...At three years old my daughter fell in love with turtles and tortoises and two years later she had any plastic- and stuffed animal turtle and any turtle book we could get our hands on.
Then at 5 years old she got the only tortoise we had ever seen offered in our region,- a 2 year old captive bred redfoot (one should add, that we live in the Canadian Capitol region).
I had had Hermann's tortoises when I was young (in Europe), and they would have been easier to care for, but are not available here. This was 3 years ago.
In our specific case I fortunately totally fell in love with 'Kathrin' and she has since been joined by 3 more babies. But over the last 3 years I have spent almost every bit of my spare time learning and researching about these animals. Needless to say, that it is not my, now 8 year old, daughter, who washes loads of greens and fruit for the tortoises, cuts it up, feeds them, changes their water dishes, fills up the misting system and takes care of UV and heating devices. She also refuses to even look at poopy bath water. Needless to say too, that purchasing the tortoise (at $450) was nothing compared to the costs that came with her.
My daughter is still in love with turtles and tortoises, but not with the fact, that she has to wash her hands before and after handling them and not with the fact, that they tend to poop and pee when handled. This is not the case for the ones I raised from 2 weeks old, and also the older one is much more adjusted now, but even the handling by a careful kid can be stressful for a tortoise. They simply are no play animals.
My daughter talks to them and checks on them, when she thinks of it, but otherwise they are totally my hobby (and one, that needs an understanding spouse, as it is, as mentioned, time consuming and expensive). Going on vacation is another issue. It is not easy to find somebody, who can come to our house every other day and do one and a half hours of tortoise chores.
Maybe of course, you or your husband would make this tortoise your hobby, and maybe you live in a region, where outdoor keeping is possible for a good part of the year, and where no predators make an outdoor fortress a necessity (like in our case). But be prepared, that a tortoise needs a lot more than some salad every day. The mentioned websites will give a glimps on what you might face.
Again,- our tortoises have become my passion (and their infrastructure has been provided and built by my very supportive husband), and my daughter loves them too. But they have by no means become a pet to play with for her. They are interesting to observe. But the attention span of a still young kid for observation is limited, as you sure know.
Hopefully this and the very considerate answers you have already got in the previous posts will make your decision easier.
Best of luck,
Gaby
Ed @ 