HELP!! new owner by accident :S

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fadoua_g_el

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Hi,
I am a new Tortoise owner, by accident. 2 tortoises were given to me to babysit in the summer (great! all the weed disappeared! and all was fine and well, as temp was great. My "friend" then left the country and left the 2 poor souls with me, and I never had reptiles as pets. Living in UK, temp are falling now, at night below 10 degrees celcius. I took them inside now and try to find a suitable "box" "vivarium" for them to live. However, after all that space they had in my garden, in nature, i find it hard to house them properly. also they are slowing down, so i assume they feel teh change in temp as well. i also dont know even their species or their age, so i dont know whether they will be fit and willing to hybernate. I tried calling several vets near me, only 1 reptile specialist, who does not bother to respond to my messages.
after hours of research on internet i still have the following questions please:
- how do i work out their age
- hwo do i work out their species? from the looks, i would say herman or ibera. I only know that this "friend" said they came from north africa.
- is it true i need to bath them everyday for 20 minutes? i was told they would take in their water from the washed lettuce etc..
- is it ok for them to go off food at this time of year?
- is it the right decision to bring them inside when temp are around 4-7 degrees at night
- is it normal/OK for a few scales to disappear? one of them has a tiny spot on her head where she seems to be missing a few scales. I dont know whether she has scratched herself somewhere, or whether something happened, or if it just normal to "change" her scale at some point. it does not look infected or anything, so i dont think it is serious..

all the above an probably more questions have developed once they were left with me. I do want to keep them, as they are lovely and keep the patio clean in the summer. :) However, i do not want to be responsible for somthing i can avoid, although I have been trapped into this. Hope you guys can help

many thanks



fad.
 

Yvonne G

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We have several tortoise-keepers who live in the U.K. and I'm going to defer my answers to your questions to them, because they know more about tortoise-keeping in the U.K. than I do.

It would be helpful if you could post a picture of your tortoises, as different types of tortoise require different care. Some hibernate, some don't, etc.

You are to be congratulated for trying to take good care of your new animals, and:

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egyptiandan

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Hi Fad,
Welcome to the forum :)
Like Yvonne said pictures of your tortoises would help greatly in identifyng them. But, if they are from North Africa, they are Spur-thigh tortoises, Testudo graeca. I'll have to see a picture to tell the subspecies.
They DON'T hibernate, so your going to have to keep them warm over the winter. They need an open box enclosure, at least 4 feet X 2 feet and 18 inches high. You'll need a soil substrate and a water dish. You will need a MVB (mercury vapor bulb) for a basking spot (keeps them warm during the day) and a regular fluorescent lamp for added light. You'll need temperatures of 32 to 34C under the basking lamp, 28 to 30C on the warm end (the end with the basking lamp) and 24 to 26C at the cool end. Night time temperatures shouldn't go below 15C.
The lights should be on 12 to 14 hours a day. Soaking them twice a week is just fine.
Where in the UK are you?

Danny
 
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