First Steps

When you first receive your tortoise it is a good idea to help the animal adjust to its new home, be it a tabletop pen or an outdoor pen. I have found that giving your tortoise a warm bath each morning then feeding it afterwards can get the animal used to you its keeper and its environment. If you do decide to do this make sure you do not overfeed the tortoise, it will eat anything that is put in front of it and as a consequence it may grow fat or indeed grow too fast.

Substrates are an important part of the environment for your tortoise and should be considered with care, a bad substrate could lead to an unhappy tortoise or even worse an unhealthy one. The best kind of substrate that can be used is a mixture of peat and play sand, as this simulates the natural environment of the tortoise. This is not the cleanest nor the best smelling option however. Other than that there are many options, ranging from short chopped hemp to old tea towels. The worst kind of substrate would be something which has any kind toxin or something that could interfere with the tortoise. Hay is a very bad option, as is turf, both of these have pointy strands which could get in its eyes and cause irritation. Too much moisture in the substrate can germinate all kinds of nasty pathogens which can lead to shell rot! Whichever substrate you use, you should clean it out (for the tabletop enclosure) once a week to ensure that your tortoise is not wallowing in its own faeces and urine.

I have also found that my own tortoises sometimes resort to eating their substrate, this is usually when they are hungry and have not been fed that day. If you observe this in your tortoise, you should either change their feeding pattern to daily (with lesser amounts) or change the substrate type.

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There are some people, mainly pet shop owners or self appointed experts, who say that tortoises do not need to drink water, and that they collect all the moisture that they need in the food that they eat, this is NOT true. It is easy to prove these so called experts wrong, all you do is put a water dish in with your tortoise and watch it for a while. For an animal that doesn’t need to drink water they certainly make a big show of pretending to do it. Tortoises DO need to drink, anybody who says otherwise is fundamentally wrong. True tortoises are very efficient when it comes to water regulation and do not need to drink as often as humans, but they do need to drink. Smaller tortoises have a greater need to drink than larger ones, but even my largest tortoise has a drink once a day. Fresh water should be available to your tortoise all the time. This may seem simple but it is far from it. I normally check on my tortoises 2-3 times a day, and each of those times I will either find the tortoise bathing in its water dish, or that it has gone to the toilet in it. My tortoises do like to have a bath every now and again, but they seem to like using the water as a toilet more often than not. If you find this you should wash out the dish and refill with fresh water. Other than that you should change the water once a day at the very least.

Your Tortoise maybe shy for a while when you first get it, but providing it has a “cave” to hide in and feel safe, it should become accustomed to you. To help the tortoise feel more at home it’s a good idea to avoid handling it unless absolutely necessary, or to frequently change its environment. Don’t worry if it takes the animal a long time to get used to you, it will eventually.

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Article courtesy of www.carlisletortoises.co.uk

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