Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I fell in love with a tiny leopard tortoise at the breeders expo this weekend, but decided against the impulse buy. (sigh.)

Now I am trying to do some research to decided if this it the kind best suited for me. I live in Missouri and don't have much turtle experience except for a few when I was little.

I've looked up some books on Amazon, and wondered if anyone could recommend which ones are the best?

*Pet Owner's Guide to the Tortoise by Simon J. Girling

*Complete Idiot's Guide to Turtles & Tortoises (The Complete Idiot's Guide) by Palika

*Leopard Tortoise Guide, She Says; He Says (Tortoises of the World, Volume 8) by Liz Palike

*A Step-By-Step Book About Tortoises by Christine Adrian

I live in St. Louis, MO, and have raised russian torts for almost 8 years now. I've also been keeping them outdoors (from about April to October) for the last 5 years.

It's often easier to keep tortoises outdoors if you have that option. They can eat the good stuff that grows in the yard, get natural sunshine, more easily lay eggs if they want, and behave in what might be a more natural fashion. And you can often give them more space outdoors than in.

And I think russian torts can tolerate the weather around here much better than any other tort. I leave them outside in a 64 sq ft pen, as long as it's dry with overnight lows, in the 40s and day time highs in the 100s. If it rains I'll bring them in on cold nights. They love to eat the clover and weeds from my yard. They lay eggs out there (I bring the egg in to incubate). As long as they have a dry place (hide area) to go to at night, and a dry area to bask on during the day, they don't mind the humid weather.

And they are small enough to keep indoors. My largest one is a 7" female. An 8 sq ft enclosure would be great for one or two russkies.

The website www.russiantortoise.net is a good source of info. Also a book by Ed Pirog (EJ on the forum) on russian tortoises is available on Amazon.

Leopard tortoises tend to get too large and are pickier about temperatures. I have a couple of them that are very small (4.5 to 5 inches) that I keep in a 7 sq ft enclore indoors, and I put them outside in a screen cage on warm, sunny days. Larger specimens would be more of a challenge to keep indoors.

The Russians do sound pretty good for me.

In my original searching I was choosing the tortoises that didn't have to hibernate.

Is there a real difference in ease of care?

I think I may have to cross the Leopards off my list, I really like the way they look, but that may be too much turtle for me!

What about the Greek tortoises? I've seen them usually listed as "Golden Greeks". They don't have to hibernate.

Let me know what you think about having to hibernate... the Russians do sound like a good choice for me since we have the same climate.

Russians don't have to hibernate. But they would probably slow down for awhile during the winter.

I hibernate them because:
1) It gives them (and me) a break
2) it seems to improve breeding.

If possible try to get captive bred russians. They cost a little more (not that much these days), but are healthier and probably fit into captive life a little easier.

I don't know anything about greeks.

I agree that Russians are a good choice, but since you expressed an interest in torts that don't need to hibernate, check out the redfoot tortoise. They get larger than Russians, but not as big as some. I love in Northern Arkansas and have had a leopard for about 6 years. She does great in the summer but I do feel bad for having to keep her indoors in the winter.

I really like the looks of the redfoot torts... my concern is that I always read that they need lots of humidity. MO can be humid, but not enough for them I think. I don't think I want the challenge of maintaining that high of humidity in my house for our very dry winters. I'm sure I could be wrong about all of those details though... I know that all of the torts are going to need some humidity, and a dish to soak in.

How much animal protein do the redfoot torts need? I have just been doing online research so far, and it always mentions that they need some. My significant other won't mind feeding the tort a whole side off beef if need be! and I would never change the torts diet from what it is made to eat but...

As lame as it may seem, I'm looking for a tort to be vegetarians with for the next 50 years or so! Lol.