Tortoise care

[northerngirl]

Can anybody give advice on feeding and caring for tortoises. Getting two this week

[Cally]

I'm sorry if you find me rude but I must ask the question.......why on earth would you take on an animal or two without researching their care and needs.

[paddywack]

I'm sorry if you find me rude but I must ask the question.......why on earth would you take on an animal or two without researching their care and needs.

Think you are being a little harsh on a person looking for advice.

[woodspeckie]

Not easy animals to look after my grandaughters here in the UK have 2, you need to know when they hibernate, here they sleep from November to about Febuary. Daily they go to sleep about 4pm until about 7am. (All they do really is sleep, eat and poo) there are different kinds so you need to know what you have got, google whatever they are and you will find out how to look after them. Personally I think these animals should be in the wild.

[mickhm]

Are the tortoises here or in the UK? and how old/large are they? During hibernation they live on their fat reserves and soo if they are very young or not eaten enough they will starve in their sleep. If too small/young you will need to keep them awake with a UV and heat lamp tortoises are by nature vegeiterian but they are partial to cat food, and in our case, cat poo. It is not recommended foor them though. they will eat most green vegetable leaves ssuch as cabbage, brussells etc and will eat lettuce but that does not contain enough nutrients for them. They will eat tomatoe, cucumber and other such vegetables. If you wish to keeep them then make sure the garden is escape proof. The film the great escape was based on tortoises. I am very envious as I would love a tortoise again but I live in a first floor apartment
Best wishes with your pets
Mick

[northerngirl]

Sorry but do not forgive rudeness!
If you had nothing to say you should have not taken the time to reply!
Do not "assume" that we have not looked up about care etc. I just thought that some genuine person may have had something to add!

[northerngirl]

Thank you flash Alec for your reply to cally. I was just wanting some advice to go with the literature we have got as it all seems to relate to uk.
They are going to be in the wild so to speak as we have a garden that is nearly 2 donum with no escape route. There is a lot if conflicting advice such as one says feed cat food, tomatoes, cabbage sweet corn and yet the book we have says no. It would be nice to speak to like minded people without undue criticism.
Thank you for your replyi

[JoandJelly]

Tortoises should not have fruit and tomato is a fruit. It is essentially junk food and your tortoise will love it to the detriment of other things that it should have such as weeds. As has already been said lettuce provides absolutely no goodness or nourishment whatsoever so avoid. My tortoise eats weeds (look up on the internet for info) and hibiscus flowers, young mulberry leaves, young vine leaves and occasionally courgette. She is thriving. She also has a cuttle fish which you can get from a pet shop. They need water although they don't drink that much but it is good for the shell. My tortoise poos and wees in the water - this is normal! They like to dig in mud and like dappled shade, somewhere to bask and a house that is not too big. If yours are babies they must not hibernate so will need to be kept warm over the winter with an infrared lamp for night time.

[northerngirl]

Tortoises should not have fruit and tomato is a fruit. It is essentially junk food and your tortoise will love it to the detriment of other things that it should have such as weeds. As has already been said lettuce provides absolutely no goodness or nourishment whatsoever so avoid. My tortoise eats weeds (look up on the internet for info) and hibiscus flowers, young mulberry leaves, young vine leaves and occasionally courgette. She is thriving. She also has a cuttle fish which you can get from a pet shop. They need water although they don't drink that much but it is good for the shell. My tortoise poos and wees in the water - this is normal! They like to dig in mud and like dappled shade, somewhere to bask and a house that is not too big. If yours are babies they must not hibernate so will need to be kept warm over the winter with an infrared lamp for night time.

Hi thanKyou for your reply.
They are 3 and 5 years in age. We haven't been able to get cuttlefish but got calcium carbonate powder to sprinkle. They have spent the day hiding, we have plenty of space!
Yes I'm avoiding tomato and got leaves from the fields.
Thank you for your reply

[JoandJelly]

Hi Northerngirl we got the cuttle fish from Comfy pet store in Karakum.

[Cally]

In my defence I would like to add that I did apologise before asking the question.

Obviously I do not know the source of your tortoises but I would like to point out, at the risk of incurring further wrath that tortoises are not a native species to Cyprus. I found the following on the internet.

"I have created this thread specifically for people to discuss Tortoise welfare.
Hopefully we can educate people about these wonderful (to me) little creatures, that are not native to Cyprus.
Most species of tortoise are on Appendix I & II of CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species), and it would be great if we could concentrate on welfare and perhaps establish breeding programmes?
I have 32 tortoises, the majority have been captive bred (in my garden), some have been rescues, and some have been obtained via other breeders of captive tortoises. I will NEVER buy from pet shops unless they can prove that the tortoises are captive bred.
I have Marginated tortoises, Spur Thighed tortoises and Hermanns (sadly not my favourite breed ...way too aggressive!)"