# Swimming Tortoises



## brymanda (Oct 9, 2009)

Kind of curious what people think, or what they've seen.

All the general advise is that tortoises can't swim and owners need to be careful so that they don't drown. I have a large semi-aquatic terrarium with a large land part and a little four inch deep pond part with a sloped/walkable bottom so that my two torts can walk in and walk out. Well, surprise, surprise, they hopped in and swam across the tank and hung out in some of the plants for a while before swimming back and hopping back out again. I thought maybe it was because they were still little and could float, but then I came across a reference to a book on redfoots that said they do swim in their native environment. http://www.amazon.com/dp/3899736036/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

If the book weren't $80 I'd totally buy it. 

Thoughts?


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## Yvonne G (Oct 9, 2009)

Some tortoises sink like a stone and others float and paddle. I've seen pictures of Steve somebody's leopard tortoise swimming across a pond. 

My manouria tortoises will go into water that is deeper than they are tall and walk across the bottom. But they don't swim. They just walk into the deep water then walk back out.

I've seen drowned desert tortoises that walked off the coping of a built in pool and drowned.

Yvonne


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## katesgoey (Oct 9, 2009)

Yvonne - It's Steve Spitzer's Petunia, but that particular photo is no longer on the site. Here's the link to the remaining photos and a great article about keeping leopards in a Northern Climate: http://africantortoise.com/leopard_tortoise_care_in_the_north.htm


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## Madkins007 (Oct 9, 2009)

You can get that book here (http://www.zoobooksales.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi) for $49.50. Well worth it if you like the SA tortoises!


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## brymanda (Oct 10, 2009)

Here are the leopard tortoise swimming pics. They were in the gallery on that site. http://africantortoise.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=89

Thanks for the link Madkins!


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## myravolody (Oct 10, 2009)

Hi
There are different kinds of tortoises
Tortoises can vary in size from a few centimetres to two meters.Tortoises tend to be diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures.
Most land based tortoises are herbivores, feeding on grazing grasses, weeds, leafy greens, flowers, and certain fruits.
Tortoises generally have lifespans comparable with those of human beings, and some individuals are known to have lived longer than 150 years.

Not all tortoise swims. But many tortoise have different kind of feet like duck. These kind of tortoise can swim easily. Even some kind of tortoise can go deep in water and found in sea.

I have seen many tortoise in real who swims. Further u can watch movie "Finding Nemo", in which swimming tortoise has been shown.


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## alfiethetortoise (Oct 10, 2009)

Isn't the 'swimming tortoise' in the Finding Nemo actually a turtle, and correct me if i am wrong, but don't all turtles swim?!


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## Laura (Oct 10, 2009)

Not box turltes.


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## alfiethetortoise (Oct 10, 2009)

well, theres always one!


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## terryo (Oct 10, 2009)

We put a little stream with a pond at the end of it in my outdoor enclosure, and when I put Pio in he just sank to the bottom, so I had to add some river rocks so he could walk across the pond. I never saw him even try to swim. He just sank. My boxie would swim across the pond...in fact she would go under the water looking for little snails.


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## Madkins007 (Oct 10, 2009)

Terryo- I wonder if you would see different behavior if Pio was walking across the pond on its own rather then being placed in it. I also wonder if tortoises that are from a species known to swim can loose the instinct if they do not have the opportunity early on?


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## terryo (Oct 10, 2009)

I'm sorry I worded that wrong Mark. I put him in the outdoor enclosure and he walked the length of the stream then got to the pond he kept going and sunk when he got into the deep end. Maybe he didn't realize it was that deep, but it was over his head. I grabbed him and didn't wait to see what he was going to do because I got too nervous. Then I put the river rocks in. He used to share that enclosure with my boxie, but it is all his now. I don't know if he could swim because I didn't give him a chance to find out. Now the deepest part just covers his shell, and he could stick his neck out. He sits in there a lot....the deep end.


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## Madkins007 (Oct 11, 2009)

Got it! When they are outside, I use a large plant saucer as the pond, with rocks on one side to make getting in and out easier for the little ones. I had never seen them in it, so put them, on different occasions, on the rocks in the shallow area to see what would happen. 

Neither of them seemed real fond of the experience, but both went to the deeper (almost 2") end and paddled/walked around a bit before scrambling out. I've seen the biggest guy in the water many times, and the two medium ones in it once in a while, but never seen the small ones there.

I wonder if the small ones avoid anything other than small puddles since they would be so easily taken by any current and swimming far would probably exhaust them? I wonder if they become more comfortable or willing to be in the water as they get older?


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## webskipper (Nov 26, 2009)

Are there any Mediterranean Torts that are proven swimmers?

I plan on adding a brook leading to a 18" preform pond (water garden) this spring. This will help me decide on how to design the outdoor tort pen. I'd like the Torts to have access to the whole yard if I can baby tort proof the gates.


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## Madkins007 (Nov 26, 2009)

I am not as up on the Meds, but I think they are pretty much the ones that started the whole 'sink like a rock' bit- but they come from rather arid places, so swimming would not be as useful a skill.


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## reptylefreek (Nov 26, 2009)

I have an adult Leopard and I always wondered if given the chance if she would swim... Is it something they would learn young or just instinct?


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## Kymiie (Nov 26, 2009)

Crush is a hermann tortoise...
Ive put him in water and held him but he ran up my hand rather then swam into water and dont want to risk him drowning
xx


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