Taking Care of the Red Footed Tortoise

The Red Footed Tortoises are friendly, cute, and they are great as pets. However, taking care of those animals is not as easy as you assume. It is true that it is not as hard as taking care of a dog, but a minimum of care is required if you want to have a healthy tortoise.

The Red Footed Tortoise eats leaf, fruits and supplements. It is important to ensure a good mix of those. This way, your turtle will be healthy for a long time. The leafy greens can ensure 70% of the food required by a red-footed tortoise. Lettuce, mustard greens and radicchio are perfect. At the beginning, only give them small quantities and see how they react. There are only general feeding rules for tortoises, but each one of them reacts differently to foods. While a tortoise might like the lettuce more than anything else, another one from the same species might not like it at all.

Unlike other tortoises that are really sensitive to certain types of fruits, the red-footed tortoise can eat a large number of fruits. Tomatoes, berries of any kind and apples are great. As for the supplements, you can choose the ones recommended by the veterinarian. When the turtle is still small, you need to ensure a solid quantity of calcium for the turtle. This can usually be taken from supplements. A turtle that lives freely in its natural habitat will know what food to choose, but if the tortoise stays at your home, it can only eat what you give her to eat, and this is why you should make sure that they have everything required.

The red-footed tortoise can be raised indoor and outdoor. For indoor housing, you should choose a special table that you can buy from the local pet store. Even if you choose to raise the turtle indoors, you should consider keeping it in the yard during the summer. When you make the switch from the indoor to the outdoor environment, take care of the turtle and make sure not to drop it. The carapace might be resistant, but the shock might damage internal organs of the pet. Moreover, if the carapace is not fully developed, a shock will probably damage its growth. The lighting is important for a tortoise also, as it should imitate the natural habitat perfectly. The tortoise also needs a place where it can hide, preferably made of stones to imitate a natural cave.  

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The Legend of Giant Tortoise

The representatives of the Testudo family, the giant tortoises live on Galapagos and the Tortoise Islands. They can live for 100-250 years, which allowed them to develop their own local variety, with distinctive forms of carapaces.

It is unknown how those tortoises were discovered, but what is known is that they were so many, because of the good living conditions here, and because their long life allowed many generations to live at the same time. This leaded to a diversity and mixture of species. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the tortoises were hunted for food, by explorers. At a certain time, Galapagos was a stop for vessels that remained without food. During the 19th century, several species disappeared.



The giant tortoises can be divided in 10 species, and each one has 10 subspecies. The biggest are Testudo vicina and Testudo elephantopus, which can weight 450 kilograms, especially males. The carapace is thin and elastic considering its size, and the weight of the animal. Those live on land, in the interior of the islands, but they mate on the shores of the sea, where they get in 2-3 days. The female lays 8-17 eggs in a nest, which is covered with soft sand.



The giant tortoises usually eat algae and a special type of grass, called the sea grass, which grows near the waters. As other reptiles, they can live without water and food for a long time, up to 400 days.

The regenerating capacity of the tortoises is impressive, for example, if the carapace is burn or hurt in a proportion of 70%, it will be completely replaced in less than two years. Their survival force is impressive. It they suffer severe injuries and even amputations; they can live several months with missing members. There are also giant tortoises in India.

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Few Pictures of Turtles For the Kids

Kids love turtles more than the adults! Why? Because kids are smaller in size and turtles are smaller than the kids!!!

 Picture of a baby turtle

 Photo of a turtle for kids

 Image of a cartoon turtle

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The Wonder Called the Galapagos Tortoise

The Galapagos tortoise is proverbial because of its longevity, and only a few people know that it never gets old. The Galapagos tortoises don’t die of oldness, but they are defeated by diseases, and they end up because of lack of food. At certain ages, they are simply too lazy and tired to look for food.

Researches showed that the internal organs of the Galapagos tortoise are well preserved even after 100 years, and they have the same characteristics as the ones of a young tortoise. In Calcutta, a 250 years old Galapagos tortoise died a few years ago. It is likely for even older tortoises to exist, but this is more difficult to prove.



Researchers were not able to find a logical explanation of this phenomenon. It is likely for the alimentation to be the reason why those reptiles live so long. One of the most interesting aspects about this tortoise is the mating period. A female is courted by several males, which fight one another. The ones that are defeated withdraw from the battle when they are tired. The winner has the honor to have siblings, but the configuration of bodies make the process hard. The male must insist and patience is required. The sexual act lasts for a while. For some unknown reasons, the couple even eats one time during the mating process.



The longevity of Galapagos turtles is a reason for debate for researchers, but those were not able to find the right reason for which this species lives so long. The problem is of great interest, as the explanation can be used for extrapolating, even for the human race. In the opinion of some people, the reason for this longevity hides even in their genetic code, so it is impossible to “decode” the DNA of Galapagos tortoises and to use them for other reasons.

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The Characteristics of the Desert Tortoise

Welcome to my world

The Desert tortoise is an herbivore reptile that resists even when the temperatures grow to 60 degrees Celsius, because of its capacity to dig galleries. This turtle spends its entire life in those galleries that offer shelter during the cold season, from November to march. The galleries can be simple, but also complex, spread on a few meters. The desert turtle can have tens of hideouts of this kind. Those can be used, in different periods, by several tortoises.

The desert tortoise weights 5-9 kilograms and it measures 40 centimeters or even more. The shell is high, and the growing lines are highlighted. The superior part of the carapace is rounded and brown, and the inferior line is flat and yellow. It has a big head compared with the body, and a short tale. The inferior members are strong, while the superior ones are flat, as this way, it is easier to dig.

When the tortoise is scared, or when she wants to avoid dangers, the tortoise makes some sounds that have the goal to scare the predator. The visual and smell senses are well developed, but the sounds are of low frequency, so they are rarely effective.



The desert tortoise lives about 80-100 years, which is a record even for tortoise. They reach maturity after 15-20 years. From November to March, this tortoise hibernates. Those reptiles are well adapted to the dry land where they live. They dig basins where they collect rainwater, and they can wait for days for it to fill. In the rest of the year, they take the water necessary from the moisture on grass and wild flowers that they eat during the spring. It is interesting that this reptile can live one year without drinking water.

The natural habitats of this tortoise are the rocky areas from the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, and in Southeastern California. It eats weed and wild flowers, cactuses and fruits, especially during the spring, when they get out of hibernation.



The number of eggs lay by the female varies considering the dimensions of the female. A mature female can lay eight eggs in a nest. In one season, the female can make two-three nests. Once the eggs are in the hole, the nest is covered with sand. The incubation period is of 90-120 days. A phenomenon is interesting, because considering the temperature of the environment, males can hatch (26-30 degrees), or females (30-33 degrees). It is one of the fewest species that has this characteristic. Moreover, the desert tortoise is one of the fewest that actually watches the nest. Even if the nests are situated far from the “residence” of the mother, they are protected under a tree or in the shadows of a rock.

The baby tortoises grow considering the quantity of food that they have at their disposal and they are not defended and fed by their parents. In one year, their carapace can create more rings, so their age can’t be established using these criteria. It is a protected species since 1990.

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Breeding and Taking Care of the Land Tortoise

The majority of land tortoises that are kept in captivity are herbivores. While in the wild, they can eat some animal proteins; this is not the base of their diet. Meat can be avoided in captivity, but in this case, it must be replaced with food from the pet store, which contains everything required by a tortoise to survive.



The young land turtle eats every day. The older ones eat once every two days, considering the appetite. During the winter season, the older tortoises will eat once every two or three days.



80% of the diet of a land turtle must be composed of fibers, and 10-20% can be fruits and vegetables. Ideally, during the warm days, the tortoises should be taken on a grass field, where they can eat what they want. Make sure to find a lawn that was not treated with chemical products. This creates a great environment, so the tortoise can enjoy flowers, grass and even worms.



The most suited aliments for a tortoise are cabbage, spinach and lettuce. However, daily alimentation must not be resumed to a single type of vegetables. On the contrary, you can combine those, and you must also change some of them once every two or three days. For the small tortoises, those can be chopped and mixed. It is not recommended too much lettuce for tortoises that are in the growing phase, as this does not contain too much calcium.

Cucumbers and strawberries, as well as apples can be administrated in small portions. The tortoise might like sweet corn, but only in small quantities. Alfalfa is another recommended weed, but only in controlled quantities.



Don’t feed the tortoise with cats or dogs food, unless it is an emergency. The tortoise can live without food for a few days, so it is better to wait for a while and to buy the proper food, instead of risking the health of your beloved pet.

As hard as you would try, you will never be able to offer all the required minerals and good substances for your pet, so it is important to consult the tortoise at the veterinarian at least once or twice a year. The veterinarian will recommend you supplements, minerals and calcium. Moreover, they need access to a source of light. If you choose an indoor habitat, an UV ray is mandatory, but also a dark space in a corner of the pen, so the tortoise could hide when it is scared.

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Characteristics of Russian tortoises

The Russian tortoise is a special type of the Testudo family. It is adapted for the cold weather of Europe and Russia, although it can be found in other parts of the world. It is suited as a pet because it is easily adaptable, and it is common in pet stores.


The Russian tortoises drink water. You will need to ensure enough quantity, but make sure that the tortoise can’t enter the recipient. Moreover, the water recipient in the pen must be fixed, as the tortoise will surely spill the water otherwise.



The Russian tortoise digs a lot. The habitat of this tortoise must be made on a layer of sand and mud of at least 10 centimeters. Normally, if the tortoise receives the required quantity of food and light, it will not need to hibernate. However, the nature takes its course, so even if the pet does not want to hibernate, it will want to dig holes to prepare. If the sand is not deep enough, you will take the most important pleasure of your pet away.



The Russian tortoise adapts easily to captivity, and it has the same behavior. It is not recommended to buy this type of tortoise if you live in a hot area, as it will almost certainly die. Even if you are able to ensure the right temperature, it is impossible to stimulate the humidity required by this tortoise.



The food for a Russian tortoise is also delicate. This species is adapted to the harsh conditions of the steppe. This means that she will look for weeds and sparse plants. You might believe that you will make the pet happy if you give it enough food. It is not true. The natural behavior of the tortoise is to look for food and to fight for every weed, so it will not feel that great with a bowl full of lettuce.



During the summer, you can keep the tortoise in an external pen. Here, it can dig as many holes as she wants, and she will feel perfect. During the winter, if you don’t have enough room in your house, at least try to create a proper environment for hibernation. The behavior of Russian tortoises is changeable. If the turtle did not hibernate this year, it does not mean that she will not want to do so the next year. Anticipating the wishes of your pet is the real challenge of growing a Russian tortoise.  

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