Tortoise Types - Which is the right one for you?

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.

Habitat

The decision of which species of tortoise to get will perhaps be determined
by the habitat of the specific tortoise you choose as you will have to mimic
that habitat in order to provide an appropriate home.

Types

There are a few hundred species of tortoise for you to choose from. Some
are colorful others plain. Some are shy and others outgoing and sociable
whilst others can be aggressive. The size your tortoise may grow to in its and
your lifetime will also be an important factor to consider. Some will only
grow to a few inches others are huge and will need a very large area in
which to thrive.

Knowing what the tortoises habitat is will help you to understand what sort
of enclosure to build. For example: the pancake tortoise will need rocks in
its enclosure for it to hide in. If there are no rocks it may become stressed
and unwell. Other tortoises need to have high humidity due to their natural
habitat others need low humidity. Therefore you must artificially create
these differing environments and not mix different species within the same
type of enclosure.

For more information on choosing and caring for a tortoise go to TortoiseTips.com

Should you mix tortoise types?

This is probably one of the most common mistakes people make whenchoosing to keep tortoises. Trying to keep different species of tortoise in thesame enclosure is a bad idea for a number of reasons. Not least because ofthe different immunity each species has for specific diseases and parasites. If one species is carrying a parasite or bacteria it may cause illness or death toa different species.

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

A Selection of Small Types of Tortoise.

Bowsprit Tortoise or Angulated Tortoise
(Chersina Angulata)

Pancake Tortoise (Malacochersus)

Russian / Horsfield’s Tortoise (Testudo or
Geochelone Horsfield)

Hermann’s Tortoise (Testudo Hermanni)

For a more in depth explanation of the needs of different types of tortoise go to www.tortoisetips.com