Hello everybody!
I have a question. Sadly, my grandpa is in a home now, and someone needs to take care of his three turtles. Me and my mom would like to bring them home, but my dad thinks they'll damage the garden by pooping everywhere and eating his plants. So, the pro of our garden is that it would be safe for them - it's completely walled, so it's impossible for them to escape; but the con is that my parents don't have a walled-in vegetable garden and instead have planted things here and there - zucchini, tomatoes, blueberries (now berryless). Plus there are the usual flowers and trees - roses, apples, jasmin, bamboo and stuff. Is my father right? Will the turtles eat all these plants? My grandpa's garden is rather - empty - the turtles leave his plants alone, but, then again, so would I. But zucchini...I don't know.
The second question concerns hibernation - I've done some online research and they say you should have shelter and a box in case they wake up? Our turtles have been around for more than 40 years and they've always dug themselves in around October-November and never woken up before spring (I should mention that I live in Northern Italy, so the climate is a bit different from the UK).
And third - my family used to have four turtles, two couples. One died of natural causes quite a few years ago, and I always feel bad when I see the situation because the remaining couple is quite close and tends to exclude the other one, who basically spends its days walking around on its own. Is it really miserable, or am I projecting? I read tortoises are not very sociable?
Anyway, thank you so much fo your help!!
I have a question. Sadly, my grandpa is in a home now, and someone needs to take care of his three turtles. Me and my mom would like to bring them home, but my dad thinks they'll damage the garden by pooping everywhere and eating his plants. So, the pro of our garden is that it would be safe for them - it's completely walled, so it's impossible for them to escape; but the con is that my parents don't have a walled-in vegetable garden and instead have planted things here and there - zucchini, tomatoes, blueberries (now berryless). Plus there are the usual flowers and trees - roses, apples, jasmin, bamboo and stuff. Is my father right? Will the turtles eat all these plants? My grandpa's garden is rather - empty - the turtles leave his plants alone, but, then again, so would I. But zucchini...I don't know.
The second question concerns hibernation - I've done some online research and they say you should have shelter and a box in case they wake up? Our turtles have been around for more than 40 years and they've always dug themselves in around October-November and never woken up before spring (I should mention that I live in Northern Italy, so the climate is a bit different from the UK).
And third - my family used to have four turtles, two couples. One died of natural causes quite a few years ago, and I always feel bad when I see the situation because the remaining couple is quite close and tends to exclude the other one, who basically spends its days walking around on its own. Is it really miserable, or am I projecting? I read tortoises are not very sociable?
Anyway, thank you so much fo your help!!