

Got the li'l fellas and they seem to be settling in nicely. I'll get some pic's took later.

 

great! they're lovely creatures!

 

Can't tell what sex they are till a few years old (these are 10 MOnths) and a certain size, but for now at least we've called them fred & Wilma.

 

And some pic's of the frogs....

 

My parents have had a tortoise since before I was born, used to have two but one died. The remaining one lives in the garden then hibernates in a box in the garage. Having secured the garden the biggest worry is that she will flip herself over when no one is around. She likes climbing the garden steps (she's a bit bigger than the ones in the pics) and is very persistant - managing to push over garden pots and so on. So yes - they do seem to have an insatiable desire to explore and bite toes from time to time...

 

We've had to un-flip once already!

 

Why not glue an RFID tag to the shell then all you need do is to walk around your property with a hand held scanner to discover where they have hidden?