How to Care for Tortoises

Providing the right enclosure with the proper temperature, as well as the correct diet, is important for maintaining the health of a tortoise.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Heat Lamps
• Water Troughs
• Dark Leafy Green Vegetables
• Fruits
• Mixed Vegetables
• Alfalfa Pellets For Tortoises
• Calcium Carbonate
• Multivitamins
• Glass Aquariums
• Newspaper
• Newspaper
• Tortoise
• Sturdy Pens
• Fruits

1. Provide a glass aquarium for small species, a galvanized stock water trough or a sturdy pen for large species.

2. Cover the floor of the tortoise's dwelling with alfalfa pellets or newspaper. Avoid using sand, ground corncob, artificial grass or resinous wood chips, all of which can cause intestinal problems if eaten.

3. Maintain an optimal temperature range of 26 to 38 degrees Celsius (78.8 to 100.4 degrees F). Use a radiant heat source such as a heat lamp.

4. Set up a full-spectrum, ultraviolet light source, which helps tortoises absorb vitamin D and prevents metabolic bone disease.

5. Offer a menu that consists of 85 percent vegetables, 10 percent fruit and less than 5 percent protein.

6. Feed adults three times a week; feed hatchlings daily.

7. Dust food with calcium carbonate, lactate or gluconate at every feeding and multivitamins every one to two weeks.

Tips & Warnings

• Recommended vegetables include dark leafy greens such as mustard, collard, cabbage, dandelions (leaves, stems and flowers) and backyard grasses. Timothy hay, soaked alfalfa pellets and thawed frozen mixed vegetables (peas, corn, carrots, green beans and lima beans) can also be given.
• Recommended fruits include grapes, apples, pears, oranges, peaches, plums, nectarines, all melons, berries and bananas.
• Recommended protein sources are dry dog food, primate chow, pelleted parrot chow, tofu, various cereals (crisped rice, cornflakes), sardines with bones, whole mice, eggs and eggshells.
• Avoid improper mineral balance, vitamin deficiencies and excessive protein levels by carefully monitoring the feeding of your tortoise.

[cats15]

on 4/30/2009 I have 5 Dessert Tortises, it was hard for me to much info on what to feed them. I 'Thought' Tomatoes were a No-No, but az123 said they are O.K. in moteration? I read somewhere BUT NO TOMATO LEAVES!YES I pick everyones brains on how to care, or the proper food for them. So any input from any members is needed. They are TRUE 'Dessert Torties' NOT the 'Sulcata' ones. They will be 11 yrs. in Sept, so I must be doing 'something' right?I put them out every day

[pattysarts]

on 2/19/2009 Before you feed any tortoise you should know what type of tortoise it is!!! Some can not handle protein, some are omnivoress, some herbivores. If I was to feed my Sulcata dog food he would have severe shell deformities.(They will eat almost anything, weither it's good for them or not) He can't handle high phosphorus levels

[Sarah-luvz-pets]

on 11/11/2008 dont worry i have a tortise also and all i needed to do was get a small doghouse (but big enough for him to move around) and put a thick layer of soil, woodchips, or shredded newspapers and put a tarp or plastic on the door so rain or bad weather dosnt flood him

[Sarah-luvz-pets]

on 11/11/2008 we inherited a tortiose and winter is coming how do we house it without bringing it inside and how do we know how old it is or if its male or female

[dareal]

on 6/11/2008 We found a large tortoise in our front yard one month ago. Since then, we have been feeding her him whatever (how do you tell?) we fed her lettuce from the garden some seeds from bird food and watermelon and bananas, she loves to eat but we haven't given her any protein. Will dry cat food hurt her ? She is about 12 inches across and her shell is curled up at the ends slightly. We don't know where she came from or how she managed to get in the yard out front without getting hit by a car we live on a busy street here in Novato. How can we tell if she is a she or a he? Thanks