Has anyone else got tortoises as pets? I have 3 (Tommy, Tilly and Tiny) and I love them to bits. They are fascinating creatures who went through hard times before legislation thankfully stopped their imports.
I bought Tommy about 35 years ago. Tilly was given to us about 30 years ago by a neighbour who was emigrating, and I adopted Tiny from a Tortoise rescue society about 5 years ago. His previous owner had him 40 years.
They live out in a largel enclosure in the garden from the last of the frosts until October. Their enclosure is bounded by log roll - the highest sort - firmly bashed into the ground. They have a brick built waterproof house inside the enclosure with a large stone slab for a roof, a rockery, a bit of grass that had grown through the membrane and gravel, and some "toys", which are mainly logs and large rocks. I have placed groups of plant and shrub containers round the boundaries, both inside and outside the enclosure, which give them shade and places to hide behind. They tend to use these as round-a-bouts as they are constantly chasing each other. They did have a sand pit until we got Lola the puppy. She decided it was great fun to dig, so the sand pit had to go. In the winter they hibernate in separate shoe boxes in a fridge, and between hibernation and being outside they have an enclosure in a large shed with bedding and a heat lamp.
I really miss them when they are fast asleep!
Cheers, Linda.
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I don't have tortoises but I do have a snake and geckos!
Lovely to hear about your tortoises, it's amazing the age they can live to!
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Hi Sparrow,
We had a tortoise when I growing up - called Cilla! not sure why she was called that but I imagine there was a reason at the time. She had the run of the garden. This was way before folk were in to wildlife conservation so her habitat was the garden and not a specific area. She hibernated in the compost heap and we had her for absolutely years. In fact my Dad was mad on fishing and used to make his own flies - her shell was multicolored as he painted her shell with the paints he used so he could find her in the garden!!! Animal welfare would have had a field day on him back then but this was in the early 70s when people didn't know any different!
Regards
Kerry
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezmo6310/
We 'have' a tortoise called Jamie, although she lives in France with relatives as it was not possible to bring her when we moved back to the UK in '84. We hope now with animal passports etc... that we may eventually be able to get her back!
"All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)
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Nice to hear about your tortoise experiences, thanks. Things in the animal world have certainly changed for the better in recent years.
MarJus - I hope you get Jamie back one day.
Used to have two, then one, many many years ago when we were small children. Often found that although they lived for 3-5 years, eventually we would find them dead after hibernation, even tho we put a lot of straw & newspaper around a sturdy wooden box my father made for them. (In an outhouse attached to the house, so not really too warm or cold). One we had, once laid a clutch of eggs, which looked exactly like ping pong balls, but although we did our best to hatch them out, they didn't respond unfortunately- no internet in those days, to find out what to do in these cases. They loved to eat strawberries, I remember.
Hi Lindybird,
Hibernation was always the biggest killer before people became more knowledgeable. Nowadays there is so much good advice that it isn't so much of a problem. I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say there is a winding down period of 4 weeks for adult tortoises during which time you remove food, then day light, then heat. This ensures they don't de-hydrate and don't go to sleep with anything in their digestive tract. Providing they had a good summer food-wise and are generally healthy, they will survive. The recommended temperature is between 4 and 6 degrees, constant, which is why we are now advised to use a fridge rather than risk varying temperatures in outhouses. When I was a child we put one in the airing cupboard. No wonder the poor thing died!
I would love some eggs, but sadly all mine are males!! he eggs are a bit like ping pong balls as you remember ... surprisingly large really. They do love strawberries, and also tinned peaches in natural juice. You can hear them slurping!
Hi Sparrow- interesting stuff. Never tried tinned fruit, incidentally, but they did eat whole rows of baby lettuces when they got into my fathers veg. patch!