Golden Greek in UAE... help please!

J&A

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Good evening,
till a few days ago we knew nearly nothing about tortoises... then one wandered off the street and into our life. The vet confirmed she is a Golden Greek, about 18 months old, approx 10-12cm long shell (weighs 250g). We have been reading a lot, but have some questions still... As a background, we live in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Outside temperatures range from mid teens centigrade in the winter, to high 40s (C) in the summer (occasionally touching 50 C). So...
  • Could she live outside all year, or is the summer just too hot? We can ensure shade.
  • We have a small stony/gravelly front yard, no sand or earth - would that area be OK for her, or does she need something softer? She wanders happily around at the moment and can dig herself small holes to hide in. We've arranged a number of large stones and boulders to enable her to shelter under a hard roof (stones on 3 sides and a large flat stone on top), or so she can dig in under the corners of one of the bigger boulders. There is a large cactus (over 6 foot high) growing in the middle, around which the stones are arranged. 8 foot high walls on 3 sides, and a temporary wooden wall on the 4th side to keep her in. About 6 foot by 5 foot in total.
  • We need to go away next weekend for 48 hours. If we scatter an abundance of lettuce leaves about the enclosure (we've read up about what types of leaves she can and cannot eat), and ensure lots of water is there, will she be OK for that time, or do we urgently need to find a tortoise carer for the weekend? We're still sorting out plans for future absences, but are not sure for how long long she can cope on her own.
  • There are some semi-tamed stray cats living in our compound, which are fed by neighbours a few doors up. They don't normally come into our yard, but we could not stop one jumping over the wall at night if it really wanted to. Do we need to create a safe "house" with a cover, or are the stones and her shell enough to keep a cat away?
Many thanks for any answers - no doubt we'll have more questions over the next few days!

J&A.
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, and welcome to the Forum!

I'm not very familiar with the care required for Greek tortoises, but I'll answer the questions I'm sure of.

A dirt and grassy plot of land would be better, as they like to dig and bury themselves. I doubt cats will bother the tortoise. A little 'house' for the tortoise to hide in would be good. The best diet for any tortoise is to be able to graze on the weeds indigenous to area he comes from. I think being away for a couple days won't have a bad effect on the tortoise. Just be sure he has plenty of shade to get out of the sun.
 

J&A

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Thanks, Yvonne. There's not much grass around here... and not sure if we could create some, though will think about it. She can dig and bury herself in the gravel - at least up to 2/3 of herself, & quite hard to find sometimes. Nor many weeds indigenous to Greece, either, I fear. Maybe we can plant a few weeds in the gravel!
Thanks again.

Would be VERY grateful if anyone knows whether the summers will be too hot for her outside... We've not been able to find that information anywhere yet. All the discussion seems to be based upon how cold you can let it get, not how hot!
 

J&A

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Hi again... further to my question about whether the summer heat will be too much (not answered yet!!), I am now reading that "too high a humidity is not good for tortoises"... It does get quite humid here in the UAE at times - how much humidity is "too high", and can tortoises stand a higher humidity for a few hours/days/etc, or not at all?

thanks. So many questions... the more we read about tortoise care, the more complicated it seems to be!
 

BeeBee*BeeLeaves

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Welcome to the forum J&A!
You came to the very best place to learn all about tortoise care. So your little one will thrive. Some of our experts will chime in soon to help I am sure.
Golden Greek tortoises are awesome. Kinda lucky, cool that the little one strolled into your life, if you ask me. : )
 

Tidgy's Dad

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I don't think you need worry about the UAE's natural humidity being too much for the tortoise.
As a youngster, she should have a high humidity and be soaked often.
She can be out all summer, but must have plenty of shade, access to water, a humid hide or two and somewhere to dig would be good, an area of soil is probably better than gravel.
As long as you have no dangerous predators or people likely to steal her, you should be fine leaving her for a couple of days, but a secured, or covered enclosure would be a better bet. Cats can occasionally be dangerous to torts, though not as often as dogs, we had a tort on the forum lose an eye to a cat recently and another got badly mauled.
I wouldn't take the risk.
Have a look at http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/tortoise_home_1.asp for ideas of which plants in your area are good for your tortoise to eat.
Anyway, this has bumped the thread, so someone else may come along now with their ideas.
 

J&A

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Many thanks, Tidgy's Dad (sorry, for some reason missed your post till today). Useful information. We've also discovered (the hard way) how good climbers some tortoises are - she's escaped over a foot-high fence 4 times! We couldn't work out how she was getting out until we sat outside one day and watched.
Thanks again.
 
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