Horsfield Tortoises UK

[chigs184]

Hi everyone. I’m looking for a trusted breeder of Horsfield tortoises in the area. (East of England) We’re currently waiting for the keys to our new house, so I won’t be building the enclosure until we’ve moved in.
Once the enclosure is set up and everything is ready, I’ll be looking to purchase. If anyone could recommend a reputable breeder I could potentially reserve from now and collect around May/June, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you!

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Maybe @Littleredfootbigredheart has some advice?

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Maybe @Littleredfootbigredheart has some advice?

I don’t have any I can personally vouch for unfortunatelyI haven’t found breeding practices to be the most ethical in the uk tbh, I’m sure there’s plenty out there that will offer you a healthy baby, but they won’t necessarily be housing their breeding pairs very well. I can’t in good conscience recommend the ones I know.

Sorry I can’t be of more help! There are plenty of younger Russians for rehome in the uk, it’s pretty endless, some of them are still practically babies, a lot have been bought for children who lost interest, perhaps you could have a look on pets4homes, you’ll see breeders on there too, but again they don’t tend to be very ethical

 

[chigs184]

Yes, this is becoming quite clear. Some of the places I initially thought seemed acceptable have been quite dismissive when I began asking questions over the phone about how the animals are raised, which I believe is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask.

It has made me start thinking quite seriously about breeding them myself in the future, since we are moving into a place with a ton of outside space. This would give me plenty of time to research and make sure everything is done properly. If I could play a small part in providing people with a place where they can buy tortoises that have been raised responsibly and well cared for—rather than from pet shops that may only be focused on making as much money as possible—I'd be pretty happy with that.

If anyone does know of a breeder, please pass their info my way.
Thanks.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yes, this is becoming quite clear. Some of the places I initially thought seemed acceptable have been quite dismissive when I began asking questions over the phone about how the animals are raised, which I believe is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask.

It has made me start thinking quite seriously about breeding them myself in the future, since we are moving into a place with a ton of outside space. This would give me plenty of time to research and make sure everything is done properly. If I could play a small part in providing people with a place where they can buy tortoises that have been raised responsibly and well cared for—rather than from pet shops that may only be focused on making as much money as possible—I'd be pretty happy with that.

If anyone does know of a breeder, please pass their info my way.
Thanks.

Totally reasonable thing to ask, and they should be more than willing to answer. Sadly when you take a peak behind the scenes, they don’t tend to be running the nicest operation for their tortoisesmost are just in it for the money, they don’t really care where all these babies end up.

It’s a tricky topic for me, in an ideal world, yes we need more ethical breeders here in the uk, but on the flip side, we have more tortoises needing good homes than we do good homes available. Not many keeper in the uk keep their tortoises to the forums standards. So whilst I absolutely understand the notion of wanting to provide a better source for people to get babies in the uk, the bad breeders won’t be going anywhere, and there’s a constant influx needing better homes, realistically we need less baby tortoises until we can collectively take care of the ones that are already here properly. If the standard of care here wasn’t so dire I’d probably have a different opinion, there’s not really any easy answer either way though unfortunately

I’d really love to create a good sanctuary here, there’s not enough out there

 

[chigs184]

Totally reasonable thing to ask, and they should be more than willing to answer. Sadly when you take a peak behind the scenes, they don’t tend to be running the nicest operation for their tortoisesmost are just in it for the money, they don’t really care where all these babies end up.

It’s a tricky topic for me, in an ideal world, yes we need more ethical breeders here in the uk, but on the flip side, we have more tortoises needing good homes than we do good homes available. Not many keeper in the uk keep their tortoises to the forums standards. So whilst I absolutely understand the notion of wanting to provide a better source for people to get babies in the uk, the bad breeders won’t be going anywhere, and there’s a constant influx needing better homes, realistically we need less baby tortoises until we can collectively take care of the ones that are already here properly. If the standard of care here wasn’t so dire I’d probably have a different opinion, there’s not really any easy answer either way though unfortunately

I’d really love to create a good sanctuary here, there’s not enough out there

I completely understand where you’re coming from. Another challenge with rehoming is inheriting existing problems. When we got Sunny, we ended up spending a fortune at the vet in the first few months just to get him back to good health.

I would drop everything to work at a sanctuary

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

I completely understand where you’re coming from. Another challenge with rehoming is inheriting existing problems. When we got Sunny, we ended up spending a fortune at the vet in the first few months just to get him back to good health.

I would drop everything to work at a sanctuary

Very true, I also do believe every tortoise lover deserves a chance to raise their own healthy baby, it’s a difficult one for sure