Another newb looking for advice!

[ShaunyD]

Hey there I've been looking for infomation online and on several forums for a while now, but I keep finding contradictory info and lots of opinions so its probably best to just ask what I want to find out.

I'm looking to get a tortoise but am not sure which species to go for. I'm a student so I'm looking to get a hatchling that I can raise (given the amount of free time I have just sitting around studying!) Ideally I'd like to get a non hibernating tortoise. However I don't want to be one of these people I keep seeing online that are trying to get rid of their torts after a few years because they didn't consider the long term care.

I was looking at getting a Redfoot but I'm worried about looking after it as it gets older as they get quite big. Same goes for the Leopard tort as it would probably have to live in a tort table for the first two years of its life and I wouldn't want it to outgrow what I can provide for it too quickly.

I also wanted some info about keeping med torts awake over winter. Is it safe/wise to do this? I've read some conflicting info about this, and if it is an ok thing to do then it does open up other options to me.

So what Im looking to find out about is a bit of info about the longer term care of Redfoots/Leopards in the winter, and what are the risks in not hibernating med torts? Or even other suggestons for species I may not have considered yet?

Cheers in advance for any advice/help!

[purplepixie]

Hingebacks are smaller than redfoots or leopards, and dont hibernate.

[Mrs Mental]

A hibernating tortoise hibernates cos of lack of natural sunlight, lack of food and lack of heat/warmth so if you were to keep the lights on,c ontiue to feed him and keep himwarm etc he'd not know it was the winter. Personally I don't agree with it - I do believe that a hibernating tortoise as long as its healthy should hibernate.

I didn't hibernate mine the first year I had them as I personally wasn't confident enough but the second year I did and I\'ve seen a marked difference in their behaviour this year so I know I did the best thing for them.

To me I feel that part of being a tortoise keeper is being responsible and trying my best to give them the best life I can which means trying to keep things, diet, hibernation etc as 'natural' as possible.

Anyways maybe an idea to have a look at the hingebacks and find out more about them. If you have a look at the Tortoise Trust website they'll have a good careshet for the species - maybe have a good read and come back with any questions you have

[blazingtortoise]

Just a quick reply. Looking after redfoots in the winter is just the same as in the summer. Just in the summer they can go outside. You need indoor heated accomodation all year round for redfoots and I'd advise heating that can be controled by a day/night stat as overnight temps can vary a lot also depending on the time of year. Once you have got the set up correct for reds they are pretty easy to look after.

[Mrs Mental]

Originally Posted by blazingtortoise

Once you have got the set up correct for reds they are pretty easy to look after.

And bloody gorgeous too!!

[ShaunyD]

Cheers for the advice, after looking through your pics of the vivarium you constructed blazingtortoise I'm more confident I'll be able to look after the Redfoots more long term now. Now the only problem is I started looking at the Leopard torts too and am gona struggle to make up my mind which one to go with! I suppose best bet is to actually contact my landlord and make sure I'm gona be allowed pets before I get too excited

[Mrs Mental]

Originally Posted by ShaunyD

I suppose best bet is to actually contact my landlord and make sure I'm gona be allowed pets before I get too excited

Good luck!