anyone have a tortoise or know about them as pets?

[ktgrok]

I want a quarantortoise, lol. 

They come into rescue here in Florida from time to time, various types, and I'm wondering how they are to keep? We'd want an older one, so it didnt' outlive us and our kids. 

[SereneHome]

We've had numerous ones, the ones that don't need to live in water. Super easy to keep. I have no idea how old ours is, we got it when my oldest kid turned 3, he will be 12 in a few weeks.

ETA the one we still have we got it from a store. We had 3 other ones that my husband picked up "on a side of a road". One died in childbirth, two other ones were given away

Edited July 13, 2020 by SereneHome

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, SereneHome said:

We've had numerous ones, the ones that don't need to live in water. Super easy to keep. I have no idea how old ours is, we got it when my oldest kid turned 3, he will be 12 in a few weeks.

ETA the one we still have we got it from a store. We had 3 other ones that my husband picked up "on a side of a road". One died in childbirth, two other ones were given away

The only ones we have here that I see out and about are a protected species - gopher tortoises. You aren't supposed to even touch them. But a former coworker down south has at least one Sulcata I think, that she got from a rescue. 

I met a Sulcata at a zoo, and it was kismet or something......I just fell in love with it. I had no idea I was into tortoises until then. The eyes are so...human? But better? 

[SereneHome]

3 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

The only ones we have here that I see out and about are a protected species - gopher tortoises. You aren't supposed to even touch them. But a former coworker down south has at least one Sulcata I think, that she got from a rescue. 

I met a Sulcata at a zoo, and it was kismet or something......I just fell in love with it. I had no idea I was into tortoises until then. The eyes are so...human? But better? 

Well, the one that died in childbirth was the kind that was considered "endangered" and we weren't suppose to have it, but my husband saved it in a middle of a highway! She was beautiful. She was a box turtle, I think

ETA; I'll be honest, I like them, but they never "gabbed" me, I like pets that are fluffy lol

Edited July 13, 2020 by SereneHome

[Guest]

Tortoises in general are VERY long lived (Can live a century). They are hard to detect age on once they are past the hatchling stage, so in general, the same rule applies as adopting a parrot. 

 

Sulcatas are built to dig, and they will. Keeping one contained is like keeping a terrier contained in a lot of ways.  They also need UV, and a lot of it, so really need to be able to be kept outside-keeping them inside usually leads to a very deformed animal with a lot of pyramiding.  They end up in rescue a lot because they start out as adorable little balls that fit in your hand, but within a few years can easily tunnel through the dry wall of your house.  Having said that, Florida is one of the places in the US that it actually is possible to keep them outside all year,if you are willing to build an appropriate enclosure. 

 

 

Smaller native US tortoises (desert tortoises and gopher tortoises) are both endangered species, although in some cases you can become a long term foster care giver for one who cannot be released into the wild. Again, they should be kept outdoors, in the appropriate climate (so if you don't live in Florida or Arizona, you won't get one). Russian tortoises that end up in the US are usually wild caught and extremely unhealthy, although again, sometimes you can find the, in rescue. 

 

Box turtles were common pets in the 1980's and earlier , but are now illegal to keep in most states because overharvesting caused a major collapse of the population. You can occasionally find ones that cannot be released in rescue that come with the proper permits-in some cases, ones obtained as pets 40 years ago. Again, though, don't adopt unless you have someone to will the turtle to, because estimating age is hard and they can live a long time. 

 

I adore tortoises and turtles, and we get our fix by volunteering to head start, usually hatchlings incubated from eggs taken from injured or dead mothers. We keep them long enough to make sure they are healthy and have a chance to grow a bit, and then they are released into the same area they came from. (DD has a mentor who regularly gets turtles to rehab). 

 

 

 

[Terabith]

I used to tortoise sit for a gigantic tortoise when I was in graduate school, along with his much smaller sibling.  They were surprisingly interesting and engaging pets with active personalities.  The two of them played chase.  But...they had an entire room for the tortoise, that was kept extra warm.  It had to have fresh salads and fruit every day.  It had a very large outdoor environment/ enclosure for the summer.  

It knew its name and would occasionally come when called.  

They can easily live a looooooooooong time, so you have to do estate planning for it.  The family I tortoise sat for, the parents were in their late 50's, and it had belonged to their parents.  

[ktgrok]

1 minute ago, dmmetler said:

TSulcatas are built to dig, and they will. Keeping one contained is like keeping a terrier contained in a lot of ways.  They also need UV, and a lot of it, so really need to be able to be kept outside-keeping them inside usually leads to a very deformed animal with a lot of pyramiding.  They end up in rescue a lot because they start out as adorable little balls that fit in your hand, but within a few years can easily tunnel through the dry wall of your house.  Having said that, Florida is one of the places in the US that it actually is possible to keep them outside all year,if you are willing to build an appropriate enclosure. 

 

Would definitely be outdoors, yes, here in Florida. The age thing is interesting...I didn't realize you really couldn't tell. So might be 20, might be 80, huh? We'd definitely only do a rescue, not be part of the pet trade or anything. Any idea where to find out more regarding space/enclosure requirements, etc? This may be more a long term idea, not right now, due to space perhaps, but something I do want to look into seriously. The website I found for florida tortoise rescue was a bit of a mess, all broken links, etc. 

[Guest]

Here’s a pretty good article on Sulcata husbandry. They really are neat animals, and there are a lot of them in rescue, so there is a need (because baby Sulcatas are absolutely adorable). But I’m not kidding that containing them can be about like containing the quietest Jack Russell ever (They do vocalize, even in the egg, but their vocalizations are so low pitched that humans usually can’t hear them) -they are very adept at tunneling out and sometimes climbing over enclosures, and are pretty good problem solvers, comparable to many mammals. 
 

https://www.reptilesmagazine.com/keeping-the-african-spurred-tortoise/

Chelonians are social, and do form social networks, especially females. So don’t be surprised if in order to adopt one, you need to actually plan to adopt two. If a rescue has multiple tortoises, they will often try to place pairs that tend to associate with each other together, because they do have emotional responses when separated. 

[ktgrok]

35 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

Here’s a pretty good article on Sulcata husbandry. They really are neat animals, and there are a lot of them in rescue, so there is a need (because baby Sulcatas are absolutely adorable). But I’m not kidding that containing them can be about like containing the quietest Jack Russell ever (They do vocalize, even in the egg, but their vocalizations are so low pitched that humans usually can’t hear them) -they are very adept at tunneling out and sometimes climbing over enclosures, and are pretty good problem solvers, comparable to many mammals. 
 

https://www.reptilesmagazine.com/keeping-the-african-spurred-tortoise/

Chelonians are social, and do form social networks, especially females. So don’t be surprised if in order to adopt one, you need to actually plan to adopt two. If a rescue has multiple tortoises, they will often try to place pairs that tend to associate with each other together, because they do have emotional responses when separated. 

Ok, all that sounds good...except....if I had two...do I need to worry about preventing baby tortoises? Like sit them down for a safer sex talk? Chastity belt? Birth control? Do they spay them? (I'll read the article later, I promise!)

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Ok, all that sounds good...except....if I had two...do I need to worry about preventing baby tortoises? Like sit them down for a safer sex talk? Chastity belt? Birth control? Do they spay them? (I'll read the article later, I promise!)

Usually adults are fairly easy to sex for someone who knows what they’re doing, and a lot of the social networks are actually between females-males often interact less except during mating season. And, unless you have gopher tortoises, in which case if a captive one lays   Eggs, they want to collect and incubate them for release, the way you handle reptile eggs when you don’t want baby reptiles is simple-collect and discard. Since most reptiles can save sperm for multiple years, and parthenogenesis is documented in lizards and snakes, and reptiles do lay slug eggs just like birds do, the General rule of thumb is to treat all eggs like they are fertile-incubate if you want offspring, discard if you don’t.  Usually you’ll see a tortoise digging pits in the days before they lay, so you know where to look.

 

Some vets do spay reptiles, but I’m not sure that they do for tortoises-it’s most common for bearded dragons, where unmated females can sometimes become egg bound.  
 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by dmmetler