Hello!

[River]

Hi, I'm Elle and I live in the UK. My Mum has permitted me to have a tortoise for my 18th birthday (next February) - after many years of badgering!

As long as I do as much relevant research possible, she's okay with it.

Unfortunately, I have no tortoise experience at all, and am hopefully going to glean as much information as possible from here.

Is there an ideal beginner's tortoise, or one suited for a Southern England environment?

Thank you!

 

[Blakem]

Welcome! Glad you found the forum and you're doing your research before getting the reptile.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Elle, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum from a fellow southern Englander. (well, half Welsh).
Russians do quite well in a colder climate, but Greeks and Hermanns' are also good beginners tortoises often kept in the UK.
They require less specialist care and don't grow too big.
But, if you get your set up right any species is a possibility.
Great you're doing your research here.
Look at http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/ for some basic information.
Then http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/russian-tortoise-care-sheet.80698/
and http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/greek-tortoise-testudo-graeca-care-sheet-overview.87146/
and http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/sticky-hermanns-tortoise-care-sheet-updated.101410/
will give you the requirements for the species I mentioned.
A slightly older tortoise rather than a hatchling may also be better to start with.
Good luck with your reading and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

 

[Kathy Coles]

Hello and welcome. This is such an exciting time for you. Your mom has wisdom in saying do research. This is the best place for that. Read everything. And good luck.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the forum, Elle!

Any of the Testudo species would be ok for you. Many, many UK'ers keep Greeks and hermann's tortoises there.

 

[JoesMum]

Hi Elle

The testudo species are pretty good in the UK climate as we can testify.

I note that you are nearly 18 and thus quite possibly thinking of going off to university or college in the next year. If so, are your parents prepared to take on the care of this tortoise? You will not be allowed it in college accommodation. Somebody will need to care for it every time you are on holiday too, so if you're planning a gap year or 2 week break or even a weekend away you will need to have someone around to care for it.

It's a pet for life (we have had ours for over 40 years and could well have it for another 40 or more) You really need to think about what you intend to do in the next few years as this may be a pet you want yo postpone so that you can live a bit first.

 

[River]

Hi Elle

The testudo species are pretty good in the UK climate as we can testify.

I note that you are 18 and thus quite possibly thinking of going off to university or college in the next year. If so, are your parents prepared to take on the care of this tortoise? You will not be allowed it in college accommodation. Somebody will need to care for it every time you are on holiday too, so if you're planning a gap year or 2 week break or even a weekend away you will need to have someone around to care for it.

It's a pet for life (we have had ours for over 40 years and could well have it for another 40 or more) You really need to think about what you intend to do in the next few years as this may be a pet you want yo postpone so that you can live a bit first.

I'm applying for a deferred entry to vet school in October. In my gap year I'll be completing more work experience to help my entry, but this will all be based from my home. Luckily the universities I am applying to are relatively close to my home so it's likely that I can be home a lot. My Dad is pretty keen on tortoises and has had them in his family in the past (said tortoise is currently with my Great-Aunt).

I can see that having a tortoise is a huge commitment and would need a lot of logistical consideration so I'm definitely keen to find out as much as possible before I can present evidence to my Mum! Dad has already agreed to tortoise-sit and look after while I'm away.

 

[JoesMum]

The problem comes when your parents decide to go away when you are in university. My eldest graduates this summer and my youngest started at unjversity this year (expensive year for student loans! ) It's great being able to go away in term time without them now! Your parents will probably feel the same. Somebody has to be around to feed, water and check on this tortoise every day. You cannot put it in kennels like a dog or a cat and finding someone else who understands what to do and what to look for is not easy. Finding a suitably qualified vet is hard enough... although I look forward to you joining their ranks

Unfortunately, they aren't that portable either. So taking them with you when you go away isn't an option either.

The other consideration is space. Tortoises need lots of it. It's not something that stays small enough to live on the top of your dressing table for long. You will need to consider where you would put an enclosure measuring 1.5m by 1m in the near future and in the longer term how you would accommodate it outside ad how you overwinter it. If you look in the tortoise specifoc forums there are care sheets that will give you an idea of what you need to think about.

A good place to start reading is with Tom's beginner mistakes thread http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/beginner-mistakes.45180/

 

[River]

Thank you! I clearly need to think this through a lot.

Fortunately, I don't think space would be a problem as we have quite a large house and enough room for a large outdoor enclosure. Of course I would then need to consider the "space issue" after I graduate...

We already have several cats that go into catteries (like you said) when we go away. - Do cats and tortoises tend to get along?

I'm sure my parents will be elated to have finally got rid of me! My aunt who already has a tortoise has said that she can look after one if we go away - she doesn't tend to go on holiday herself and lives quite near to us. She also fortunately has a spare enclosure as she used to have a Russian that died a couple of years ago that she kept separately from her other one.

I'm not sure about the vets though - I'm yet to work out where exotic cases are referred to.

 

[Yellow Turtle01]

Welcome to TFO!!!

 

[JoesMum]

The cats that visit our garden tend to be scared stiff of Joe. They really can't decide what this moving rock is about. It can be quite funny. More of a worry are dogs..and foxes... there are several threads on here where tortoises have been used a s chew toy by canines. It's not good

Please remember that tortoises are generally solitary species and don't naturally get on as a group. So your aunt would have to be able to accomodate them separately as introducing your tort into another's territory is likely to induce bullying, loss of appetite and cause illness. Tortoises don't handle change well, so , moving them somewhere else is generally not recommended anyway.

Also there is a risk of infection should they be put with a strange tortoise. You would not want your tort to make your aunt's ill or vice versa.

There's a lot to think about!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Cats are not the problem that dogs are for torts, but incidents happen.
One tort on this forum lost an eye to a cat recently, so care is still needed.

 

[River]

Okay, definitely need to consider the cats too - although bizarrely they are absolutely terrified of the hamster! (He runs into them with his exercise ball)

 

[River]

Yes, I'm going to chat to my aunt too - she's had her current tortoise for...50 years, I think, so I think she's going to prod me in the right direction!

 

[JoesMum]

Okay, definitely need to consider the cats too - although bizarrely they are absolutely terrified of the hamster! (He runs into them with his exercise ball)

That might help. Especially if they fail to distinguish between the tortoise and a hamster ball Obviously, you have to take care though because the tort won't be closed in the way the hamster is.

 

[JoesMum]

Yes, I'm going to chat to my aunt too - she's had her current tortoise for...50 years, I think, so I think she's going to prod me in the right direction!

You aunt's tort is probably like Joe, a wild caught Testudo. Joe was my husband's 7th birthday present back in 1970.

Back when she, and we, got a tortoise the animal was just put in the garden and left to cope and then boxed the "Blue Peter" method for hibernation. Many did not survive.

Understanding and care has come on a long way in caring for a young tortoise since those days thank goodness.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

You aunt's tort is probably like Joe, a wild caught Testudo. Joe was my husband's 7th birthday present back in 1970.

Back when she, and we, got a tortoise the animal was just put in the garden and left to cope and then boxed the "Blue Peter" method for hibernation. Many did not survive.

Understanding and care has come on a long way in caring for a young tortoise since those days thank goodness.

Oh the Blue Peter Method.
Cost me my tortoise of 15 years one cold winter.
Those were the bad old days, alright.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello Elle torts rule !

 

[River]

Oh the Blue Peter Method.
Cost me my tortoise of 15 years one cold winter.
Those were the bad old days, alright.

What is the "Blue Peter" method?

If you leave a tortoise outside and it gets below 0 doesn't the tortoise...freeze?

How would you hibernate a tortoise now?

Sorry if I'm asking obvious questions, I have absolutely no clue how a tortoise would hibernate.

 

[JoesMum]

In the 1970s on Blue Peter Freda, the studio tortoise, was boxed for hibernation with no wind down. All people saw was Freda being bathed and then placed in a box full of straw and apparently left until it was convenient to get her up again around Easter (which is a variable as you know) While there was undoubtedly more than that going on behind the scenes, people took their advice from Blue Peter and just bunged their tort in a box in the garage and expected to get it up again when it felt right in the spring. There was no internet to check the information. Many didn’t survive.

Tortoises can only be hibernated if they are
a) healthy
b) heavy enough
c) a species that can hibernate - and many of them can't
Young and sick animals must be kept awake in an enclosure year round, though some seem to detect the changing daynlength and slow down a little. My vet does free pre hibernation checkups for tortoises so you can be sure your pet is ready to cope with it.

Some people hibernate their animals in a fridge (not the main one in the kitchen - a special one they kep for the purpose). Others double box (tortoise, in shredded paper in small box which is then placed in a larger box) and keep this in a temperature stable environment. The animal needs to be kept at a reasonably steady 5C.

I double box Joe and the box is stored in the garage (which is too full of clutter for a car so the doors aren't being opened regularly) I have an electric radiator with a frost stat on it which cuts in if the temperature drops below 2C to ensure that he doesn't freeze. I put a min/max temperature sensor in the inner box with Joe so that I can keepman eye on the temperature fluctuations he is experiencing... and I check and weigh him regularly throughout the winter. It's a bit like handling a brick, he has no idea I am doing it, but it means I know exactly he how he is doing and I can see when he is starting to stir in the spring. You need to ensure that the area the box is in is rodent free.. rats have been known to chew hibernating tortoises. I am loking for daytime temperatures above 10C when Joe gets up, but still need to warey of the possibility of frosts or a cold snap and pull him indoors if necessary.

This is only a very brief explanation of hibernation... and not everyone does it. No tortoise has to hibernate, it's just that some cannot. Assume you won't be for the first few years.