Hi all,
I know this is the introduction forum, but I'd like to put my situation out there and see if anyone has any advise for me. This has all happened very fast!
Firstly I should say that a Brit living in Indonesia long term.
I had both tortoises and terrapins as a kid and have long had a dream to own them again as an adult. It is clear that local species need a lot of help to ride out this crazy period of human civilization, so I have only been looking at Indonesian species. In fact every plant in my garden is endemic to this island, which I am very proud of. Anyway, over the last couple of weeks, there has been a flurry of activity on the Manouria Emys group about registering your tortoise with the local government. They have been protected by Indonesian law for the last 2 years and the grace period for registering your Emys is coming to an end (on Wednesday actually).
I told my partner about this, who said 'oh, my family have some of those'. Of course I had to confirm, and they do... in the most dreadful looking enclosure you have ever seen. Long story short, not wanting to be doing something illegal and knowing they are being neglected, they felt they would have a better home here. They are on their way to us now. I should be able to have them looked over by a vet, microchipped and take them for inspection by the authorities in the nick of time.
I need to give these buggers the best possible chance, turning the back garden into an awesome forest tortoise habitat, with a wallowing pool, plenty of areas to dig and hide etc. I am of course worried about absolutely everything, especially after reading through some FAQ posts here! I am worried about them co-habitating, although they have been together for at least 5 or 6 years. I'm hoping I won't need to separate them.
My main worry is rats. Lots of tortoise keepers in the UK have problems with rats but it seems to be limited to during hibernation. I don't think there is a big rat problem where I am, but my garden backs onto a paddy field, there are inevitably rats around. Will I need to put them away / or lock them in some rat proof enclosure each night, or will they be safe in their burrows?
Any other advice would be very welcome. They have 3, 2 females and 1 male (I will need to confirm that) around 7-8 years old and 20-30 cm.
Thanks for reading my bumbly post!
I know this is the introduction forum, but I'd like to put my situation out there and see if anyone has any advise for me. This has all happened very fast!
Firstly I should say that a Brit living in Indonesia long term.
I had both tortoises and terrapins as a kid and have long had a dream to own them again as an adult. It is clear that local species need a lot of help to ride out this crazy period of human civilization, so I have only been looking at Indonesian species. In fact every plant in my garden is endemic to this island, which I am very proud of. Anyway, over the last couple of weeks, there has been a flurry of activity on the Manouria Emys group about registering your tortoise with the local government. They have been protected by Indonesian law for the last 2 years and the grace period for registering your Emys is coming to an end (on Wednesday actually).
I told my partner about this, who said 'oh, my family have some of those'. Of course I had to confirm, and they do... in the most dreadful looking enclosure you have ever seen. Long story short, not wanting to be doing something illegal and knowing they are being neglected, they felt they would have a better home here. They are on their way to us now. I should be able to have them looked over by a vet, microchipped and take them for inspection by the authorities in the nick of time.
I need to give these buggers the best possible chance, turning the back garden into an awesome forest tortoise habitat, with a wallowing pool, plenty of areas to dig and hide etc. I am of course worried about absolutely everything, especially after reading through some FAQ posts here! I am worried about them co-habitating, although they have been together for at least 5 or 6 years. I'm hoping I won't need to separate them.
My main worry is rats. Lots of tortoise keepers in the UK have problems with rats but it seems to be limited to during hibernation. I don't think there is a big rat problem where I am, but my garden backs onto a paddy field, there are inevitably rats around. Will I need to put them away / or lock them in some rat proof enclosure each night, or will they be safe in their burrows?
Any other advice would be very welcome. They have 3, 2 females and 1 male (I will need to confirm that) around 7-8 years old and 20-30 cm.
Thanks for reading my bumbly post!