How we breed tortoises here at the AZ Tortoise Compound

mark109r said:

Would love to hear about, and see some pics of your spiders! Thanks for starting this thread, it's been very informative.

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Az tortoise compound said:

To reply to awesomecs post - "um isint that overcrowded dude but nice stock might buy from you when I'm 16"

Overcrowding can be a huge health risk for tortoises. All tortoises are feces eaters and that is the number one way for them to get each other sick besides basic contact. An over crowed enclosure can also lead to the tortoises water dish getting built up with too much feces and passing along sicknesses. At Arizona Tortoise Compound we maintain a huge variety of tortoise species but most of our groups are manageable numbers. Once some of our tortoises species get setup nicely in a herd or colony setting, we will close that group. Meaning we will not introduce more tortoises into that enclosure, we will start a second enclosure and create a second herd if we need to increase our total number of breeders. Our space limitation is what determines the size of our groups. All species and sub species are housed separately and prevention of cross contamination is always in the fore front of our minds. Even when we purchasing tortoises, from adults to hatchlings, we have to keep them separated from other groups until we are for sure the tortoises are not carrying an hidden pathogens or bacteria's. Most fecal testing is done in house but we do have a close working relationship with a great local veterinarian. Also many of our customers are vet techs, veterinarians, zoos and other organizations that do their own testing once they receive tortoises from us and provide feed back. A lot of the first time tortoise buyers are now taking there tortoises in for a vet once they receive their new tortoise. While tortoises are long lived we always recommend annual vet check ups for your tortoises. Annual preventative care is also done here as well, from fecal testing to de-worming. With most all of our tortoises living outdoors, they go through seasonal and temperature changes. This can play a role on their health depending. We try to be pro-active and think about their needs before they need it. Its always a learning experience and that's what makes tortoise keeping so awesome.

We will touch on the Hermann's Tortoise next and the three sub-species we maintain...

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Bre Hopkins said:

Thanks so much for the response, I live in congress so its a little bit cooler then phoenix and am a little worried about cooler nights too

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