Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking into getting a tortoise. I live in south carolina so he can go out in the back yard in a pen I will build. I will also have an indoor pen set up for when it might need to come inside. I dont want it to get huge when it is full grown I would like it to be under 20 inches. Any advise it greatly appreciated. Thanks for all of your help.
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Right now i have:
13 dogs
2 cats
2 RES
2 gunie pigs
4 fish

One thing to consider is the amount of space you have available.

Even though you may be able to keep a tortoise outdoors for a large part of the year, you will eventually have to bring it in sometime.

And the larger the tortoise, the larger the indoor setup you will need. Of course, some people, like Niki, have built an outdoor setup that includes a heated house that allows her sulcata to stay outdoors for very long periods.

If you can create a large setup both indoors and out, then almost any tortoise is available to you, except maybe a Galop or Aldabra or Burmese Mountain tort, which may be a little much for a beginner.

But, if you haven't the space and resources to house a large tort both indoors and out, then consider one of the smaller species such as the Russians, Greeks, etc. Or something more midsized like the RedFoot.

I have four russians. When they are outdoors, they use two pens: one is 6'x3' and the other is 8'x8'. I use two pens to sometimes separate the adult male when he gets to aggressive.

When indoors, just prior to or after hibernation (hibernation lasts about 3 months), the individual torts have small 5 to 7 sq ft pens for the few weeks they are awake and indoors.

So evaluate your space needs, the local weather, and financial resources.

I'd recommend a smaller species. I think that russians have lots of personality. And in the area you would have to devote to one redfoot or sulcata, you can have maybe 4 or more russians. And they are interesting to watch as they interact with one another. Just be careful about having more than one male.

Just my opinion.

Given your local a CB Redfoot or Cherryhead would be hard to beat. They would thrive in SC and only need to be indoors for 3-4 months. If you are interested in a Cherryhead contact Ed Pirog (he's EJ on this board) as he has some beautiful ones for sale and like me has 30 years of tortoise keeping under his belt so you'd know you're getting a quality animal.

Everyone always over looks the lovely Testudo Kleinmanni. I love my little Egyptian tortoise.