Tortoise Time!

[quizzywig]

Just got Roly up from his long winter sleep. He's had a bath and is now just staring at some tasty morsels. Anyone else's tortoise up?

[woofgang]

mine have been up since the middle of april and are just being allowed to sleep outside. They are costing me a fortune in exotic veg at the mo, once the weather is reliably warm then I will leave them to graze the weeds that grow in their enclosure.

[paddywak]

Prudence, our neighbours tortoise has been up for a while and today she was out and about on the lawn in her run enjoying the sun

[ruthann58]

ours has been up for about a fortnight rushing about the garden and being a general pain in the bum

[rsvp]

Didn't hibernate my four this year as hadn't had them long enough to know whether or not they were healthy and putting on weight. they spent the winter indoors but are now enjoying their new enclosure during the day - still bring them in at night though. Have had so much fun building the ensurfor them, it's huge with a solarium, tortie friendly plants, hills and logs etc plus all sorts of tortie friendly plants - have also filled in an old pond with gravel which catches just the right amount of rainwater to allow them to have a drink and a paddle plus a drinking staon. Great pets - Love um

[woofgang]

mine ate a whole chicon each today! This is the first year I've had two for a while. I adopted one in December from someone who couldn't keep her. She has been a bit dubious about me and food but today it was like feeding vegetarian lions. I should point out that mine are both adults. The New Girl is known to be 80 years old and I have had mine coming up for 50 years and she was big when I got her so a whole piece of chicory each is good going but not overfeeding

[rsvp]

don't know where 'ensurfor' came from - should have read enclosure

[rsvp]

quizzywig and woofgang - where are you I'm in SE England and the weather is so changeable I'm a bit worried to leave them out all night.

[quizzywig]

As Roly has only been up for a day or two, he spends the day in the conservatory under a lamp until he starts eating properly. When he starts to go outside (weather permitting) we bring him in every evening. We've had him 31 years and bought him from a pet shop - it was allowed back then. He wasn't a baby when we got him. We have to watch him alot as he invariably manages to turn himself over at some time! We do love him though.

[quizzywig]

rsvp, I'm in the East Midlands - South Derbyshire to be exact.

[woofgang]

I am in the far south and my tortoise enclosure is a suntrap from about 11am until sunset. I am also obsessive about watching the weather via the met office website. If the forecast night time temperature is much below 10c then they go in my heated shed for the night and if the day doesn't warm up, then they go into the shed for a morning warm up which they both HATE lol. I am never cavelier about temperature anyway and If I had babies then i would probably keep them in at night as well. Once I was sure that they were healthy though, I would be nerving myself to give them a short hibernation. Do you know the toroise trust website? loads of good info there.

[rsvp]

thanks quizzywig and woofgang. Seems I'm doing things the same as you more experienced keepers - have done a lot of research and joined our local chelonian society where torties got a health check. I weigh them at regular intervals and intend to hibernate them all this year. I have a large Horsefields, a Hermanns and two Marginated. Thoroughly enjoy caring for them and still have lots of plans to improve the outdoor run. Great little creatures.

[woofgang]

rsvp, do you keep them separate? different tortoise species carry their own bugs wihich are harmless to them but which can kill another species, like white men and native Americans and flu.

[society]

Woofy, can you post pictures? Anyone? I'd love to see...

[woofgang]

Will put some up tonight

[rsvp]

woofgang thank you for the advice on keeping different species - I didn't know that. They have been together for a year now and all seems well. However it certainly needs looking into further. Again, many thanks.

[woofgang]

link here
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/mixing.htm

[rsvp]

great link woofgang - hmmm.... need to do a bit of thinking! Appreciate your imput, thank you.

[woofgang]

my girls
[URL=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/anoymous53/media/IMG_0290_zpsce0ff298.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t645/anoymous53/IMG_0290_zpsce0ff298.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

the new girl has a white mark on her shell done by her first owner when it was thought to be ok. We now know that the shell is actually alive (like our bones) not dead (like nails and hair) and should never be oiled, painted or drilled

[woofgang]

hmm. lets try again
http://i1318.photobucket.com/albums/t645/anoymous53/IMG_0290_zpsce0ff298.jpg

[woofgang]

not sure what is happening there, if you click on the big grey square, the picture appears.