Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys. I always had turtles and I would like to get a tortoise. Is it harder to take care of? I am thinking of getting a Leopard tortoise. Please give me some answers! THANKS!

Well not necessarily harder but they do have specific requirements.

Where do you live? That would have a big impact on what type of animal you should have.

Leopards are nice torts but they can get a bit large. They eat mainly grasses and greens and occaisional fruit treats. You need to avoid large amounts of fruits and protein in the diet as this can cause pyramiding in the animals shell.

Now heres the thing. They eat much like a horse and get pretty large so they also do something else like a horse too!! (if ya know what I mean).

So would have to do some heavy duty poop scooping and be able to provide them with a large tortoise pen and UVB lighting as well as heat gradient.

The plus is no constant water changes, filter changes etc.

My advice would be to read up on the various types of tortoises and see which one suits you best before you make any decisions.

OH and to answer you question Pretty much YES. Once you have the right environment set up for them and understand their needs they are a bit easier to deal with than aquatics.

Thanks for your reply. I live in Northern California and I have a big yard. Also i have this old plastic pond that I can use to keep it in when winter comes. If too much fruit is a problem, how about vegetables like romaine lettuce, carrots and other vegetables? I give my aquatic turtles suplements of vitamins and calcium.

http://www.chelonia.org/
http://tortoisetrust.org/care/cpardalis.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/articles.html#husbandry

These websites should give you more information for a starting point. There are some good books out there, too, specifically on south African tortoises.

An for the pond, guess it depends on how big the pond is. We're talking about an animal that gets over 50 lbs in some cases.

A captive bred Hermans, Russian, or Greek might be to your liking as well. Also consider adoption as an alternative to purchasing once you've decided on a species.

Katrina