General Chat

Thanks Rita and Mayfield,

I will take my time and do plenty of research before deciding, I would not want to get one not knowing as much as possible, I would not like to think it got sick or worse becauce I didn't know how to care for it.

Hi Meryl,
We have two tortoises, both ex-runaways. Fred having been dug up on an allotment about 20 years ago the other Jo, who appeared in my aunts garden one day and she had him/her for about the same time before having a fall picking him/her up, so Jo was re-housed with us.
They do have characters ours are both placid but another one we minded recently was quite aggressive.

You can keep a tortoise awake all year but it’s quite involved they need a special sun lamp and close monitoring, the success rate is not good. We tried it once with a tortoise many years ago (we got her as a pal for Fred, we even had to get a licence to keep her) because the pet shop man advised it for the first year, but the poor thing did not survive.

I would not advise them for a child, children have a habit of losing interest quite quickly and then mum ends up looking after it, not too bad with a gerbil or guinea pig that has a relatively short life but a tortoise can live for 70 years or more quite easily, you may well have to make provision in your will for it!

Depends how old your son is, but guinea pigs (in my experience they don’t bite or scratch like rabbits often do) or a couple of rats make brilliant pets, but rats must be handled daily to socialise them, they really love human contact and unlike other rodents that hide away, will come up to the cage bars as soon as they see someone come into the room.

Best wishes,
Mayfield.

Thanks Shirley, I want to make sure I make the right choice as they are definitely for life. I think I will get a book about tortoise next week from the library, I thought they would be low maintenance.

Their body temperature governs when they stop eating and hibernate. Sounds as if the ones being sold have only ever been kept indoors in warm conditions so they wont hibernate.
I am popular with our vet cos she has several tortoises but they are kept indoors, she has a spare room so they have space to roam , but I expect the clean up is ever constant. They are roamers so to me if you can give them space to wander then its less stress on them and a better for them

Thanks Shirley and Mel,

Shirley I like that your tortoise comes to you when you call it, sounds lovely.
How awful your Tobias was stolen Mel, sure he is still alive out there somewhere.

The chap in the shop said that the ones he sell don't hibernate? Thought that was a bit strange and said I would need a special tortoise house thingy which keeps them warm as they don't like the cold, £375 for the tortoise and house. Tortoise is £150 on own.

Many moons ago (again!!) another neighbour got a tortoise for their son,.It was an escape artist and often went walkabout, It made its way into our garden ,although at the time I didnt know where it came from, there was lots of shell knocking going on from Harold who thought his dream had been answered but the newcomer didnt want to know,After a couple of days the interloper had departed leaving a lonely Harold. Well at that time I had no idea where it came from as i would have returned it home but since then I always felt that Harold should have a friend but you couldn't buy tortoises cos they became banned imports. I think the ones you can buy now have been bred here .
I would go for two rather than one if I was starting over

We have Harold. Got him in 1968 . Our next door neighbors had bought him for their children but he ended up in our garden so many times that they finally asked if our daughter would like him. We were in new builds having moved in 1967 so the back gardens needed attention. The hubby got peed off with putting plants in only to have Harold eat em!! so he asked our daughter if she would like to keep him.
So many moons later he is still with us ,A BIG boy weighing nearly 6pounds, he has a rabbit hutch on the patio as his house,he comes and goes as he pleases and hibernates in there in the winter bedded down in hay, We do get the vet to give him a once over and a vitamin injection to get him through the winter when he starts to go off his food.
I feed him on a daily ration of lettuce,cucumber.apple and a dollop of cat food, plus he likes banana and strawberries so he gets some of those as an extra.

I dont know what type he is other than he isnt a hermann, but he is very much part of the family, He does know me and will come when I call him .

You need to make sure yours will be secure cos they are big roamers and can climb. Also they are valuable so are vulnerable to theft.
:D :D

Hello,

I am thinking about getting my son a tortoise, he loves them! Our local pet shop is getting some in next week, Horsfield and Hermann.
I have done a bit of research on them but don't know anyone who has one and wondered if anyone here has one and if they make good pets.