Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Curious how long some of you members here have owned your tortoises for.

I've had my male Egyptian tortoise since November 17, 1997. He must have been around 3-4 years old back then as he was relatively small and very young looking.

The female I've had for about 4 years now. She's CB and I'd say she's around 8 years of age.

np

Hi. I still have an Indian Travancore Tortoise which was collected in India by Dr. Walter Auffenberg in 1958 and brought to the US then. I also have a Madagascar Angulated Tortoise which has been in my possession since 1976. Radiated Tortoise which I bought between 1965 and 1970 are still living and producing babies each year, though I sold them to some other people in 2001.

If you've got one Bill. Thanks, Will...

I had my redfoot for 24 years, now deceased. I have my current torts for 1 1/2 years now. Tom

My smallest russian I have had for 1 year, the next largest I have had for about 5 months, and the female that's largest (about 9" that has just laid a clutch of eggs, I have owned for about 2 months. That's a pretty good deal to not only get a large female russian, but possibly a couple of babies as well.

I hope to have them for a long time (preferably as long as I live). Actually, the only one that I really have doubts about outliving me is the largest one, and that's just because I know that she's at least 10 years old, and probably quite a bit older than that.

Yeah, I'm new to tortoises. I've made some great observations though, and I feel like I have a really good grasp on husbandry. I'm hoping to expand my collection of russians so that I can have a nice breeding project in the somewhat near future. I'd like to have around 4 females and 1-2 males.

I'm also interested in breeding egyptian tortoises, and I'd like to raise a leopard.

These are all lifelong commitments, and that's one of the reasons I don't currently plan to breed the larger species of tortoises. It takes a special kind of person to be able to care for and provide for a large tortoise throughout their lives.

I had my "golden greek" for 2 years before she went missing from her outdoor pen. I have had my Hermanni for 1 year and 10 days (and he turned 1 year old on june 30th). And i have had my box turtle since May 2002 (he was born in may of 1997).

A female redfoot that I got in 1976 just died a couple of years ago under a friend's care from being egg bound. I had kept her until the late 80s.
Just last month at the Expo in Daytona I spoke to herp artist Marty Capron who told me that he still has a female redfoot that I had hatched and gave to him in 1979.
Another friend has a male that I hatched in 1980.

But the longest captive redfoots that I know of belong to another old friend of mine who got them in 1968 in Gainesville, Florida while he was a student at U.of F. They were still producing hatchlings as late as a year ago.

I've had my ibera Greeks for over 20 years. They are WC and now their offspring are producing offspring.