Tortoise?

perfect10

They are pretty easy to look after really, I have had one for a couple of years?
We bought a tortoise table (house) and these need to be big enough so research this and will need UV light and heat lamp, they eat a variety of things mine prefers cabbage, cucumber outside weeds like dandelions especially the flowers. There are some plants that are poisonous but loads of info online.
He likes a bath a couple of times a week in shallow luke warm water.
He loves to be outside this time of year but this needs to be secure as he does try to escape!!

seven-day-weekend

Looks like I will be getting the tortoise soon. I am quite worried about hibernation. It might not be possible, for various reasons, to find out whether this tortoise has hibernated or not.

Any tips on hibernation gratefully received. I have read the advice on the tortoise website.

Don't know what gender it is, but I'm calling it Theresa, after the PM

Deep_In_Debt

We have no idea on the gender of our tortoise either after all of these years. We've had experts say it's male and experts say it's female. One confused tortoise!

We are not really bothered about gender and decided that as it has always been referred to as a "he" we are sticking with that and "he's" called Speedy.

Mum hibernates Speedy in the garage. He has a big tall tea crate which is insulated with newspaper, bubble wrap and blankets and then has another smaller insulated tea crate, covered in a towel or blankets which he goes in about half way down the larger crate, and then covered with blankets. It may seem crude, but it's worked for the last 50 years or so. The idea is to keep him off the ground so no risk of water or critters getting to him easily and when he wakes up, he can't get out of his inner crate so no risk of climbing out or falling.

Mum finds he starts slowing down in late September ready for hibernation and then starts putting him in his little crate in the greenhouse at night for a week or so, until he has slowed down and then puts him in the larger crate in the garage around mid October or when the weather takes a turn. He usually goes into hibernation within 24 hours and wakes up in April.

seven-day-weekend

Thanks Deep in debt, that is very helpful.

seven-day-weekend

Hi there again folks!

Resurrected this thread to say I did not get the original tortoise I asked about, but yesterday did become the proud owner of Theresa, who is a two-year-old Horsefield tortoise. She is in a temporary house at the moment as her original one is being renovated, but my husband is looking forward to landscaping her permanent one once it is ready.

Thanks all for your advice.