How to Take Care of a Tortoise

In this instructable will tell you how to take care of a tortoise. I show my tortoise in the pics which is a hybrid so you cannot trust my ways of taking care of him (tortoises have different behaviors). I will try to be very general on tortoises.

Step 1:

Well first up we will talk about food-and if your tortoise sleeps often it is quite natural mine sleeps for a long time/until you give him food :)

some foods
1 lettuce
2 cabbage
3 spinach not all the time
4 carrots
5 apple
6 dandelion leaves
if you get them from your yard make sure they do not have any fertilizer on them or weed killer

Sometimes if you hover food over his nose he will wake up and eat. I do not understand why he likes my jasmine plant so much better than everything else.

Step 2:

another thing to do is to take tortoises outside. This is an essential thing to do if you do not have a uv lamp. Take him outside in warm weather for an hour or more. Take him into an unfertilized or weed killer used on lawn is very bad do not do it. I am sorry i could not obtain a picture for I was not able to take him outside.

Step 3:

In winter keep a light on him or else he might go into hibernation. If it is cold best thing to do is get a heating light.

Step 4:

Lastly about bathing time. Take a flat pan not made from metal. Fill with lukewarm water and place tortoise inside. If he enjoys it let him stay. If he does not let him go where he wants to.

my tortoise is drinking water and dipping.

Step 5:

And about cleaning. It may be a bit hard at first but it becomes easy after awhile. If you have newspapers you may pick them up and put it in a bag. For the other type of cleaning it may be hard. His urine will come out with some white acid which may be disgusting. But with a rag tissue or something which can soak water you can probably soak it up.

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Comments

[WillowyK]

I have a tortoise.... When I put her iin a lukewarm water she get swollen... And she didn't eat anything outside of water. Is heater is important and in night light on important????

[the electrical engineer]

Most of what you are saying is true. If the tortoise is going to stay indoors then you need a uv light. And the food rotting has some facts to it. Usually tortoises have a certain temperature which allows them to digest their food. For a heat bulb I would recommend having one especially in winter, but if the day is 80 degree whether your tortoise should not need a bulb. You will know if he needs a heat bulb or not by some of the things he does. Sometimes he might get up and start walking around without one meaning that he should be fine without a heat bulb that day. And true, turtles need calcium for their shells but many products in stores give protein in the food which helps destroy their shells. Meaning many protein filled foods will be bad. A heat bulb is needed in winter and if you are taking the tortoise outside then their should not be any other problems with heat bulbs.

Also if you have looked at store bought tortoises (I have seen some). They do not like to stay in the light. They like the heat but usually they stay under shade as if they do not always like the light.
Okay I hope this does not make any confusions. and i hope this clears everything up

[truuuuuuuuuuuust]

You can use a ceramic heat bulb or a red heat bulb if your tortoise doesn't enjoy bright environments. They need a basking temperature- provided by the heat bulb- and an ambient temperature, as provided by a warm (70's or 80's) room. They need this all the time if they are kept inside, even if they are allowed to roam outside. We can control a thermostat and change the temperature of our homes. If a tortoise gets cold at night or during the day, there is nothing they can do.

And store bought tortoise foods often aren't good for them. With pet reptiles, I always opt to make home-made diets, even for my feeder insects.

Thanks for providing more feedback! I hope I didn't come off as rude.

[truuuuuuuuuuuust]

Hello! I'd like to point out that your 'ible is missing a few very important points that are imperative to the health of your turtle or tortoise.

You NEED a UVB bulb. Just like people need natural sunlight to help metabolize the food and vitamins we take in, turtles and tortoises require a UVB bulb when not kept outside, no exceptions. They also need a heat bulb to provide an appropriate basking spot year round, not just in the winter.

Turtles and tortoises don't produce their own heat. They need a hot basking spot or else the food they take in can rot inside of them.

Turtles and tortoises also need a calcium and vitamin enriched diet as can be provided with cuttlebones, calcium blocks, or vitamin dust.

Reptile Channel has a good introductory care sheet for Russian tortoises- amongst other species which may also be found on their website- which you can read here.

http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Care-Sheets/Russian-Tortoise/