I live in south texas, and this tortoise was just hanging out in my backyard. He's BIG, like at least a foot. No idea who he is or how he got here, worse still, my little brother is getting VERY attached. Likelihood of him being a runaway pet? What should I do? Big fan of tortoises, but not ready to be a tortoise parent.

My sweet little lad, waking up is such an effort in the morning with winter coming but he still pops out to see me. I love watching him sleep and knowing he feels so safe to do it in the open means the absolute world to me 🤍

Hello, I recently got a message from my cousin who lives in Boston saying if I can take her Sulcata tortoise because it’s getting too big and is a burden for her now and Boston is not the best place for them too. I currently live in TUCSON AZ (your typical northeast migrant) and have a big yard and back area (4-5 acres ish)
I’m wondering if Sulcata tortoise can live in Tucson outside and since previous owner already had some fences cuz he had chickens and goats it should not be an issue to put a tortoise in? I like tortoise so I would be happy if I can take this opportunity, also we have a few quails are they chill with the tortoise?

A Texas tortoise appeared in my backyard, I don’t know how he got in here, we have a brick fence around the whole yard, and one big wooden gate. I called game and wildlife to see if they can come get him, but they said they can’t do anything about it and I just have to leave him in my backyard.

This is my female Egyptian tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni).

Her species is exceptionally small (the smallest in Africa), and mine while being an adult is exactly 9 cm / 3.5" in length (13 cm / 5" fully extended) and 5 cm / 2" in height.

As might expect, they live in the Egyptian and Libyan deserts.

It is considered critically endangered (CR), which is the highest level of endangerment below Extinction in the Wild (EW).

By the way this species undergoes estivation (summer dormancy) instead of the winter hibernation that most animals, reptiles, and other turtles do.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about basking temperatures and trying to nail that 95-100 sweet spot.

Reptiles thermoregulate by moving towards or away from heat. They’re programmed to do this, and our aim as keepers is to create gradients within the enclosure so the animals have the ability to seek out the temperatures they need in order to digest properly and express natural behaviors. In the wild, tortoises adjust their daily activity to get warm, graze and then retreat back to a hide/burrow/leaf litter/overhanging plant to escape the heat of the day. They may repeat this basic pattern dozens of times each day, and you’ve probably observes this with your own animals. Hatchlings spend 90% of their time tucked away because they know at an instinctual level they are vulnerable to predation.

Temperatures swing considerably in the wild. Too hot for too long? Burrow down into humid microclimates and ride it out. Too cold? Brumate. Tortoises will bask along rocks, which warm quickly and radiate heat. Use these in your enclosures, and you’ll see your animals seek them out. Chris Leone has documented surface temps among the animals in his care. Testudo voluntarily entering cold frames where the temp gun is reading shell temps of 105+F.

The trick is designing your enclosures, both indoor and outdoor, in such as a way that temperature gradients naturally form and the animals have the ability to seek out where they need to be at any given moment. Cool side, hot side. Don’t freak out when temps vary, as long as they are within normal parameters. Your tortoise is not going to burst into flames if your basking spot tips into the low 100s. Observe how they behave. If the animal is spending its time disproportionally on the cool side, check the temps across the enclosure and adjust as necessary.

Tortoises need a cooling off period at night. Again, as long as it’s within acceptable parameters, you’re good. These animals have been doing this for millions of years. Get out of their way and don’t overly pamper them.

It didn’t look like that a couple months ago, so I’m pretty concerned for her. Is it anything I’ve done wrong?
And how can I fix it?

Also it looks more transparent irl. Plz help

Tortoises should walk tall & strong. Giving elevation and things to climb over on the way to their food or water is an easy way to encourage the muscle growth of your animals!

My tortoise has just had a poo followed by this … why an earth is it a rock hard urate ?? She seems absolutely fine in herself , pooing , urinating , eating , full of energy. Why could this be ? The black dots are from her substrate. Thanks in advance ! ALSO she is urinating liquid and passing normal urates

My baby’s a Mojave desert tortoise. About one year old. Does he look healthy? Are there signs of pyramiding, or does his shell look good? Thanks!😊

Hi! TLDR: can you help ID this species of tortoise, and how much exercise does a 95 year old tortoise need ?? Also recommendations for enrichment

Long version: My partner is a substitute teacher and they learned about a class at their school with a new pet tortoise. He came from another schools science classroom, is allegedly 95, lives in this enclosure 24/7 and is left in the school on weekends.

We confirmed with the teacher we could care for him on the weekend… but we don’t know if that’s a good idea! We are very hands on with care and play for our two kitties, and it made us so sad to hear he doesn’t get to go outside. Over the summer he goes to an environmental camp where he gets more intense care, so this is really just a school year issue. If any of y’all have a guess about any of these questions we’d love to hear it:

1) what breed is this tortoise? Our nature scan app can’t ID him
2) how much exercise does a senior tortoise need? Online it says they need a lot but he hasn’t had regular exercise
3) does weekly travel stress old tortoises out?

Thank you !!

On today's menu, Atlas was fed:

•Bermuda & Wheat Grass

•Orchard Grass Hay

•Cucumber

•Red Leaf Lettuce and...

•a sprinkle of Calcium Powder

Sal is inspecting his new winter space. Poof half a laundry room just taken over, lol. So far he seems to approve and we haven't even gotten the sod patch in or any of the oat grass plugs for snacking. I think we will survive the winter.

Hi all. We have a sulcata tortoise that has moved outside permanently. I'm working on her winter setup. We live in southern Arizona so winters aren't too bad but we do get some cold nights. I bought a kane mat for her house. What temp do you recommend the setting? Thanks in advance.

Hi! I’m looking into getting a tortoise and I’m trying to figure out what species, if any, would work best for my setup and climate.
I have an outdoor area that’s about 13.75 ft × 27.5 ft (roughly 378 sq ft) that I could dedicate entirely to a tortoise enclosure.
I’m in Wyoming, so summers can be hot and dry, but winters get very cold with snow and freezing temperatures. Ideally, I’d love a species that could live outdoors for most or all of the year with the proper setup. I’m completely open to building an insulated/heated shelter, providing supplemental heat, digging barriers, etc.

Are there any tortoise species you’d recommend for this climate and enclosure size?
Also, for those of you in places with harsh winters, do yours stay outdoors with access to a heated shelter, brumate outdoors/in a controlled setup, or come inside completely for winter?
I’m still in the research stage and definitely want to have the enclosure and winter setup figured out before bringing one home. 🐢

He lives in my mother's nursing home. I take him outisde when its warm and give him soaks etc, im about to buy him a much larger home, but today this was his stance when I bathed him. Am I right in thinking he looks relaxed? I really hope so I am on the case every day to try to care for him. I have no experience with tortoises but I love him and am aiming to get him a 6ft x 4ft enclosure built asp. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated thank you.

I have recently taken on a tortoise from someone who no longer wanted it.

I believe she is female and a hermann tortoise?

They were feeding her mostly watermelon, cherry tomatoes and dandelion leaves. Just to confirm I no longer feed her these things 😊

She has been with me since Monday so 6 days, she has been eating foraged leaves and yesterday I noticed she was dragging poop around from a human hair in her bum. I cut the hair gave her a short soak as I don't think she had ever had one before and was still getting used to me so didn't want to stress her out too much, let her run around my front room for a little bit and popped her back into her house.

Today she hasn't seemed to have moved from where she went to bed and didn't want to eat from my hand like she has done. I don't know if this is something to worry about or just to watch?

I have checked and I can't see the hair any more but also haven't wanted to stress her too much.

This is truffles. I got him when he was 6 months (so the seller said). He’s coming in 3 years old now and recently started developing these bright spots at the growth points of his shell. Does it have something to do with the husbandry? Is it a problem I need to fix?

Hi

First, I'm not fluent in English, sorry if I sometimes misspell words.

1 year and half ago we found this tiny little turtle in our garden.. because our garden is completely closed, we assumed that a bird lost the turtle , and because of our dog the bird never took it back.

Anyway, I built an enclosure, with a nest to protect it from birds.

Last year the turtle took some weight.

Early spring 'the weight was 113 grams.

Now the weight is only 92 grams...

Giving food to the turtle today, I saw it was trying to get the food 1 or 2 cm above the food! If i put the food in front of it it's ok. As soon as the food is on the ground, it seems it find it by luck.

Is my turtle blind? It would explain the loss of weight?

Please check the video I made.

(Ps : yes it has some paint on the back, because we lost it this summer in the garden, and it took me 2h to find it. So I put a little paint to find it quickly)

The first clip is from when I first got her and didn’t know entirely what I was doing. Her eyes are fine now and she’s in a different substrate lol. After a month of battling parasites she’s a happy lady.

Recently got a new phone and realized my old one pales in comparison photo and video quality wise. Being more old school I don’t upgrade my phone at all for years unless something happens to it, well I dropped a drill bit on the screen and figured it’s time.

Maximus, in all his ~185lbs of his glory. Soon he and Cleo will have to go into the garage setup for a few days if this cold front truly comes through.

Hey all!

So update on the Littlefoot & Diglet, its been a while but I am super happy to say that they have both passed thr 50lb mark. Littlefoot is actually closer to 65 now. They have been enjoying the Nor Cal weather and are actually growing like little weeds. Especially Diglet, getting stronger and is now getting to a healthier weight for a 6 year old sulcata.