Herps

[johnny]

I have a question for you herpatology people out there....

The gf really wants a tortoise for her bday... we've seen two that she likes:

cichada (sp?)
red footed tortoise

We have experience with aquatic turtles, but not tortoises. The rest we're going on what the pet store says. We'd like one that doesn't get much larger than 50lbs (rules out the cichada I think).

The red footed was gorgeous (also $200), but for a pet that will live 100 years, I suppose that's not bad. We were told to feed it mixed veggies just not iceberg lettuce (knew that) and to use the uva/uvb light along with a basking light and a heat pad (wary on the heat bad if it will burn it or not).

Other than that, newspaper bottoms or breeder's choice. We'd prefer sand, how hard is it to keep sand clean/smelling nice though?

Any other info would be great! Thanks!

Nick

[Joez]

There are cheaper, beautiful tortoises out there. But, if it's beautiful enough, then it'll be worth the price to you.

As for the substrate, they sell a special kind of bagged sand that doesn't clump and get into the alimentary canal like some sands do. Keeping the sand clean is not hard, and there are sprays to keep it nice and smelling fresh. Just pick up the waste often, spritz with water daily (even if dessert species), and use the sprays.

Here are a few links:

http://www.reptileshack.com/
http://www.lllreptile.com/
http://llizards.safeshopper.com/
http://www.arcatapet-online.com/
http://reptilecity.econgo.com/
http://www.snakesandreptiles.com/

Good luck.

[Ophidia]

Tortoises are much trickier than turtles to keep. The first one I am guessing is a Sulcata tortoise. Steer away, they get HUGE and are destructive as adults. Unless you can keep them outside YEAR ROUND do not buy!
The other, the red-foot, is a good choice. They like it humid and damp, can eat fruits and veggies with no problems (most tortoises will eventually die it fed low fiber grocery store veggies for an extended period-- especially sulcatas and leopards). Also, make sure you go captive bred. Tortoises are very prone to internal parasites and are VERY expensive to deparasitize (and frequently die anyway).
Some biggies to avoid:
All hingebacks unless captive bred
Sulcatas and Leopards (get too big, need specialized diet).
These are my biggies.

If you can find CB russians or Mediterranean spur-thighs (NOT SULCATAS!!!) they are also good.
Make sure you do your research. A tortoise is a challenging (to keep healthy) pet that could concievably be with you for the rest of your life. Think long and hard and do not be swayed by those who say "they are easy, just feed 'em lettuce." DO YOUR RESEARCH, read everything you can, and spare the tortoise a long lingering death and yourself heartache and frustration.

Feel free to email me with any questions. I, too, have thought long and hard about getting a tortoise, done much research, and have kept a few. In the end, I ended up giving them to better homes-- not the ideal way to do things-- and have decided to forgo any other tortoises until I am able to provide l;arge amounts of room (even the smallest tortoise has huge space requirements-- no glass tank is enough for any but the smallest tortoises) and proper environment.

Good luck-- email me for any more info
Chris

[johnny]

Joez,

Thank you for the links, the got me on a good start!

Ophidia,

Prepare to have your brain probed ;) You saved me a ton of trouble with your last post... I had just begun looking at the leopards and hingebacks ;) Soooo skip that. I have quite a bit of time to do my research here, her birthday is late August, so that will probably the time I'd want to buy one.

I started looking into buying some books, then I thought... hmmm if I were to buy books for salt water reefs... I'd be using an UGF, a trickle filter, etc etc :) So I think I'll stick to the internet and read read read.

If you could narrow down my search and suggest a few options for torts, it would be appreciated. I'm also picking the brains of the people at kingsnake.com :)

Nick

[Ophidia]

Johnny,
Try the following:
www.tortoisetrust.org -- the links page has good stuff here as well

http://www.sonic.net/~melissk/ for care sheets

www.tortoise.com

Check Glades Herp for babies-- the baby redfoot I got from there was awesome. www.gherp.com

Kingsnake.com forums are a great resource (hopefully they will someday go to a system like this one :) )
That's all I can think of right now. If I think of others, I'll let you know.
Chris