Tortoise

[Longboy]

Hi

Odd question, but my g/f and I are thinking of getting a tortoise and wondered if anyone here has or have had one?

[KidKruger]

Used to keep them.

Do your research as to which kinds you can legally keep and of those which are suited to life in the garden (if that's what you're intending). Some need specific types of light, the lack of which will cripple the growth of the animal and development of the shell, often irreversibly, resulting in 'unsightly' characteristics which then warrant the animal 'undesirable'.

There is a main UK organisation which has a website (can't remember it's name but use your savvy) and if I remember correctly there's a great shop up in Barking which has many types legal for this country some suited for external climates.

There are powdered vitamins you can purchase to supplement the meals you give the animal which promote healthy bone/shell development. Compared to when I was a kid the whole game of owning and rearing tortoises has completely changed, we were so ignorant then and the rules were so slack.

In the garden foxes will try to open the shells of your tortoise and you'll see the teeth marks where a fox has been unsuccessful, assuming the tortoise was too big for the fox to carry-off. So you may want to lock them in the shed at night, perhaps with a heat/light lamp, depending on the type you get and what care it needs. If you're thinking of keeping something in a glass case/vivarium, think carefully about the limit you'll be placing on the animal's ability to wander, which is normally it's habit). Few pets will outlive you, but these animals can do so easily if allowed the appropriate conditions to stay healthy.

Final point, slug pellets and other poisons kill them slowly and extremely painfully.

[shell_8]

I was given a tortoise by my grandfather for my 1st birthday. I'm now nearly 34 and he's still going strong - although he lives with my family in Wales as we were advised against moving him when I came to London. They are amazing animals and fantastic pets but some breeds are sensitive to big changes in their environment so I'd advise against getting a garden tortoise if you're not planning to stay at that particular house long term.

A lot of people think that they're quite dull little creatures but they're most definitely not. Tonga (my own tortoise) seems to be able to tell the difference between each member of my family by the noise we make walking down the steps into our garden. He will always start to walk towards me and my father across the grass. He is indifferent to my mother (probably as she's not normally the one to feed him) and he moves away from my brother as he doesn't seem to like him. I am the only person he will allow to feed him by hand and I'm also the only person he will allow to stroke his head and legs - if anyone else tries he pulls all of his limbs in and snorts. He's a great little character.

When I first got him he was no bigger than a pork pie but he's now about 16 inches long and is noticeably bigger when he comes out of hibernation each spring.

[Jeremy]

A guy I used to work with bought two tortoises for his kids. One was carried away by a bird (probably crow or gull), the other was also attacked by a bird and had his tail nipped off. I guess the moral of the story is not to leave them uncovered in the garden.

[HonaloochieB]

Just to go slightly off topic, didn't the group Tortoise once play the Horniman Museum?

[Jeremy]

HonaloochieB Wrote:

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> didn't the group Tortoise once play the Horniman Museum?

Great band, but now a shell of their former selves.

[HonaloochieB]

Touche, Jeremy, Touche.

[ratty]

I used to have three and they all got stolen on the same night!

[spotify]

My sister had one with a phone number painted on it's back,

it had been wandering around their garden for years,

and when it was the size of a dinner plate it disappeared around the time of lots of other things that had gone missing in that area of Berkshire.

The chief suspects, to use the genteel name, travellers.

[Annasfield]

A mate of mine used to have two males tortoises. They were always humping each other - it was hilarious.

[SingingWilks]

My husband got me one for Christmas and we love him (or her)! We got him from www.thetortoiseshop.com/ who have been very friendly and helpful. We got a horsfield and he is full of character and loves to climb, and he can get a shifty on when he wants to, they're not as slow as you might think! So, to add to the cat and two guinea pigs we already have, all we need now is a dog!

Happy to answer any questions you have, albeit with my very limited experience.

[Michael Palaeologus]

There is a tortoise sanctuary in Provence, really. I have visited it.

They take in injured wild european tortoises. They often have lumps of their shells chopped out by hover-mowers. These are repaired using glass-fibre, they are not returned to the wild but used in breeding programmes.

Pet tortoises are of the African variety. In France these cause problems because they can escape and cross breed with the wild variety, so threatening the european form of the animal.

African and half breed tortoises are looked after, but not allowed to breed. They are in two big enclosures separated by a fence of chicken wire. In one enclosures are they boys, in the other the girls. They gather at the fence, gazing at each other. The sexual tension was palpable. Around them european tortoises are at it like (slow) rabbits. Not so them.

I was tempted to leap in and tear the fence down, "Copulate tortoises! you are not captives, you are free sexual beings, get at it". Sadly their lack of speed would have made this an opportunity unlikely to be seized. So I went back to my camp site and counted my blessings.

[The Minkey]

Many years ago, I encountered a temple tortoise in Kathmandu.

[Ridgley]

Some awful stories about tortoises demise, thank god we have a Guinea pig called Gizmo please don?t tell me any awful stories bout them :))

[Michael Palaeologus]

They have giant tortoises in the very large walled site that is the British Embassy in Addis Ababa. You drive through the turmoil and chaos that is the city, enter a small high walled security compund and then drive into ... Surrey. The embassy covers the side of a large hill and is completely walled.

It has been British for about 200 years and has been preened and nurtured and turned into the grounds of an English country manor. It even has a pet cemetary for the pooches of the Ambassadors - "Here lies Mr Wiffles, beloved chocolate Labrador and faithful servant of Empire. Trampled to death by a stampeding Tortoise. 1862".

There are about 6 giant tortoises that amble about the place. There are road signs asking people to be curteous to the riders of ponies and to the giant tortoises.

I was asked not to feed the giant tortoises as they get fat. How you could tell was beyond me.

[Effie]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies and sorry for the late reply!(I'm Longboys aforementioned g/f) Sorry to hear of all the thefts / deaths etc. In our research we found that this can be pretty common unfortunately but it's good to be aware of to try and protect him or her.

We have never met a tortoise in the flesh before and was hoping if anyone had one in the area we could come over and meet him or her to see if it's actually a pet we'd like? After all if they do manage to avoid the foxes and "travellers" then it's going to be a pet for life. Want to make 100% sure it's for us.

[jane1]

i have a tortoise, and they make brilliant pets,they r very easy 2 look after and care 4,have a look on gumtree,there is alot of people that dont want them as pets any more and r selling them really cheap