SeanH.
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2015
- Messages
- 19
Hi guys!
I'm planning on getting a tortoise in sometime next year, so the other day when I walked by a pet store I went in for a look and saw they had tortoises (most pet stores don't here in Germany).
I know that getting your tortoise from a pet store usually isn't the best idea, but they didn't really seem to be in bad shape.
They sell russians, greeks and hermanns and keep the three species in seperate 3'x3' glass enclosures. I spent a little time watching them and witnessed their care routine... The lady sprayed the enclosure down, then cleaned out their water dish and fed them a nice pile of dark leafy stuff.
As far as I could tell, the pros about their enclosure were:
-water dish
-cuttle bone
-MVB
-nice big hide
The cons on the other hand:
-calci sand as substrate
-hay in the hide
-water dish too small to self soak
I really just paid attention to the russians. There were three of them and when I asked about their age the lady dug out their papers and told me they hatched in June 2014. She said they get all their tortoises as hatchlings from local breeders they have contracts with, but people tend to buy the really little ones first so the three of them are kind of left over...
As far as I could tell they seemed pretty active. They all ate, walked around and basked a little. One of them pooped (looked perfectly fine) and another one peed quite a bit (that means it's well hydrated, right?).
They did show some pyramiding though. I guess they don't soak them and the enclosure is not a closed chamber.
I guess I feel bad for them because they never got picked... ^^' I also thought it might be easier to adjust to my strict indoor housing (at least for now) for a tortoise whose been in a tank all their life instead of cramming a tortoise in that's used to being outdoors. Am I making any sense???...
Thoughts?
I'm planning on getting a tortoise in sometime next year, so the other day when I walked by a pet store I went in for a look and saw they had tortoises (most pet stores don't here in Germany).
I know that getting your tortoise from a pet store usually isn't the best idea, but they didn't really seem to be in bad shape.
They sell russians, greeks and hermanns and keep the three species in seperate 3'x3' glass enclosures. I spent a little time watching them and witnessed their care routine... The lady sprayed the enclosure down, then cleaned out their water dish and fed them a nice pile of dark leafy stuff.
As far as I could tell, the pros about their enclosure were:
-water dish
-cuttle bone
-MVB
-nice big hide
The cons on the other hand:
-calci sand as substrate
-hay in the hide
-water dish too small to self soak
I really just paid attention to the russians. There were three of them and when I asked about their age the lady dug out their papers and told me they hatched in June 2014. She said they get all their tortoises as hatchlings from local breeders they have contracts with, but people tend to buy the really little ones first so the three of them are kind of left over...
As far as I could tell they seemed pretty active. They all ate, walked around and basked a little. One of them pooped (looked perfectly fine) and another one peed quite a bit (that means it's well hydrated, right?).
They did show some pyramiding though. I guess they don't soak them and the enclosure is not a closed chamber.
I guess I feel bad for them because they never got picked... ^^' I also thought it might be easier to adjust to my strict indoor housing (at least for now) for a tortoise whose been in a tank all their life instead of cramming a tortoise in that's used to being outdoors. Am I making any sense???...
Thoughts?