Tell me about your tort/help me decide if I should get one

p_bear141

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Joined
Oct 3, 2016
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5
Location (City and/or State)
Northeast
Hi everyone! I don’t have a tort, but I want one! Of course, I know that it’s a huge investment in both money and time so I’m really trying to make sure I understand everything about their care before I make the decision to get one. I’ve seen the links to the care sheets, so don’t worry about linking me to those. I want to hear your real life experiences! How did you get your first tort? Did you go through a process of researching, etc. or did you just happen to obtain one? How much do you interact with it? How much time do you spend per day/week/month taking care of it? Also, for humidity, do you have something that regulates it, or is a hide box sufficient? Just asking because I’ve heard different things. I live in Michigan, if that helps to know the weather.
 

Yvonne G

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Where you live should play a big part in what species of tortoise you get. Living in the Northeast, it would be much easier on the tortoise keeping factor if you get a species that hibernates. Setting up a tortoise that comes from a warm-winter country would be expensive and difficult.

If I just had one tortoise, living in Central California where the winters are pretty cold for a tortoise, I would probably choose my desert tortoise. Since you can't have a desert tortoise in the Northeast, I'd go with a Russian.

The Russian tortoise is a scrappy little tortoise that becomes very humanized. Mine live outside during the warm weather and hibernate in the winter. They have a nice yard and they spend their days either burrowed under the grass or grazing. When I walk by their yard they raise their heads and look at me, wondering if the food goddess is about to drop some tasty morsel in front of them.

Whatever the ambient humidity is here is fine for Russians. Once they're past the 'growing' stage they really don't have a humidity requirement.

It takes me no time at all to walk around their yard with the pooper scooper and clean up the poop, give them fresh water, put down a snack. My main time with them is spent just standing there watching them.

I provided a little dog house for them, but they prefer to burrow down into the roots of the grass (or UNDER the dog house). They make their own hiding places.

When it looks like it's getting too cold for them and they start digging a burrow in earnest, I box them up in shredded newspaper and place them in a cool, dark, quiet spot for the winter.
 

Tom

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Hi everyone! I don’t have a tort, but I want one! Of course, I know that it’s a huge investment in both money and time so I’m really trying to make sure I understand everything about their care before I make the decision to get one. I’ve seen the links to the care sheets, so don’t worry about linking me to those. I want to hear your real life experiences! How did you get your first tort? Did you go through a process of researching, etc. or did you just happen to obtain one? How much do you interact with it? How much time do you spend per day/week/month taking care of it? Also, for humidity, do you have something that regulates it, or is a hide box sufficient? Just asking because I’ve heard different things. I live in Michigan, if that helps to know the weather.

The answers to your questions will vary a lot depending on species, age, climate, and care routine. For example: Some people hibernate temperate species and some people don't. Keeping an adult sulcata in any of the southern states with a large outdoor enclosure and a heated night box, could not be easier. There is not much maintenance on a daily basis at all. This time of year with our cooler weather, rain and weeds, I really don't do anything for them. They eat all the weeds and the rain refills their water tubs. I just shut their doors at night and lock them in their boxes, and then open the doors in the morning. I clean the boxes once a week or so. Keeping the same tortoise in a NY apartment or a Northeast basement in winter would require a lot of work, risk, expense and tremendous effort and time. It could be done, but not easily. Conversely, keeping a Testudo species in your part of the world with an indoor and an outdoor enclosure for fair weather, and hibernating it during winter time, would be a pretty easy keeper.

Here are some tortoise generalities that many new keepers don't seem to realize until it is too late:
1. Tortoises need a LOT of space. Very large enclosures are required, even for small species. Other reptile species can survive and thrive in 40 gallon tanks from the pet store. Not tortoises. I recommend a minimum of 4x8 feet for a single russian tortoise kept indoors. They aren't going to suddenly drop dead if your enclosure is only 3x6', but the smaller you go, the worse it is. What I'm saying is that you will not be able to buy a properly sized enclosure in a pet shop. You'll have to make something that is species appropriate for your area.
2. You can't just go to the grocery store and buy food… Well… you can, but its not very good for them. That is kind of like fast food for humans. They can live on it, but its not ideal. Tortoises need a high fiber diet that has the correct high calcium levels, and the correct calcium to phosphorous ratio. Grocery store produce falls short in all three of these measurements. The correct diet is easy to provide by offering a wide variety of the right species of weeds, leaves, grasses for some species, succulents (like opuntia cactus pads), and some flowers. Finding these items in a North Eastern winter will not be easy, but you can grow a lot of them yourself, and you can also add things to the grocery store foods to make them better. Learn what these amendments are ahead of time.
3. Pet stores in general give bad tortoise advice and sell products that are useless, overpriced, and in some cases dangerous.
4. Most vets don't know diddly squat about tortoises. Many of them will do things that harm or kill tortoises out of pure ignorance.
5. Most of what you find written on tortoise care in books and on the internet is all based off of the same old, out-dated, incorrect information that was originally based off of false assumptions about life in the wild for many tortoise species. It is wrong and following it will lead to bad results and failure. I speak from experience here.
6. The vast array of available equipment and opinions of what to do and how to do it is overwhelming for most new tortoise keepers. My advice: Stop listening to every one from every source. Pick one person who has demonstrated the results that you wish to achieve, and follow that one person's advice. Don't mix and match advice from multiple sources, as that often leads to disaster. In time you will understand why.
7. TORTOISES SHOULD NOT BE KEPT IN PAIRS!!! Groups are often fine, but NOT pairs.
8. Species should never be mixed.
9. Tortoises should not be allowed to roam loose on the floor or ground in areas where humans live and go about their daily routines. Then need to be contained in large enclosures that are designed and kept safe for them, both indoors and out.
10. Reptile shows, pet stores and large on-line brokers are generally speaking the worst places to obtain a new tortoise from.
11. Many people are worried about the threat posed by wildlife when tortoise are outdoors during fair weather. There is some validity to this and care should be taken, but do you know what what the single biggest threat to your tortoise is? The loving family dog. Or your friend's, neighbor's or family's loving family dog. Keep your new tortoise safe and separated from all dogs all the time.
12. The majority of your tortoise supplies will be found at the hardware store, not the pet shop. Much cheaper and much better.

Hope this info helps with your decision. Please question any of this that doesn't make sense. Ask for clarification or more explanation. All of the above came to me over several decades. It is hard won knowledge and it came at a great cost. I hope that sharing it with you will shorten your path and save you a lot of the heartache and trouble I went through to learn it all.
 
Last edited:

p_bear141

New Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2016
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Northeast
Where you live should play a big part in what species of tortoise you get. Living in the Northeast, it would be much easier on the tortoise keeping factor if you get a species that hibernates. Setting up a tortoise that comes from a warm-winter country would be expensive and difficult.

If I just had one tortoise, living in Central California where the winters are pretty cold for a tortoise, I would probably choose my desert tortoise. Since you can't have a desert tortoise in the Northeast, I'd go with a Russian.

The Russian tortoise is a scrappy little tortoise that becomes very humanized. Mine live outside during the warm weather and hibernate in the winter. They have a nice yard and they spend their days either burrowed under the grass or grazing. When I walk by their yard they raise their heads and look at me, wondering if the food goddess is about to drop some tasty morsel in front of them.

Whatever the ambient humidity is here is fine for Russians. Once they're past the 'growing' stage they really don't have a humidity requirement.

It takes me no time at all to walk around their yard with the pooper scooper and clean up the poop, give them fresh water, put down a snack. My main time with them is spent just standing there watching them.

I provided a little dog house for them, but they prefer to burrow down into the roots of the grass (or UNDER the dog house). They make their own hiding places.

When it looks like it's getting too cold for them and they start digging a burrow in earnest, I box them up in shredded newspaper and place them in a cool, dark, quiet spot for the winter.


Thank you! What about a Hermann's? I've also considered one of them.
 

lisa127

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Location (City and/or State)
NE Ohio
There's just one thing I want to add. I've been keeping reptiles of all kinds for over 20 years. Tortoises are in general more complicated to care for than your average lizard or snake. But so worth it!
 

Yvonne G

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I've never had a Hermanni, so I can't help you there.
 

domagoj

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Aug 20, 2016
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Croatia
Thank you! What about a Hermann's? I've also considered one of them.
They're great. The size depends on the subspecies you get. Eastern hermanns tortoise is quite bigger than the western subspecies. The dalmatian tortoise is pretty much the same as eastern hermanns. The care is very similar to russians. Marley eats out of my hands, let's me pet him and he's not scared easily. I spend 5 minutes every day for feeding and changing the water. Three times a week he gets warm 20 minute soaks.
 

Shaif

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Joined
Aug 26, 2016
Messages
438
Location (City and/or State)
Pittsburgh, PA
The answers to your questions will vary a lot depending on species, age, climate, and care routine. For example: Some people hibernate temperate species and some people don't. Keeping an adult sulcata in any of the southern states with a large outdoor enclosure and a heated night box, could not be easier. There is not much maintenance on a daily basis at all. This time of year with our cooler weather, rain and weeds, I really don't do anything for them. They eat all the weeds and the rain refills their water tubs. I just shut their doors at night and lock them in their boxes, and then open the doors in the morning. I clean the boxes once a week or so. Keeping the same tortoise in a NY apartment or a Northeast basement in winter would require a lot of work, risk, expense and tremendous effort and time. It could be done, but not easily. Conversely, keeping a Testudo species in your part of the world with an indoor and an outdoor enclosure for fair weather, and hibernating it during winter time, would be a pretty easy keeper.

Here are some tortoise generalities that many new keepers don't seem to realize until it is too late:
1. Tortoises need a LOT of space. Very large enclosures are required, even for small species. Other reptile species can survive and thrive in 40 gallon tanks from the pet store. Not tortoises. I recommend a minimum of 4x8 feet for a single russian tortoise kept indoors. They aren't going to suddenly drop dead if your enclosure is only 3x6', but the smaller you go, the worse it is. What I'm saying is that you will not be able to buy a properly sized enclosure in a pet shop. You'll have to make something that is species appropriate for your area.
2. You can't just go to the grocery store and buy food… Well… you can, but its not very good for them. That is kind of like fast food for humans. They can live on it, but its not ideal. Tortoises need a high fiber diet that has the correct high calcium levels, and the correct calcium to phosphorous ratio. Grocery store produce falls short in all three of these measurements. The correct diet is easy to provide by offering a wide variety of the right species of weeds, leaves, grasses for some species, succulents (like opuntia cactus pads), and some flowers. Finding these items in a North Eastern winter will not be easy, but you can grow a lot of them yourself, and you can also add things to the grocery store foods to make them better. Learn what these amendments are ahead of time.
3. Pet stores in general give bad tortoise advice and sell products that are useless, overpriced, and in some cases dangerous.
4. Most vets don't know diddly squat about tortoises. Many of them will do things that harm or kill tortoises out of pure ignorance.
5. Most of what you find written on tortoise care in books and on the internet is all based off of the same old, out-dated, incorrect information that was originally based off of false assumptions about life in the wild for many tortoise species. It is wrong and following it will lead to bad results and failure. I speak from experience here.
6. The vast array of available equipment and opinions of what to do and how to do it is overwhelming for most new tortoise keepers. My advice: Stop listening to every one from every source. Pick one person who has demonstrated the results that you wish to achieve, and follow that one person's advice. Don't mix and match advice from multiple sources, as that often leads to disaster. In time you will understand why.
7. TORTOISES SHOULD NOT BE KEPT IN PAIRS!!! Groups are often fine, but NOT pairs.
8. Species should never be mixed.
9. Tortoises should not be allowed to roam loose on the floor or ground in areas where humans live and go about their daily routines. Then need to be contained in large enclosures that are designed and kept safe for them, both indoors and out.
10. Reptile shows, pet stores and large on-line brokers are generally speaking the worst places to obtain a new tortoise from.
11. Many people are worried about the threat posed by wildlife when tortoise are outdoors during fair weather. There is some validity to this and care should be taken, but do you know what what the single biggest threat to your tortoise is? The loving family dog. Or your friend's, neighbor's or family's loving family dog. Keep your new tortoise safe and separated from all dogs all the time.
12. The majority of your tortoise supplies will be found at the hardware store, not the pet shop. Much cheaper and much better.

Hope this info helps with your decision. Please question any of this that doesn't make sense. Ask for clarification or more explanation. All of the above came to me over several decades. It is hard won knowledge and it came at a great cost. I hope that sharing it with you will shorten your path and save you a lot of the heartache and trouble I went through to learn it all.


Perfect. Again. Thank you, Tom.
 

MPRC

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Something else to consider is do you own your home? If you are a renter and get a tortoise that requires a lot of space indoors and out will you have room for it as an adult? Can you modify the yard as needed for summer outdoor time?

I got my tortoises while I was closing on a house and the house fell through. Now I am stuck in a sardine can with tortoises stacked on top of tortoises here until I can find something suitable to buy. It's not ideal and it disqualifies us from renting a new place in most cases.
 

crimson_lotus

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Charlotte was initially an office tortoise at my last job, the owner of the company bought her for his kids, went on vacation, and never took her home. I knew NOTHING about tortoises, but I did know she looked incredibly dry and you could visibly see she had trouble breathing. I ended up being the tortoise caretaker after my first week at the job as I had an interest in her and everyone else didn't I guess, and started looking things up to make her life better. I managed to talk my boss to take her to the vet, they started giving her injections for an upper respiratory infection and gave her to me.

She started in a plastic bin, she had all the wrong stuff in the beginning that I had to replace like spiral bulbs and a water bowl she could not get in and out of. Huge learning curve. We built her a larger home and installed a Mistking sprinkler system that goes off for 15-20 seconds periodically every few hours to keep her enclosure humid. It's a lot of work to set everything up initially, but easy to maintain after. Changing substrate every 6 months can take around 2-3 hours.

I clean her water daily, feed her and soak her every other day, which takes 30 mins to an hour. If she had a poop incident in her enclosure and covered herself, she gets a surprise bath on off days. She is very social and will come over to me probably thinking I have food, loves back leg rubs, and going outside when it's warm enough in the summer. She always comes out to see what I'm doing when I do anything in her enclosure, she is very curious.

I generally feel a bit bad because she does deserve a larger enclosure and I'd love to see her outside. She is a Red Foot and needs a tropical environment and the Northeast is NOT it. If I were able to choose a tortoise species, I would pick a Russian. They are adorable and chunky looking, and they go well with the climate in the Northeast. Diet is also less varied.

My suggestions to you through my trial and error would be to research first and get the correct lighting, substrate, hides/food bowls, and sized enclosure so you don't have to replace them later. I received my water turtle unexpectedly as well and wasted a lot of money on immediate purchases that just didn't get the job done.
 
Last edited:

Big Charlie

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I knew nothing about tortoises when I got mine. I was just pet crazy at the time. I used to go to the pet store every weekend. I bought Charlie as a hatchling. He was tiny and adorable. There wasn't much information available at the time. I got a one page care sheet with my purchase. I accidentally did some things right so he thrived. Charlie is now 17. I tell people he is the easiest pet because if you provide the right environment for them, they take care of themselves. Unlike a dog that you have feed everyday, Charlie feeds himself by grazing in our yard. What I often forget to tell people is how much he has cost. Although I don't have to spend a cent on food for him because things grow year round here, we've spent thousands repairing damage he has caused and hundreds providing shelter and heat for him.

When I got him, I knew he was going to get big, and I thought that was one of the best things about him. I thought it was amazing that something so small could grow into something so big. He's a sulcata and probably over 100 pounds, which means I can't pick him up and move him. The amount of poop he produces every day is a lot more than you'd expect. It's like we have a cow in our back yard.

I have never regretted getting him. I love nearly everything about him.

I think it is very challenging to keep a tortoise that doesn't hibernate in a climate like yours. It takes a huge commitment.
 

TortoiseWorld

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I'm in Illinois and like Michigan the weather its too cold, so most of the year the tortoise will need to be housed in and indoor closed chamber enclosure. So don't by a tortoise that will grow too large, that was my first mistake.
I have and recommend colorful Western Hermanns tortoises, the stay under 6" and look amazing. A good resource is http://www.hermannihaven.com/
For me getting all the habitat enclosure temperatures for my baby tortoises to thrive is the biggest challenge.
Tip: in the summer collect the right kind of weeds and grasses. Dry them out and save for winter days. You can mix the dried weeds and grasses into the mazuri and mix it in the organic grocery greens like kale, dandelion, collard, turnip GREENS.
Nothing is better for them than the summer weeds and grasses, because they need the FIBER.

Good luck, best wishes and happy new year!
 

TortoiseWorld

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Also if you want to raise your baby to have a smooth shell carapace and not pyramid, your closed chamber enclosure will need to be kept 90% humidity yet the top layer of the 4" deep substrate kept dry or they can grow fungus that you will have to treat.
 

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