Iv never kept a tortoise before but everytime i go to the rep shop i cant help but stand and watch the many tortoises in the vivs all clambering over each other and eating there greens like an old man with no teeth. My mothers granny had a tortoise and my mother being just as fasinated with them as i was, was telling me how her granny's tortoise used to stay in the garden all summer. Is it safe to have the tortoise wandering round the garden on summer days? My mother was saying she would love in the future to buy 2 tortoises and eventually breed them but apart from realising that they live for a long long time and they require daily care as opposed to weekly care like my snakes, i really wouldnt know where to start in researching there care. Which species would be a good bet to start researching? I hear tortoises need a table rather than a viv and they eat certain greens. Obviously they need heat and i would have guessed UV to help build there shells but thats as much as i know. Id like to see whether it would be practical for her to take on a tortoise or two in the future. could anyone point me in the right direction. Cheers

J.

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Testudo horsfieldii is a good for starter with my over 50 species of tortoises/turtle experience.

They are small, tough and well eater.

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Not a tort, but perhaps a common musk turtle?

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One of the med species or redfoots are good starters. An outdoor enclosure is needed for the summer but you'd still need an indoor table or a heated outdoor enclosure for bad weather...

Horsfields are nice... but they dig deep so your garden would need to tortoise proofed! Hermann's are lovely , but then I'm biased.

Here's an easy care sheet for beginners:

GuideDownload

There's also a very good care sheet sticky at the top of the page.

If your mums interested in breeding in the future she'd need more than two... at least two females with a male preferably three. Also don't forget that if you buy hatchlings it will be years before they can breed... but fun watching them grow.

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Either Hermanns or Spur Thigh - Greek not African & ideally a hardier sub species such as Ibera). As Tina says Horsefields dig obsessively but if you think you can cope with that go for it.

I would reccomend most tortoises as starter tortoises- as long as you have done your research, however some species such as tunisians or egyptians, I would only reccomend to experienced tortoise keepers.

For info on med tortoises, visit;

tortoise-world.com The home of the UK tortoise breeders list

Josh

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Josh
www.tortoise-world.com

For beginners iwould day hermann or horsefield but like tina said they do dig - i prefer hermann's

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My Pets =)
0.1.0 dog, 1.0.0 hamster, 0.0.8 fish, 0.0.1 tortoise
1.0.0 boyfriend Christian
Member number - 9448 go me!!

forgot to say-

Tortoise Trust Web - Start Page is good for reading up on keeping torts, as is;
Tortoises

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Josh
www.tortoise-world.com

There are also great caresheets and a breeders list on my site www.shelledwarriors.co.uk

A good starter tortoise would be

Ibera
Horsfield
Marginated
Red foot
Hermann

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