Any tips where to buy tortoises

Wasabi_tortoise

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Hi im young and interested to buy a small baby tortoise for not so expensive price. I have watched some Instructions videos to take care for the tortoise and now im wondering what breed i should get + where to get please someone help
 

wellington

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First they are species not breed.
Second, if you have looked up your info outside this forum, then forget what you learned and start over with info on this forum only.
Third, the tortoise is the cheapest part of the puzzle. Proper enclosure, lighting, heat; substrate, hides and bowls along with thermostat and temp guns all cost money. They all have to be replaced as they grow and as the uvb in the lights lose their strength.
Do the research here and then if you think you can still afford one, the best place to buy is from a active member of this forum. Th6et do it right!
 

Wasabi_tortoise

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First they are species not breed.
Second, if you have looked up your info outside this forum, then forget what you learned and start over with info on this forum only.
Third, the tortoise is the cheapest part of the puzzle. Proper enclosure, lighting, heat; substrate, hides and bowls along with thermostat and temp guns all cost money. They all have to be replaced as they grow and as the uvb in the lights lose their strength.
Do the research here and then if you think you can still afford one, the best place to buy is from a active member of this forum. Th6et do it right!
Thanks for tips im going to do more research
 

Maro2Bear

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Welcome. I’m thinking the best & probably most available in Finland would be a Russian tortoise. Perhaps your local pet stores have them there?
 

Wasabi_tortoise

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Welcome. I’m thinking the best & probably most available in Finland would be a Russian tortoise. Perhaps your local pet stores have them there

Welcome. I’m thinking the best & probably most available in Finland would be a Russian tortoise. Perhaps your local pet stores have them there?
Finland dosent have many pet stores and tortoise supplys are hard to find can you buy supplys from internet?
 

Maro2Bear

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Finland dosent have many pet stores and tortoise supplys are hard to find can you buy supplys from internet?

Plenty of supplies via on-line shopping. Your hardest part might be finding a few tortoises for sale.

What part of Finland are you from? I visited Helsinki many moons ago.
 

Wasabi_tortoise

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Plenty of supplies via on-line shopping. Your hardest part might be finding a few tortoises for sale.

What part of Finland are you from? I visited Helsinki many moons ago.
I live in the middle of nowhere like 500km away from Helsinki
 

TeamZissou

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It's hard to say what species would be available in Finland. We do not have many members from Scandinavia in general.

The first step would be to look into the laws surrounding tortoises in Finland. I have heard that it is very strict in Norway, where a doctor's note is required attesting to an animal allergy to allow you to obtain a tortoise. Even then, it's limited to the testudo genus by law. Sweden is supposedly better, but I do not know much else.

The best option to find out more would be to find a turtle/tortoise club based in Finland and ask them for help. This forum is still the best place to find husbandry info, however, as most of the advice out there is outdated or incorrect.

If you end up being limited to testudo genus, you should look into some nice Western Hermann's if they are available. You can read more about all the tortoises in the testudo genus at www.hermannihaven.com.
 

BrookeB

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It's hard to say what species would be available in Finland. We do not have many members from Scandinavia in general.

The first step would be to look into the laws surrounding tortoises in Finland. I have heard that it is very strict in Norway, where a doctor's note is required attesting to an animal allergy to allow you to obtain a tortoise. Even then, it's limited to the testudo genus by law. Sweden is supposedly better, but I do not know much else.

The best option to find out more would be to find a turtle/tortoise club based in Finland and ask them for help. This forum is still the best place to find husbandry info, however, as most of the advice out there is outdated or incorrect.

If you end up being limited to testudo genus, you should look into some nice Western Hermann's if they are available. You can read more about all the tortoises in the testudo genus at www.hermannihaven.com.
I would be so sad to live where I can’t keep tortoises, genuinely sounds horrible ? thank god I could always ask you crazy tort people the laws before I move anywhere ? (I’m crazy tort people too)
 

Camade

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I'm replying a bit late, but hi, I'm a tortoise owner in Finland :) I'm of course all for getting a tortoise that looks for a new home, as there are quite many of them all around the country. Most easy bread both legally and by market population are Russians. The second place goes for Greeks, but they require much more precise paperwork to be fully legal. Russians in general should have papers too, but having one without them is not illegal and vets will take care of them regardless of papers. The sad thing is, most Russian tortoises don't simply have official documents: either they are too old for them, or born to undocumented tortoises.

I'd start looking in www.eläin.fi, they don't have traffic every day, but generally there are opportunities to get (often full grown) tortoises every month or so. I personally have found getting a full-grown tortoise as my first one beneficial in many ways: they are more resilient to problems that might occur, plus you don't buy a small enclosure for a baby and then "forget" to update.

If you are looking for a "brand new" tortoise, your best bet would be to go meet othet reptile hobbyist in e.g. Suomen herpetologinen yhdistys or Suomen herppiharrastajat. I haven't found active breeders' websites, but they might reside in those organisations. There are ocasionally tortoises in pet shops too - namely Faunatar. I've seen about 6-cm wide russians both in Tampere and Helsinki. Personally, their enclosures in the store were quite frightful and Faunatar generally doesn't carry that many reptile products, so if you find a pre-loved tortoise or a breeder, I'd personally go that route.

And when it comes to reptile product stores, my favourite has been ReptileManiacs in Nokia. If you live close to there, you can go pick up the products, but they mainly do web-store and deliveries.

Hope this helps even when I reply a couple weeks late!
 

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