Toby the Tortoise seeks Girlfriend

[lily10]

Does anyone know where we can get Toby a girlfriend? He is very lonely and it might stop him scaring all the cats if he has someone to play with !! So we need a female Tortoise to spend cozy days in the garden eating our Hibiscus.

[keepsmiling]

Lily, has Toby found a girlfriend yet??

[keepsmiling]

I have a friend who knows someone with 15 baby tortoises looking for a good home.......is that too young for Toby????

[JoandJelly]

Tortoises are solitary creatures. If Toby is definitely a boy then getting a female will likely result in him constantly pestering her and he can end up stressing her out or worse. If you end up with another boy they could fight. Sorry to put a downer on things but I just wanted to make you aware. If Toby is young and you get another very young one then probably all will be ok until they reach sexual maturity and which point you could separate them if it becomes a problem.

I have two youngsters and all is fine currently. Good luck.

[kbasat]

I have been keeping tortoises (testudo graeca) since 1990, breeding since 2004, now with over 100 tortoises.

Tortoises are indeed solitary creatures, but you can keep them together if you consider a few facts;

1) Tortoises reach sexual maturity when they grow to a certain size, not by age, however, on average, this is about 8-10 years under normal conditions. Until this, you can keep as many as you like (males and females) together provided that;
2) Tortoises need room, adults approx 10 sqm each!, provided you can make a secure area in your garden, you can keep more than one tortoise together provided that;
3) At maturity, it is better to keep all females or one male and multiple females. You should make arrangements to separate them if needed. My experience is usually positive if enough space exist and they have room to hide if they do not want any attention.

More than one mature male is not a good idea
You should really provide them enough space
Outdoor enclosure is best in Cyprus (Juveniles can be kept in an indoor terrarium for a few years)
Although they love lettuce, it provide little nutritional value and should be avoided at all times.
Never feed meat to tortoises.
One mating is enough for female tortoise to lay fertilized eggs for upto 4 years.

[mickhm]

Hi Kbsat apart from lettuce cucumber and cabbage what else would you advise to feed the little creatures on? Another word of warning if they are allowed to run free beware of those magpie type birds. They have taken one of our small ones
thanks
Mick

[woodspeckie]

Ours love Dandelion leaves and flowers, Kale too.

[JoandJelly]

Lettuce is ok but not iceberg and cucumber in moderation only, cabbage is a brassica and should not be fed. Mine eat dandelions, plantain, mallow, hibiscus flowers and leaves, mulberry leaves, tender vine leaves and occasional pieces of courgette. Thetortoisetable.org.uk has a database of all plants if you want to check anything.

[jen]

My three babies also love hibiscus flowers ,dandelions and mallow , they do have cucumber ,one of them loves tomatoes (no seed) and they all like melon and cherries as an occasional treat . They are last years hatchlings so I put powdered calcium in their drinking water but be aware too much can cause shell deformation

[Keithcaley]

A slightly specious comment, I admit, but...

I am constantly amazed at the range of interests, and the depth of knowledge on particular (unlikely!) subjects that individuals possess.

You can learn something from everyone, and wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?

[JoandJelly]

You are right Keith. We are newish Tortoise keepers and it is amazing how complicated it all is with temperature, food and hydration otherwise the poor creatures can end up with 'pyramiding' and metabolic bond disease. When I was a kid our Jeremy just lived in the garden in all weathers and not sure what, if anything, my mum fed him!