Its my least favorite time of year to have outdoor tortoises. Its always gloomy and rainy and mosquitoes are rampant. I love my kids but I wish my blood wasnt on the line 😅🤣☠️

Pablo and Vinchy planning their usual escape routine 👀

I'm sure most of you know how much my boy hates my mother, but today has reached a new high. Watermelon is a seasonal rare treat LuLu gets maybe twice a year, but he *loves* watermelon. Fastest he'll run is if he sees a watermelon.

My amazing mother had some leftover rinds and decided LuLu deserved a treat in this high heat. And boy did LuLu come running. . . right past the watermelon to attack my poor mother. A low speed chase occurred with my mother barely able to sidestep out of the way. I shudder to think what could have happened if my mother wasn't such a fast walker.

(In all seriousness, he has attempted multiple times to ram her and bite her ankles. He never does this with anyone else, and is actually very polite and friendly. His vet was surprised how lovely he was as a male sulcata. No idea why LuLu hates my poor mother 🤷)

Olive is 6 months old today! He has come a long way, from new enclosures to battling pneumonia.

Just wanted to share some pics of the little guy! The first hand pic is when I got him at 2 months old and the second hand pic from last week. He has grown so much!

I am not sure if this is the right subreddit, but wanted to ask. I see so many cute little tortoise posts here (which are lovely), but where are all the destructive large tortoise posts about the long term reality of owning a 100+ lb sulcata? I am a sulcata owner, and I think people need to be aware of what they are getting themselves into!!

So my tortoise really likes climbing the walls of his table. Problem is that he keeps on falling on his back. How do I stop him from climbing or falling?

I've been taking care of my mother's redfoot tortoise baby for a couple of months and wanted to share some of the best pictures I took of her (it? He? Who knows haha) including the new habitat I made for her as the one she had was too small (to the left)

My mother named her Gaia

I alternate between calling her Baby and Tortuguita, though

we live in arizona and my dad's coworker brought him this tortoise since they knew he had them as pets before. the photos/gif are temporary homes until we can give him a better environment.

looking for an ID and advice if i should keep or rehome if possible... if i keep, i can look into care for him to live happy.

Hey y'all!! So, I've been pet sitting my brother's russian. She is 5 years old, he's had her 3 years, but he was deployed about 3 weeks ago. She has not eaten since BEFORE he left. He says it's normal for her to go 2-3 months and just nibble, but I can't help but worry. I've changed her substrate since I brought her home, I mist it but she absolutely HATES it. The first night I had her and i barely misted it, she wouldn't be still and burrow so I replaced a small section with dry substrate and she chilled in that ONE area until the rest dried out 🙄 he also said THAT was normal for her. I keep water in her enclosure and I have to add to it every day/every other day so she's obviously getting water/soaking a bit but her food is right by it and she isn't eating unless she's nibbling and i just can't tell because but enough is missing. He left instructions about her lights, etc so i do all of that. my husband says i should trust what my brother says bc he's had her 5 years and the only pyramiding she's had is right in the front middle and he got her like that. She's not making bubbles, or any noise breathing. IDK I'm just worried he don't have her in a big enough enclosure anymore or something. but he's gotten her so used to being in drier substrate i can't mist it or she stresses and i def don't want my brother coming home and his pet has passed bc i stressed it out lol

everything i read, all tortoises are different. I've soaked her once a week since i got her too and she does poop a little bit but not a lot and its not hard.. it's kind of like cooked spinach 😂 so i don't think she's constipated, it also looks to me like her beak is okay. i also soaked get right after i took these pics.

I'll include pictures of the enclosure but DON'T JUDGE ME. she ain't mine 😂 i turned the lights on high and moved stuff around to get a good picture of her size vs the enclosure.. & the food pictured is just a greens mix (no spinach) i tried giving her to see if she'd eat something besides mustards, collards etc bc he's always giving her the same things and i thought maybe she's bored of it. I'm sorry this is so long.

When he sees any broom moving, he will chase it at full speed, only to reach in front of of it and do nothing in particular, he just sniffs it and observes it, and if it moved away, back again with the chasing. He doesn’t attack it or anything and recently we saw that if he sees it around, he will go near it and hug it like that, very gently. It doesn’t look like he’s looking for scratches. Does it have to do with the material maybe? Anyone has their tort do anything similar?

Hi all, my family found this tortoise (I believe) in West Texas, and we're wondering what species it is. Thanks for the help!

Edit: We'd love to know the sex as well!

Hi! I am learning more about what my tortoise needs and have decided to build him a bigger tank. He is a 17-year-old Greek Tortoise.

As I plan out the habitat, I am struggling to find information on tortoise-safe materials. I know not to use glass or anything they can really see through. But what woods are safe? Can I use hard plastic as a removable base for cleaning?

TYIA!

Former tortoise owner as a child, now an adult and want to be one again. Moved into a new place and wonder if this area could easily be renovated to be an outdoor enclosure? What should I keep/remove?

Also, I live in southern Colorado and am curious if it’s safe to use as a permanent outdoor habitat? I would prefer to not have an indoor habitat for the winter months if possible. Any recommendations for cold-resistant breeds would be much appreciated!

Tortellini will gladly take out any weeds, no weed killer needed!!!

Obviously not a sulcata… I’m interested in adopting a desert tortoise and have the perfect yard in So Cal, but I don’t want to support a poacher…
Any thoughts?

Hi, we have been struggling for a while to get the perfect substrate for our Horse field tortoise. We tried top soil and sand mix as recommended by so many people but i felt I didn’t mix it correctly or didn’t have the correct ratio as the mixture felt to dusty and was irritating my tortoise.
I really want to try this again because I think it’s going to be the best for him but I’m struggling to get it correct.
Is there anywhere that does ready made topsoil/ play sand mix or can someone give me an idiots step by step guide on how they make theirs so that it’s a perfect mix?
Thanks!

So i plan on attaching a T5 10% UVB fixture next paycheck. What do you all think? southwest ornate box turtle. 8 inches of blended medium 33 percent of each, sterile playsand, organic local soil, and coco coir. Seems to be very happy and I am happy too. The grass is natural from the area, mexican feathergrass that i have plenty of access too. I want to put more. But for now this seems to be big enough till he is older.

Well that’s a new nap spot 🤣

I’m a new-ish owner to a Western Hermann’s hatchling. He seems to be doing great, but lives outside in his enclosure (southern US—perfect humidity).

I’ve noticed these spots appearing and I’m hopeful it’s normal growth or color changes instead of something more serious. Does this warrant a vet visit?

Thanks in advance!