[mrblue2008]

Hello,

I am really new to this section & dont really have good experiance of turtles & tortoises, but i long to have a tortoise badly. i did have a little horsfields tortoise years ago but it died in hibertation, i was shattered completely. i loved her very much & was totally upset when we brought her out of hibernation & she was dead.

we did everything right we weighed her every week to see if she was ok to hibernate, we fed her correctly, we evan got in touch with the tortoise trust just to make sure we had done evrything by the book! can not tell you how much loved her & she died!!

anyway getting back to my question is it necessary to hibernate them? i would never get a hosfields again because it would remind me too much of shelly! (yes shelly)

any info would be more than grateful, cheers mark mrblue2008

 

[SWsarah]

There is a huge debate about this,is it something they have to do in the wild to survive? or is it ok to keep them awake if we can create the correct conditions?

Anyway

There are species that dont hibernate

Red foots- tropical but do get large
Leopards -huge but stunning
Tunisians - stress very easy and get RNS at the drop of a hat
Indian stars- need high temps and can stress and get RNS easy but not as bad as tunisians
Sulcatas - huge like leopards
Pancakes- easy to keep but hard to find
Egyptians- like rocking horse poo to find

Think thats all of them that are in the UK of the top of my head and ive kept them all

Best by far for beginners are red foots
Easy diet - they can eat fruit
Humidity -easy just spray the substrate
Stunning tortoises they are black and red

 

[Ron Magpie]

Totally agree- I will sell somebody elses soul to get another redfoot:whistling2:

They do get big, though.

 

[mrblue2008]

Totally agree- I will sell somebody elses soul to get another redfoot:whistling2:

They do get big, though.

ooooh ron you no about torts, thats good you can tell me all u no, he he!

like i say i would love another but have no clue really where to begin, finding one, price? etc

 

[Ron Magpie]

There's loads of people on here who know more- Sarah is especially knowledgeable- as you know, my main focus is frogs nowadays. I'm mostly on here for the chat and 'cos I also keep turtles.

 

[purplepixie]

Personally and most good keepers I know, all hibernate their tortoises, as its part of their life cycle and longgevity. I am sorry you lost your tortoise, but the mortality rate in hatchlings is quite high, even if you are doing things correct. I have had a one or two die on me, for no apparent reason. As they were kept exactly the same as my other tortoises.
Dont let it put you off doing the right thing with another tortoise.
One thing that is certain if you dont hibernate a tortoise, that is its life will be shorter, as they are putting on far too much weight during the time they should be hibernating. As well as being over fed the rest of the year.
Most of us over feed our tortoises, its just a difference in how much.

 

[SWsarah]

Hope you dont mind me answering
Best to get direct from a UK CB breeder, see the sticky thread in this section gives you links to all the UK breeders

They cost around £100

I really advise doing some research on reds and see if they are for you

Oh missed some off

Hingback tortoises
Cherrys heads- like red foots but have more red on them
Elongated tortoises - tropical same care as reds

Also look on the classifieds here

 

[mrblue2008]

Hope you dont mind me answering
Best to get direct from a UK CB breeder, see the sticky thread in this section gives you links to all the UK breeders

They cost around £100

I really advise doing some research on reds and see if they are for you

Oh missed some off

Hingback tortoises
Cherrys heads- like red foots but have more red on them
Elongated tortoises - tropical same care as reds

Also look on the classifieds here

thanks so much sarah, sounds like a lot of torts that dont require hibernation thats brill! gives me a lot of choice without hibernating again. out of all the above which would you recommend? red foot?

so all these wouldnt hibernate in the wild then?

 

[SWsarah]

I keep and breed reds
In the wild they live in the deep dark humid forests
Only coming accross pockets of sun
First year of life i recommend no UVB as it can damage their eyes.
Then after a year 5.0 UVB tubes
Food 60% weeds 40% fruit,protein in the form of pinkies, soaked cat biscuits, tortoise pellets (high in protein no no for med tortoises) to be given twise a week. In the wild they would eat dead animals, slugs, snails.

I do recommend reds as first time none hibernating tortoises

 

[SWsarah]

pictures of my reds http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/shelled-turtles-tortoise/457248-new-pancakes-yay-plus-others.html

 

[Ron Magpie]

thanks so much sarah, sounds like a lot of torts that dont require hibernation thats brill! gives me a lot of choice without hibernating again. out of all the above which would you recommend? red foot?

so all these wouldnt hibernate in the wild then?

Nope- because they are from tropical countries. PP is right though, the temperate species seem to do much better with a regular rest. But the next time I get torts, it's tropical all the way, baby!:lol2:

 

[mrblue2008]

pictures of my reds http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/shelled-turtles-tortoise/457248-new-pancakes-yay-plus-others.html

wow the reds look stunning! i really would like to home one, i would have to do bags of research on them so i get the houseing right.

i have looked at a list on your site & a breeder called Darren Langford from cheshire is the closest & breeds red foots. thanks so much for the help Sarah. i think i might be getting hooked on torts now!

if i was to house 2 reds together whay space would they require, sorry for all the questions

 

[mrblue2008]

Nope- because they are from tropical countries. PP is right though, the temperate species seem to do much better with a regular rest. But the next time I get torts, it's tropical all the way, baby!:lol2:

i think i would prefer tropical! could you put them in the garden on sunny warm days?

 

[Ron Magpie]

i think i would prefer tropical! could you put them in the garden on sunny warm days?

Yep- although redfoots are a bit funny about direct sun- best to give them a choice.

 

[SWsarah]

Darren has a couple of reds. Pm me if interested he is rubbish at answering emails. I chat to him everyday.

 

[mrblue2008]

Darren has a couple of reds. Pm me if interested he is rubbish at answering emails. I chat to him everyday.

sent you a pm Sarah, thanks