new owner

Brain trust, I wanted to get some guidance and thoughts on a few things. I have wanted a tortoise for a long time, and finally was in a life/financial position where I could appropriately care for one. I thus took in a 3-year old male Eastern Hermann's from a lady who raised him from a...

Hi all, I’ve decided to get my first tortoise and will be ready soon to bring one home. After doing a lot of research I think I’m mostly going between a Hermann’s or Moroccan Greek tortoise although am open to other suggestions. I live in Albuquerque NM which is arid with four seasons and...

My parents bought home a sulcata tortoise a few days ago. I have no idea how to care for tortoises! Are store bought veggies alright?

Hi everyone! I recently joined the forum as my family (including a 9 and 6 year old) have been debating getting a pet turtle for a few months. Given how little I know on the topic but have secretly always wanted one, I started doing some of my own research. Obviously there is a lot to learn...

Hello Fellow Tortoise Lovers/Keepers, I got a 5-6 month old Baby Sulcata tortoise and it seems to be that his rear end is not growing as fast. And is a little on the curved side. He currently eats spring mix topped with calcium powder and treats. I'm still trying to get him to eat hay, however...

Hi, i recently got a redfoot tortoise. I got her on friday afternoon after being placed in her terrarium she immediately went into her hot hide and hasnt left for food or water yet to my knowledge, but the food ive left in there looks untouched and water in her saucer is pristine. I know they...

Hello all, I was told in another thread about some changes I'd potentially need to make (new owner - I've inherited them and try to do my very very best - been to vets, but didn’t get as much info). Those suggestions made me think of more questions so I will list them here and I just wanted to...

😁Hello from South Texas! I just wanted to drop the first of hopefully many more posts to come! in two days i will finally be sharing my home with a 1+ year old Marginated Tortoise He/She will be treated like royalty im putting feelers out for all tips and suggestions please lmk shed some wisdom...

I recently took in this Russian tortoise. I noticed this mark on the plastron? Is it an old healing injury, shell rot or something else? The guy who gave it to me only said he’d had the tortoise for awhile, no mention of health issues. I asked the age, history etc but he didn’t answer much...

I am a student living with parents in India. As a country which is just developing an interest in exotic pet keeping (dogs and cats being the majority), I find it very difficult to understand exactly what to do with my tortoise. Given as a gift, we had no prior setup or the time to research a...

Hello! New tortoise owners here! We purchased our first one at a local reptile shop. We were told he was male and Hermann and relinquished from another owner. When we took him to the vet….the vet said it looked female based on their shell and that it is a mixed species with Hermann and...

Hello all, firstly I just want to say thank you for everyone who posts on this forum, all the information and advice on here has been a lifesaver and I’m so glad I found this site. We just bought a house, and as we’re moving in we saw that the old owners just left their tortoise. They were...

Hi Copper the tortoise has just joined the family. He's the first ever pet and its a steep learning curve. I know as he grows he'll need more room and that's not a problem. For now he's in a 1m×.5m glass Terrarium. The substrate is soil and bark, was half and half. He wasn't happy so I took...

Hello! I am a new Russian Tortoise owner and need help! My tortoise was shipped from Florida. I had done research for a year and got everything set up, both indoor (for sleeping quarter at night) and outdoor habitat in the garden as another cute decoration. So the tortoise arrived, and it...

TLDR; how much clearance should a fence for a sulcata have? How do you keep them warm in the winter? Has anyone here dug a pit like enclosure? Anyone from KS here? Any reputable rescues for Sulcatas? Hello! Looooooongtime lurker, first time poster. My husband and I live on a farm in eastern KS...

We got a Hermann tortoise on Christmas eve from a local exotic pet shop here in the UK. We have a 1.2m x 0.6m tortoise table for it. Since we brought it home in the afternoon it it's barely had anything to eat (some dandelion stems), but has been out walking about and basking a bit. It seems to...

I'm new to owning tortoises and I need a bit of help. My around 6-month-old Russian tortoise won't eat and spends its entire day digging in the corner. Is this normal or should I be concerned?? I have a feeling this has something to do with my enclosure being small, I'm working on trying to get...

Hi all, I’m a new member and very excited to find this spot on the internet, as there’s a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there on tortie welfare. Myself and my partner are looking to get a tortoise together. We aren’t rushing into getting one yet until we have saved enough...

Hello, I want to make sure I am doing everything correctly. The more knowledge the better, right? I'm kind of worried about shell growth. I've had since December, im assuming he's about a year old now? I want to make sure I am doing enough. Shell on butt is curving upwards and doesn't look...

Hi, I am looking to adopt a Russian Tortoise for the first time. I live in Vermont and haven't found any local breeders within 2 hours of me online. I was looking at some online sites like Tortoise Town and Backwater Reptiles and a majority of the reviews were negative. As I don't have any...