Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys,
I think I'm going to buy myself a tortoise for the first time!
It's my first tortoise, but not my first herp and I'm excited to add it to the snapper, bearded dragon, etc. Right now I'm quite stuck between a red foot, desert, and leopard (not the huge kind). Does anyone have any experience that could tell me which might be the best suitable? They are all around the same size so don't hesitate to recommend a different species!

Thanks

I think it depends partly on how much space you can devote to the tortoise and what kind of environment you can provide.

Any of the three species you mention can get 12" or larger. Such a large animal is going to require maybe 25 or 30 square foot minimum. And they would all do better if you could provide some outdoor space. If you have good weather year round, then you would have a large area out in your yard, and a small area indoors for bad weather days. If you have cold winters, you'd need a large space both indoors and out since the tortoise would need lots of room for the winter.

If you are going to keep the animal outdoors, you should consider your local environment. If your local weather (at least during the warm months) is rainy and overcast, that won't work for a desert tort or a leopard. If it's extremely dry and hot, it would make keeping a red foot more difficult.

Finally, it may not be easy to legally obtain a desert tortoise (I'm assuming you meant one of the American desert/texas/gopher tortoises). I think all are protected and require special paperwork and licences. Forgive me if you already knew that.

If you don't have a lot of space for a tortoise, I'd suggest a Russian tortoise. Not too large (usually less than 8" ), tolerant of a wide range of temperatures, and also tolerant of a wide range of humidity as long as they aren't kept under damp and cool conditions. See www.russiantortoise.net for more info.

Thanks!
I currently live in the suburbs of Chicago with hot summers and cold winters (although recently the winters have been very warm).
I'm quite aware of the housing conditions, my yard is large enough to have an area for them, is 30 sq ft really necessary for a 12" tortoise? There is a small family run petstore close to where I live that have two sulcatas living in a children's swimming pool (not that I'd keep them in something like that).
I also know of the unavailibility of the desert tortoise, but there are fantastic reptile shows in my area that always have many tortoises for sale there, I always thought that they would have deserts as well.
Red foots are quite easy to find, they're in every petco around here, but leapords are more of a challenge to me. I'd much rather have a tortoise between 10 and 20 inches than one smaller, which causes me to avoid the greeks, hermann's, and egyptians. What about radiated tortoises?

Here's a pic of my snapper from a year ago or so:

How much do you plan to spend, you can find a baby radiated for 2000ish, they get big though, like 16 inches. Any tortoise getting above 12inches needs a big enclosure, and outdoors. You want to look at a high humidity loving tortoise as well. Suclatas get way big, and i dont think you would have room for one. I would say 10footx10foot or bigger for a tortoise your looking for. 10footx10foot is rather small, i have my tortoises in it and its way small for them, and they are only 8inches.

Radiated tortoises are incredible. Id love one myself. I have a Sri Lankan and a Snow Leopard Babcocki; living totally seperate from one another of coarse. (I love them- they're my boys!) I hear radiated are quite personable (like red foots), hardy, and dont get as large as Leos and Sulcatas. You have to get cite papers to purchase for most states. If you can give one a good home- go for it! Because they are considered endangered, if you can breed a pair- even better!

Redfoots do well in your area. They get big but not too big.

Since you mentioned living in a suburb of Chicago, I recommend you look on kingsnake classifieds for postings from Marc P.

Marc breeds both regular redfoots, and cherry head redfoots in the Chicagoland area. I've only heard good things about him and his animals.

As for keeping other species up north. Sulcata do fine until they get too big and start digging up your yard. Leopards can be as active as redfoots but need extra heat to do well. I've heard of people regularly breeding Leopards in WI, and IN so someones probably also had success in IL.

Good luck