New And Thinking

[WillAndSky]

Well where to start, my name is William and I live in Portland OR. I've never owned a tortoise before but I've been debating it for over a month now and finally came to the conclusion I really would like to bring a tortoise into my family's life. I've been looking around at the species trying to figure out, big jump from catching turtles in West Virginia and letting them loose in the garden(sorry mom they loved it) and I think I've decided on getting a Greek Tortoise because I've read they're a beginner tortoise but as everyone I have a few questions to ask and ill just place them here in this post to save time. I don't really have any local sellers that carry Greek Tortoises at the moment and seem to be the ones everyone considers advance or they will grow to big for me to house/care for them so does anyone know of any trusted sellers since they seem to be more prone to parasites? Also I was told to stay away from the store purchasing leafy greens so I was wondering where the best place to purchase leafy greens for them would be? Or maybe a type of salad pack they sell at the stores?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi William, and welcome to the Forum!!

While the tortoise is in the house it is perfectly ok to purchase greens from the grocery store. But be thinking about a nice outdoor habitat where he can graze on weeds and plants during the nice weather.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcomecheck out the for sale section on here to see if anyone of our members are selling the tort you want. If they are a active member on here, with quite a few post and threads, then they are usually reliable. I wouldn't buy from any new members yet, as we wouldn't really know anything about them. Not sure if he has any Greeks, but Tyler Stewart of tortoisesupply.com is very reliable. Check out is site to see what he has.BTW, a Russian and hermanns are also good beginners.

 

[bigred]

My thinking has gotten me into so much trouble over the years Anyhow you are very smart to come to the forum and look for a good breeder or forum member to buy from. Tortoisesupply is a good place to start, I dont know if he has Greeks but its a good place to start. I have bought from them and was very satisfied. If they dont have Greeks they could point you in the right direction

 

[luvpetz27]

Welcome!!

 

[WillAndSky]

Yeah today we went around and visited a few local reptile shops and to say I was really disappointed with the conditions of some of these habitats, small and cramp not to mention some of them had red puffy eyes which I was sure they were sick and informed the owner but he assured me they were all in perfect health the day they were shipped there which made me even more sad that he seemed to know nothing of tortoises yet hes selling them. So honestly I've come to the conclusion of trusting everyone and ordering from Tortoisesupply since its been highly recommended by everyone here on the forums. I appreciate everyones help and I hope to learn and grow with my tortoise and gain more experience to pass it on to other new comers here and maybe a few ideas towards senior members never know. Tonight I will be building my habitat and getting the rest of the supplies tomorrow before placing my order with TortoiseSupply.com. Thank you all once again