Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just curious if anyone had any recommendations as to a good beginners tortoise. My girlfriend has wanted a tortoise for the past few years now. And although she would love to start out with something that gets as large as a sulcatta, I would like to find something smaller to start her out with.

I have dug out caresheets on various small to medium sized species and have a relatively good idea of the care each species will entail, so I was just hoping to hear the opinions of a few of the keepers on the forum. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

I recommend spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides). They max out about 5 inches. These are not very active tortoise, so they can be house in a smaller area than most other tortoises. Very hardy too, they can tolerate temperature from 60 degree to over 90 . They range around $300-500 each for captive bred hatchlings.

Do some research on them.

Russian tortoises - http://www.russiantortoise.org/
Hermans tortoises - http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/hermannstortoisecare.htm
Greek tortoises - http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/cgraeca.html
Redfoots - http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/redfootcare.htm

These generally all make good "beginner" torts. The redfoots are the largest out of the four mentioned.