New to forum, planning for first tortoise

[jknoche]

Hello all!
Current resident of the southern US (Atlanta GA metro) and we're planning to purchase our first tortoise soon. The wife and daughter have fallen in love with the testudos, and it's looking like we're going to end up with either a juvenile male Marginated or a juvenile female Hermann's (as this is what our local reptile shops have in stock, and we've seen both out and moving around.) Both of them are active and healthy. we have a 2x3 table to get started and some room on our townhouse lot where i plan to dig in a 4x8 outdoor enclosure once they're a bit more established.
Is that going to be enough space for these particular tortoises? Is one or the other better suited to outdoor keeping with our weather here in north-central GA? As we aren't planning to breed, will one sex be preferable? I have concerns about females and follicular stasis/eggbound issues, but not sure how common that is in tortoises.

Any advise is welcomed.
Thanks in advance!

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome. If they are hatchlings they need a closed chamber enclosure with high humidity. If they are not hatchings then the table you have is way too small.
The Hermanns is your better one to get as the outside enclosure you are planning is to small for a marinated and really should be bigger for the Hermanns to.

 

[jknoche]

Good to know. For what it's worth the table would only be until we're certain the little guy/gal is stable and ready to live outside.
After taking some measurements it looks like I could go to 8x8 for an outside enclosure without too much trouble aside from the digging and extra materials. Would that be generally sufficient?

 

[Tom]

Hello all!
Current resident of the southern US (Atlanta GA metro) and we're planning to purchase our first tortoise soon. The wife and daughter have fallen in love with the testudos, and it's looking like we're going to end up with either a juvenile male Marginated or a juvenile female Hermann's (as this is what our local reptile shops have in stock, and we've seen both out and moving around.) Both of them are active and healthy. we have a 2x3 table to get started and some room on our townhouse lot where i plan to dig in a 4x8 outdoor enclosure once they're a bit more established.
Is that going to be enough space for these particular tortoises? Is one or the other better suited to outdoor keeping with our weather here in north-central GA? As we aren't planning to breed, will one sex be preferable? I have concerns about females and follicular stasis/eggbound issues, but not sure how common that is in tortoises.

Any advise is welcomed.
Thanks in advance!

Hello and welcome!

Both of those species are great for your climate, but both need much larger areas.

Good for you for learning what will be needed ahead of time! I wish everyone did that. We are happy to help you have a happy and successful tortoise keeping experience.

In most cases, pet stores are not a good place to get a tortoise, tortoise care advice, or tortoise care products. Over all, they have a dismal track record and tend to parrot the same old wrong info that you find everywhere else. Show us a picture of how they are housing the tortoises at the shop and that will give us clues as to what their level of knowledge is.

Males tend to be more outgoing than females, but egg binding is rare for tortoises that have large outdoor enclosures to roam. Typically females will not produce eggs if there is no male present, but it is not impossible.

Start with this thread, and look for the temperate species care sheet near the bottom for info that is more geared toward the species you are interested in. In that thread is an explanation of how to do the outdoor housing successfully and protect them from unexpected weather changes at inconvenient times:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

Good to know. For what it's worth the table would only be until we're certain the little guy/gal is stable and ready to live outside.
After taking some measurements it looks like I could go to 8x8 for an outside enclosure without too much trouble aside from the digging and extra materials. Would that be generally sufficient?

8x8 is too small for a marginated and it is marginal at best for a hermanni. Tortoises need a lot of room. They need large enclosures.

Also, there should be no need for digging. You can just make the enclosure above ground and set the blocks, or boards or siding at ground level with no gaps underneath. There is a lot of bad info out in the world. If you are looking at FB or YT for info, you are going to quickly be frustrated and confused.

 

[jknoche]

Hello and welcome!

Both of those species are great for your climate, but both need much larger areas.

Good for you for learning what will be needed ahead of time! I wish everyone did that. We are happy to help you have a happy and successful tortoise keeping experience.

In most cases, pet stores are not a good place to get a tortoise, tortoise care advice, or tortoise care products. Over all, they have a dismal track record and tend to parrot the same old wrong info that you find everywhere else. Show us a picture of how they are housing the tortoises at the shop and that will give us clues as to what their level of knowledge is.

Males tend to be more outgoing than females, but egg binding is rare for tortoises that have large outdoor enclosures to roam. Typically females will not produce eggs if there is no male present, but it is not impossible.

Start with this thread, and look for the temperate species care sheet near the bottom for info that is more geared toward the species you are interested in. In that thread is an explanation of how to do the outdoor housing successfully and protect them from unexpected weather changes at inconvenient times:

Info For New People. Please Read This First.

Hello and welcome to tortoiseforum.org! We are all glad you are here! There is no other forum like this anywhere. We have tens of thousands of members from all over the world ranging from kids with their first tortoise to people who have been breeding and keeping high end tortoises since the...

tortoiseforum.org

So, at what point would we be getting above "marginal" for a Hermann's or into tolerable territory for a Marginated? I'm working with a townhouse lot on a hill so I may have to get pretty creative to go much above a 10x10

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Good to know. For what it's worth the table would only be until we're certain the little guy/gal is stable and ready to live outside.
After taking some measurements it looks like I could go to 8x8 for an outside enclosure without too much trouble aside from the digging and extra materials. Would that be generally sufficient?

By digging do you mean sinking the enclosure fence down to the ground? Hermans is probably going to be the right choice for you since they are easier to provide the best life possible in your situation.

Have you looked into adopting a tortoise from a local rescue of some sorts? At least here in Finland there are a bunch of adult tortoises looking for a home. Plus adults are a bit easier for beginners since they aren't as fragile anymore. Also, an adult tortoise can still live for decades.

 

[Tom]

So, at what point would we be getting above "marginal" for a Hermann's or into tolerable territory for a Marginated? I'm working with a townhouse lot on a hill so I may have to get pretty creative to go much above a 10x10

Do you have control of the yard space, or is it maintained by a gardening company?

For a tortoise the size of an adult marginated, I like something around 30x30 feet. For a hermanni, 10x10 isn't the end of the world, but that is pretty cramped. Can you incorporate part of a hill to make more space? Hills are a great feature in a tortoise enclosure an helps to keep them fit.

 

[jknoche]

Do you have control of the yard space, or is it maintained by a gardening company?

For a tortoise the size of an adult marginated, I like something around 30x30 feet. For a hermanni, 10x10 isn't the end of the world, but that is pretty cramped. Can you incorporate part of a hill to make more space? Hills are a great feature in a tortoise enclosure an helps to keep them fit.

I have control of the yard--homeowner and no HOA, so short of county code I can do pretty much as I like
The back yard is the dog's area. The front yard is a steep hill with a lot of English Ivy I would need to do away with. I have a probably 15x15 patch at the top of the hill, leaving room for access to the back yard gate and hose bib puts me at about 10x10. The front hill isn't impossible but getting rid of the ivy patch will definitely take some doing and I generally prefer the enclosure not be too visible from the street so as to avoid nosy neighbors bothering the animal. Both areas are part shade but with decent sun during peak hours.

We are definitely leaning towards the smaller species, preferably not Russians because they have a reputation as little escape artists and while GA is reasonably mild in winters we do get a few concerning cold snaps.

 

[jknoche]

By digging do you mean sinking the enclosure fence down to the ground? Hermans is probably going to be the right choice for you since they are easier to provide the best life possible in your situation.

Have you looked into adopting a tortoise from a local rescue of some sorts? At least here in Finland there are a bunch of adult tortoises looking for a home. Plus adults are a bit easier for beginners since they aren't as fragile anymore. Also, an adult tortoise can still live for decades.

I have, and the local rescue does have a couple of adult Russian/Horsfield Tortoises available for adoption because they escaped and were found wandering by nice people who realized they didn't belong.
Which is part of the reason I'm not especially stoked about Russian tortoises--I prefer something that isn't going to actively fight my efforts to provide it a good home LOL.