Thinking of buying a Pet Tortoise

[consolefreak]

How shall I buy it? Baby? Adult? & how much years do they live for? if few years not worth it buy it Adult I think. & Which Breed shall I ask for?

Also I'm thinking to let it live on my roof, do I need to build/buy any sort of kennel incase it begin to rain? & to sleep at night?

Also I'm thinking to mate them to have baby tortoises, Shall I buy them Adult already for this reason? At what age they can mate? Also do I need to buy a special cage or somthing to mate them? liek building a nest or somthing? or they jsut mate anywhere on the ground? (even without soil)

Thanks for now and waiting for replies!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi ConsoleFreak:

Welcome to the Tortoise Forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?

You've come to the right place to do your research on tortoises and we're happy to help you.

However, I think you need to re-think where you are going to keep the tortoise. They do much better outside where they can graze on weeds and grasses. Yes, we do keep them indoors when weather doesn't permit them to be outside, but the do much better outdoors. I'm having trouble picturing a tortoise living on the roof. Can you expand on that a bit?

 

[Laura]

Time to do your homework!!
Do you have a yard? What are your winters like? Do you plan to move soon? go to school?
Do you want a small 2 pound, medium 15 pound or large 150 pounder?
I think getting an adult in need of a home is a great way to go. they live a long time.
Start reading the posts here and ask questions.. I would recomend a Box Turtle or a Russian tortoise as a beginer.

 

[nikki0601]

having a pet tortoise is great but one must be dedicated as these pets take lots of care, time, money etc and they live many decades, its a life long dedication.. When I decided I wanted a tortoise first I spent about a month reading about and deciding on a species, once I decided then I spent a couple months reading and learning how to care for my selected species, then I prepared his home, maintained it for a while before he come just to be sure it was right, I believe for a first time keeper this is the way to prepare for a tortoise

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

 

[consolefreak]

Thanks for your reply! @emysemys your right I didn't said where I live etc

I am goign to reply to both @emysemys & @Laura

I am from Malta, for those who doens't know when Malta is, it is South Europe exactly under Italy.

With roof I didn't mean indoor, our place we got a big roof and it is everywhere outdoor there, we used to make BBQ on roof in summer etc.
If you said soil and grass is good hmm I may make a pot fill it with soil and make a ramp so it can go on it.

I don't go to school I go to work.

About our weather:

Our summer is realy hot and rare to do some rain & abotu winter I think atleast it will rain 1ce a week but we never get snow (somtimes we get ice but VERY RARE)

A big tortoise looks cool I think

Also what kennnel shall I make them & what age can I mate them & I need to make somthign special to mate them?

Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi consolefreak (what should we call you?):

I really don't think the roof is a good idea. They do much better in the garden where they can dig in the dirt, eat plants and roam around. Keeping a tortoise on the roof would be like keeping a horse or a cow on the patio. They really need a nice, large piece of land to live on.

Tortoises usually take about 15 or 20 years to become sexually mature. And then they will need a nice big dirt area to dig a hole to deposit the eggs.

And yes, they need some sort of shelter to go into at night time.

 

[consolefreak]

Cos I don't got garden only the roof. do you think is a good idea? to make a large pot with soil and plants to let it go up there to lay eggs/have fun etc?

& my name is Daniel

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Daniel:

No...my personal opinion is that, no, a tortoise would not be happy living on the roof.

Tortoises are wild animals. They haven't undergone years and years of human intervention to domesticate them. As wild animals, they do much better in an outdoor pen or garden, than they would do in a roof-top enclosure. They need plants to hide under, dirt to dig in, space to roam and growing grasses and weeds to eat.

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

My recommendation would be to peruse the Tortoise Enclosures section of this forum and look through the threads to get some ideas of how many of our members keep their tortoises, both indoors and outdoors.

 

[consolefreak]

so without soil it cant lay eggs? and can never mate? & the pot thing is bad idea? make a large pot with solid and plants?

 

[Yvonne G]

If a female tortoise can't find a suitable nesting site, she will either drop the eggs on top of the ground, breaking them, or she may become egg-bound.

Maybe your idea of a "pot" and my idea are two different things. In my idea of a pot, no, its not nearly big enough. What you would have to do, in my opinion, is build some walls on the roof top so that you make an actual pen for the tortoise. Inside the pen you would fill it with either soil or some kind of hardwood bark, covering the whole inside of the pen. A pen for a Russian tortoise, which is a small tortoise, would be about 8'x4'. Bigger would be better.

---

Read this thread. It talks about how to make an enclosure for a baby tortoise:


http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread-New-Setup-Good-read-for-beginners#axzz1gXSpTeln

---

And here's a good article for new tortoise people to read:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/Thread...ive-or-Beginner-Tortoise-Owners#axzz1gXTzany3

 

[consolefreak]

That one is made of plastic and filled with soil, so i can buy a large cage and fill it with soil? and can I put pair male and female there so they can mate etc... And I wish to get tortoise that will be bit big (not giant but not that small)

also you got msn or facebook so i can add yo uand chat? thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

No...that's why I made the "BABY" part of my answer in bold printing. That is a container for a baby tortoise. A pair of breeding-size adults cannot be contained like that in any kind of container. They need much more space.

 

[consolefreak]

Ye but it won't stay baby for ever too Do you think the pet shop will have some enclosure for sale or somthing?

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, but generally they are too small for an adult pair of tortoises. Like I said, you will have to build them an area, the bigger the better. One small adult tortoise, like a Russian or a Greek, can live in an area 8'x4', but add another tortoise to that and its not nearly big enough. If you keep a breeding pair in a small pen, the male will continually breed the female eventually causing her to hide all the time. Its just not a good situation.

My suggestion for you is to wait until you have a garden you can put a tortoise into. Until that time, I don't think a tortoise is the right animal for you.

 

[wellington]

I agree with everyone else. You need to have a yard or a very very large, pen on the roof. The larger tortoise along with the weight of the enclosure, soil and plants, bushes and grass may be to heavy for any roof. Maybe look into water turtles. Buy a 100 gal or larger aquarium for inside the home for colder weather and build a pond on the roof for the warmer weather. research some of the smaller water turtles species and how to care for them. You could probably get away with a smaller pond for water turtles on the roof, than you can a very large tortoise enclosure.

 

[consolefreak]

But water turtles can't realy play with them, cos they stay in aquarium. & my uncle have 2 Toroitse on his roof I think without enclousre they do lay eggs but they never hatch.

 

[SailingMystic]

Daniel tortoises are sensitive to climate and do not tolerate too much heat or too much cold well. If you can't provide a stable or controlled environment constantly then you shouldn't try. Think about the needs of the animal and safety. These animals may get very big and you need to gene able to transport them if needed. It's not cheap either. Caring for them can be expensive. I'd consider another animal you can keep inside and walk and play with

 

[consolefreak]

WHich other animal?