Don't know. Don't weigh them anymore. Only did that the first 2 years. They are quite heavy now and differ from appr 15 tot 20 cm. They have dug themselves into the ground for hibernation already. First year I let them choose, as before they were in a hide I made myself. They have an enormous...
I have a friend near Berliin in Germany.
She has a greek tortoise that lives in her garden and hibernates outside. It digs himself a deep hole in the soil. Deep enough for the frosts not to reach.
He turned 8 this year!
I don't know why people make such a fuzz about pyramiding. Just last week at our vet I saw a beautiful adult testudo of about 30 cm. that was rescued from the road and was recovering from surgery on his neck. Smooth as a baby bottom!! And you know how arid summers are here in the southern...
As I wrote before, let him hibernate because that is what he wants anyway. It is in their nature and who are we to stop that? Just provide him with the right environment as he lives in captivity with you and can't take care of it himself.
Humidity in my winterhide under the dried leaves on the...
Hi I live in Crete. I don't have THB but 3 testudo's marginata. They hibernate every winter from November until March, regardless the weather, because that is what they do. They have done so from their first year. Climate here is somewhat simular I guess, probably more temperature change here...
I have been trying to put some photos here from my my mobile phone. Uploading takes ages and then around 50% I get an error message. What am I doing wrong.....?
Beautiful animal! I have 3 males myself but much younger, They all happily live together in an enormous enclosure. Looking at the plants on your photo's we must live in a simular climate. Saw some in the wild while on holidays on mainland Greece a couple of weeks ago and they were almost...
Congratulations! I live in Greece, Crete and climate is simular as yours. Your tortoise can tolerate very hot as well as cold weather. This time of year in the wild they survive on dry weeds but for sure you will be able to find vine leaves, cactus pads, hibiscus flowers and mulberry leaves. He...
Here in Greece we have millions of mulberrie trees. We prune them right back to the trunk at the end of the summer. Shepherds and farmers then feed the leaves to the sheep and goats. The trees need pruning. This way they will get more dense and grow faster. I have 1 tree that I don't prune and...
Tom, mine were born in captivity here in Crete and I saved them from people that kept them in a tiny little box and fed them lettuce tomatoe and cucumber. Never had a bath and they were already getting bumpy.
I promised them and myself that I would do whatever possible to give them the life...
I don't know how deep your substrate is but you can leave the plants you purchase in their pots and just dig them in the soil. Besides olive trees, fir trees, prickly pear, cypruss, wild almond trees aso I have in my outside enclosure ao spiderplants, succulents, rosemary, spirea and lavender...
Maybe the enclosure is not too small (yet) but t breaks my heart when I see pictures of tortoises having to live under circumstances like these.
Of course he wants to escape. Would you want to live, locked up in a room with just a bed and a bath?
First of all, for now and the future, give the...
I have 3 male marginated tortoises on 5000 square feet (500 m2) here in Greece. No problem whatsoever. I think it is all about having enough space for them to live as naturally as possible. I wouldn't want to experiment though in a 8x4 feet enclosure.
Like human beings, tortoises don't want to...
Although mine are marginated tortoises (so related), I totally agree! The 3 of them have almost eaten all the edible weeds in their 5000 square feet enclosure in little over 2 months!!! Nature is drying out already due to lack of rain so I started supplying them with food from the garden. Hope...