Types of Tortoise

There are many different species of tortoise for you to choose from but you have to be aware of the different requirements of each species before you decide to care for one in your home.

There are so many different types of tortoise for you to choose from when you are looking to buy one. However, there are a number of things to think carefully about before you decide on a specific species.

1. What is your lifestyle and are you able to devote not only time but hard cash to caring for a tortoise. The cost is not just the initial purchase of the tortoise and its enclosure but the ongoing costs such as lighting and heating, food and regretable vet fees should your tortoise become too ill for you to care for it yourself.

2. What species of tortoise would best suite your particular lifestyle and home? Do you have a reasonable large area in which to place the enclosure? Do you have any outside space where your tortoise is able to roam during the summer months? Do you have children or other pets?

3. Once you have decided on the specific species after doing some homework… what sort of enclosure will it require? Does it need to have specific plants or ‘furniture’ in the enclosure? For species such as the Pancake tortoise you will need to have some rock formations inside the enclosure for your pet to hide in. Specifically you should research the type of environment in which your chosen tortoise would live in its natural habitat in the wild and try to mimic this as far as possible.

4. Mixing different species of tortoise is also not advisable. If you wish to keep a few different varieties you will need to research which ones will live happily with tortoises of other species otherwise they could fight or even pass on illnesses and parasites. Different species have differing immuniities to certain diseases and parasites. .

5. It is also not a good idea to keep males and females of different species together in the same enclosure as the male tortoise does not differentiate between species. He will mate with an available female if given the chance! However, cross breeding is not often successful and it is not really ethical given the precarious position of many species.

For more information on choosing specific tortoises that are right for you and your family go to http://www.tortoisetips.com/learn2

A Brief Overview of Different Types of Tortoise

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• Angulated Tortoise or Bowsprit Tortoise (Chersina angulata)

• Pancake Tortoise (Malachochersus tornieri)

• Russian or Horsfield’s Tortoise (Testudo or Geochelone Horsefieldi)

• Hermann’s Tortoise (Testudo Hermanni)

• North African Tortoise or Moorish Tortoise ( Testudo Graeca)

• Greek Tortoise (Testudo Graeca Ibera)

• Egyptian Tortoise(Testudo Kleinmanni)

• Chaco Tortoise (Geochelone or Chelondoidis Chilensis)

• Bell’s Hingeback Tortoise (Kinixys Belliana)